Ubisoft has recently announced the creation of a new subsidiary company, focusing on its major franchises: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. This move comes with a significant investment of €1.16 billion (approximately $1.25 billion) from the Chinese tech giant Tencent. The subsidiary, valued at €4 billion (about $4.3 billion) and headquartered in France, aims to transform these franchises into "evergreen and multi-platform" game ecosystems. Tencent will hold a 25% stake in this new venture.
This announcement follows closely on the heels of the successful launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows, which has already surpassed 3 million players. This success is critical for Ubisoft, which faced numerous challenges in the lead-up to the game's release, including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations. The pressure is immense, especially as the company's share price reached an all-time low.
According to Ubisoft, the new subsidiary will enhance the quality of narrative solo experiences, expand multiplayer offerings with more frequent content releases, introduce free-to-play elements, and integrate more social features. The company also plans to concentrate on developing its Ghost Recon and The Division franchises while further growing its top-performing games.
“Today Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in its history,” said Yves Guillemot, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ubisoft. “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. We are focused on building strong game ecosystems designed to become evergreen, growing high-performing brands and creating new IPs powered by cutting-edge and emerging technologies.
“With the creation of a dedicated subsidiary that will spearhead development for three of our largest franchises and the onboarding of Tencent as a minority investor, we are crystalizing the value of our assets, strengthening our balance sheet, and creating the best conditions for these franchises’ long term growth and success. With its dedicated and autonomous leadership team, it will focus on transforming these three brands into unique ecosystems.
“We are committed to building a sharper, more focused organization—one where talented teams will take our brands to the next level, accelerate the growth of emerging franchises, and lead innovation in next generation technologies and services, all with the goal of delivering enriching, memorable games that exceed players' expectations, and create superior value for our shareholders and other stakeholders.”
This new subsidiary will encompass the teams working on the Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed, and Far Cry franchises, located in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia. It will also include Ubisoft’s back-catalog and any new games currently in development or planned for the future. While this suggests that existing projects are secure, there has been no mention of further layoffs at this time.
The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.
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