Video game developer Ubisoft is exploring a potential buyout with Chinese investment firm Tencent. This follows the company’s stock plunging almost 19 per cent this past year due to numerous project flops and title delays.

Tencent is no stranger to the world of developers, as they are well known for owning Riot Games and Epic Games.

In 2022, they bought into Ubisoft’s owners, Guillemot Brothers Limited (GBL), for a staggering 49.9 per cent. Fearing a takeover, the owners prohibited the investment company from owning more than a 10 per cent stake in Ubisoft, making it part of the deal, which could now be reversed.

George Georgallidis, a finance student who is also a fan of Ubisoft titles, feels that the potential buyout is good for the company’s future.

“I think Ubisoft getting bought out would be positive because the company has been struggling as a standalone company. The company has been delaying games constantly and the games they release have not had positive reception or the sales were below company expectations.”

Earlier last month, Ubisoft announced the delay of the next installment in their major title, Assassins Creed, until February of 2025. This call was made in response to the disaster launch of Star Wars: Outlaws and Skull and Bones which happened this past year.

Since the latter portion of 2023, Ubisoft’s release titles have been on a decline, leaving many fans of their titles disappointed. This release was the start of the downward spiral that brought the company to the low point at which they are right now.

One of the anticipated titles following that was the long-awaited Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which Ubisoft and their subsidiary, Massive Entertainment, had been working on since it was first announced in 2017.

Due to constant delays, the game underperformed in sales which tallied up to $133 million, which they see as a flop considering Massive’s Division series collectively garnered over $500 million on their launch dates.

Ubisoft also hyped their take on the intergalactic world of Star Wars with their release of Star Wars: Outlaws, which they also claimed to be the first open world for the franchise.

The game’s launch was nothing but rocky, with fans complaining about a variety of technical issues as well as their experience while playing the storyline.

According to gaming outlet Insider Gaming, the title sold only one million copies and collected about $70 million in revenue.

In the past, Ubisoft’s financial battles with previous stakeholders attempting to take them over have always been in the limelight of industry news. 

In 2015, French media giant Vivendi started its attempt to take over Ubisoft. GBL saw this as a threat and ensued a three-year struggle with Vivendi. It wasn’t until 2018, when GBL appealed to Tencent to invest in their company, that they agreed on a partnership to bring their game titles to the Chinese market. 

This prompted Vivendi to completely divest all of their shares by 2019, which now has led to where they currently stand today with Tencent.

Much like the Vivendi fiasco of 2015, Ubisoft is back in a similar spot, except this time, without many options. With the issue surrounding the hit in their market value, the company has found itself in a hard ditch to jump out of.

“The company has been struggling. As of Oct. 18, Ubisoft’s stock is down 41.37 per cent. From the gamer perspective, it could be positive due to Tencent coming in and attempting to fix the issues Ubisoft has in the development process and their management,” said Georgallidis.

Georgallidis feels it’s in the best interest of not only the company but also the current projects they have in the works and their future.

“I think the companies’ titles such as Assassins Creed would be positively affected if a company like Tencent which is large in the gaming industry takes the company over. Tencent has a good track record and they could change management or fix inefficiencies in the development process.”

Ubisoft number of employees tallies over 20,000 developers across 45 studios worldwide. Three of their studios are located here in Canada, with all of them labelled as flagship offices. They are located in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.