Tencent’s Buyout Of Ubisoft Could Save The Company

Ubisoft, one of the largest game development companies today, remains a household name among gamers. Starting from humble beginnings, they’ve made incredible, genre-defining franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and most of Tom Clancy’s titles, like Rainbow Six Siege and Splinter Cell. All of these titles, plus many more, are still relevant, praised, and talked about to this day.

Unfortunately, as the years went by, I started to see Ubisoft as among the companies in the gaming space that had seemingly lost touch. From milking their franchises to the ground with unremarkable titles to questionable creative decisions, they’ve drifted away from the pedestals gamers put them on. But, a major change is on the horizon, and it could be a good thing for both Ubisoft and its fans.

Ubisoft’s Decline Over The Years

Similar to EA and Blizzard, players, including myself, feel that Ubisoft has become yet another AAA gaming company that’s lost its charm, riding off the success of established IPs. As such, the community believes the company nowadays is creating titles that simply lack the innovation and creativity they’d come to expect. 

To demonstrate, let’s look at Ubisoft’s biggest IPs in recent years: Far Cry. Far Cry was said to be in its “glory days” during the era of Far Cry 3, 4, and 5. In 2019, Ubisoft released another title into the franchise, Far Cry: New Dawn, which, although a success, sold significantly lower than its predecessors, Far Cry 5 and Far Cry Primal.

The release of Far Cry 6 in 2023 was an even bigger controversy; Despite Giancarlo Esposito, a beloved actor, starring as the main villain, the game received “mixed” ratings from both critics and players around the world. Commercially, it was still a success, but the sales were, again, lower than several prior Far Cry titles.

Far Cry 6 is the worst game I've ever played and here are my reasons
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Aside from Far Cry, I believe Ubisoft’s handling of well-established IPs has been extremely underwhelming recently. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, a highly anticipated game, went on a massive sale within 2 weeks, and with a low player count, it was undoubtedly “a sign of the game failing.” Similarly, Skull and Bones, proclaimed a “AAAA title” by Ubisoft, was also considered a flop after sub-average ratings and failing to secure 1 million sales.

Looking at the figures from Google and even from a data visualisation service, it’s clear that Ubisoft’s ambition with their projects, yet consistently failing to see what players want, has resulted in extreme stock decline. After their peak in 2021 with $85.18 per share, their stocks have dropped down to a horrifying $14.20 as of early October 2024.

With reports coming in of Ubisoft laying off almost 50 people in a single day, Ubisoft is in a troubled state, to say the least. However, while most companies in this position would fail to recover, there’s a beacon of hope that could save this company and the franchises we’ve loved from fading into nothingness.

Tencent’s Consideration: A Potential Winner

Prior to recent talks, Tencent already owned roughly 10% of Ubisoft, and as such, it makes sense that the largest shareholder would try to buy them out in order to salvage what’s left. After all, Tencent has a solid track record with the gaming studios they already own, like Riot Games and SuperCell, which are doing extraordinarily well on their respective platforms.

It is worth noting that Ubisoft is mostly known for its single-player titles as opposed to Tencent, whose portfolio of successful games mainly includes live service. Thus, players are concerned about the new creative direction after the supposed merge. However, one thing is clear—a change needs to happen, because Ubisoft’s current vision feels outdated and it’s certainly not producing worthwhile results.

What are yall opinions on tencent buying ubisoft
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On the commercial side of things, it seems talks of the buyout are already catching eyes. Upon publication of the rumor, Ubisoft’s shares saw a considerable increase. While I don’t think it’s enough to bring them back from the hole they’ve dug themselves in, they haven’t witnessed a sudden bump like this since February of 2024, so it’s a good start.

Conclusion

In the current gaming landscape, it seems every giant tech company is focused on acquisitions. With deals like Microsoft acquiring Activision, Take-Two Interactive buying Zynga, and Warner Bros. recently acquiring the ‘MultiVersus‘ developers, it was only a matter of time before Tencent made their move.

Although the general gaming community isn’t exactly sold on Tencent’s tactic, they seem to agree that Ubisoft’s current state is nowhere near perfect, or even adequate. In my opinion, a buyout could be the answer, but it’s important to consider who the buyer may be. Tencent, although successful, caters to a market alienated by Ubisoft.

Therefore, being acquired by a company like Sony, which is much more experienced in the field Ubisoft is known for, could be a stronger move. Ultimately, the last thing any juggernaut like Tencent wants is to lose money, and their interest in Ubisoft means they have plans for it which they think can save the company.