Ubisoft Launches New Subsidiary for Major IPs with Tencent's €1.16B Investment

Ubisoft has recently established a new subsidiary focused on its major franchises—Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six—with a substantial €1.16 billion (approximately $1.25 billion) investment from the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. This move comes shortly after the successful launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows, which has already surpassed 3 million players. The creation of this subsidiary follows a challenging period for Ubisoft, marked by high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations, which led to the company's share price reaching an all-time low. The pressure is now on Assassin's Creed Shadows to perform well amidst these difficulties.

The new subsidiary, valued at €4 billion (approximately $4.3 billion) and headquartered in France, aims to develop game ecosystems that are "truly evergreen and multi-platform." Tencent holds a 25% stake in this venture. Ubisoft plans to enhance the quality of its narrative solo experiences, expand its multiplayer offerings with more frequent content updates, introduce free-to-play elements, and incorporate more social features. The company will also concentrate on developing its Ghost Recon and The Division franchises while continuing to grow its top-performing games.

Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft's co-founder and CEO, stated, "Today Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in its history. As we accelerate the company’s transformation, this is a foundational step in changing Ubisoft’s operating model that will enable us to be both agile and ambitious." He emphasized the goal of building strong, evergreen game ecosystems, growing high-performing brands, and creating new IPs using cutting-edge technologies. The new subsidiary, with its dedicated leadership team, will focus on transforming these three major franchises into unique ecosystems.

This deal includes the teams working on Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed, and Far Cry in various locations such as Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia, along with Ubisoft's back-catalog and any new games in development. This suggests that current projects are secure, with no immediate plans for further layoffs. The transaction is set to be finalized by the end of 2025.

Developing...