We have the latest rumors on what Ubisoft is now planning to do about their future, even as these rumors seem to be inconsistent and keep changing.
As reported by Bloomberg, the company is now shopping around a proposal for a new venture. The idea is this new company will house their most valuable ‘core’ IPs, such as Assassin’s Creed, and will go for a higher valuation than Ubisoft is at right now.
What’s also notable is that Ubisoft is sending out feelers for investors to get minority shares. Bloomberg also reported that they contacted their current investors, including TenCent, about the offer. None of these plans are final, so it looks like an idea they are sharing around to look for interest.
But we don’t think it’s likely that Ubisoft will find much interest, especially in TenCent. As we reported in December last year, the rumor going around was that TenCent backed out of a buyout deal with the Guillemots. This was because TenCent wanted to have more direct control of the company, and the Guillemots relented.
Around a month after that, in January of this year, a new rumor spread that Ubisoft wanted to launch a joint venture with TenCent. That proposal sounds very similar to the one in today’s rumor, as they also wanted to spin off their most valuable IP.
We should be clear here that all of these details are rumors, and Ubisoft has not confirmed or debunked any of these claims. If you take these rumors as factual, it creates a picture of the Guillemots insisting that they keep control of Ubisoft, even as they negotiate a way for the company to stay afloat.
And so, they kept pushing for a deal with TenCent, but all the Chinese conglomerate would get out of it was the higher risk reward of a bigger investment. If these are all true, then it’s unlikely that TenCent will invest heavily in this new venture. They may still end up being the biggest minority shareholder though.
The very latest rumor before this one was that Ubisoft was shopping around specific IPs to Microsoft and Electronic Arts, but as we had pointed out before, Ubisoft’s official line is that an independent committee, not the Guillemots, are making a ‘strategic review’ of their options.
This may all come to a head as we find out if Assassin’s Creed Shadows becomes a huge hit, flops, or falls somewhere in between. But for now, we simply don’t know what the future holds for Ubisoft, as even the rumors paint a picture of a company that remains indecisive on how to address their mounting losses.
