Ubisoft pursuing 'transformational capitalistic options,' may strike deal with Tencent

Ubisoft's current strategies call for 'significant cost reductions,' new review to investors shows depth of the French publisher's new potential plans.

Ubisoft pursuing 'transformational capitalistic options,' may strike deal with Tencent
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Senior Gaming Editor
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TL;DR: Ubisoft faces financial challenges with missed earnings from recent games and a significant share drop due to delays. The company is exploring strategic options, including potential partnerships, to enhance value. Cost-cutting measures are being implemented, and only carefully evaluated projects will proceed. Assassin's Creed Shadows is delayed to March 2025.

Amid controversy and plummeting share value, Ubisoft now outlines the progress of its current and future plans to concerned investors.

Ubisoft pursuing 'transformational capitalistic options,' may strike deal with Tencent 24

Ubisoft is in a tough spot right now. Two of its latest games--Star Wars Outlaws and xDefiant, the latter of which was shut down--have missed earnings projections. Ubisoft's shares suffered a substantial hit when Assassin's Creed Shadows was delayed, with the announcement coming in a kind of three-pronged series of bad news jabs with the aforementioned games.

The publisher's shares dropped so low that hostile buyout concerns were raised, but reports indicate that Ubisoft potentially tabled the idea of partnering with Tencent for a full company buyout. The idea would be to keep Ubisoft's Guillemot family at the helm while Tencent would have certain controls befit its stake.

Now we have a new update from Ubisoft corporate. There's no confirmation of a deal with Tencent, however there is direct mention of "capitalistic opportunities."

Ubisoft announced today that it has appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.

This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors.

Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes.

Management goes on to confirm that more aggressive cost cutting is on the way, and that Ubisoft will now only fund and greenlight games that have been carefully scrutinized.

"Operationally, the Company will continue to drive significant cost reductions, together with a highly selective approach to investments, and now expects to exceed €200 million in reduction of its fixed cost base by FY2025-26 vs. FY2022-23 on an annualized basis."

Assassin's Creed Shadows has now been delayed a third time and will instead launch on March 20, 2025.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot also commented on the potential transactional ops for the company's billion-dollar franchises:

"We also recently appointed leading advisors and are actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets. We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft's assets and franchises."

4 days after the review and the AC Shadows delay were simultaneously announced, Ubisoft's shares have since dropped -3.8% from €12.33 to €11.86.

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Senior Gaming Editor

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Derek joined the TweakTown team in 2015 and has since reviewed and played 1000s of hours of new games. Derek is absorbed with the intersection of technology and gaming, and is always looking forward to new advancements. With over six years in games journalism under his belt, Derek aims to further engage the gaming sector while taking a peek under the tech that powers it. He hopes to one day explore the stars in No Man's Sky with the magic of VR.

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