Ubisoft Wants To Remain Independent But Will Review Potential Acquisition Offers

It is a time of consolidation within the video game industry. 2022 opened up with Microsoft‘s 68.7 billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard as well as Take-Two‘s 12.7 billion dollar acquisition of Zynga. Sony also recently spent 3.6 billion on Bungie. Last year Microsoft famously bought Zenimax (Bethesda) for 7.5 billion.

During Ubisoft‘s earnings conference call today, CEO Yves Guillemot spoke on the possibility of the company being acquired.

“if there was an offer, the board of directors will of course review it in the interest of all stakeholders”

While Ubisoft is open to discussions of buyouts, they are also confident that they can continue to be independent. In their FY22 Q3 sales summary, Ubisoft wants investors to see it as successful at slow growth instead of spending a lot of money to acquire companies. ” It is now very clear that, while the organic model requires time and iterations, M&A requires unprecedented levels of investments.” 

Large gaming publishers may become targets by big tech companies to advance their gaming products. Companies such as Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon have dabbled in video games but failed to make a big splash. Google recently shut down its internal game studios, and Amazon‘s game studios have been disappointed with their releases. Acquisition of a video game publisher would give these tech companies a significant boost in gaming. 

According to Geoff Keighley, more large video game acquisitions are in the works and could be announced his year.

Have heard from multiple people: As you might suspect, there are a few other big video game deals in final stages of negotiations. It's going to be an interesting year!

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 1, 2022

Many have spoken out against the perceived consolidation within the video game industry, with large companies such as Microsoft, Tencent, and Sony acquiring everything in sight. It makes sense for Ubisoft to consider potential buyouts. While the top video game publishers are large businesses, they are dwarfed by technology companies that have the cash to make extravagant acquisitions.

Ubisoft refused to acknowledge whether any bids have been made for the company or if they have approached others for a buyout. We are keeping a close eye on more news related to this. Till then, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!