Ubisoft recently announced big changes to how it publishes and releases games, and now a new report suggests there could be more changes coming for the company. According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the situation said Tencent, the Guillemot family that founded Ubisoft, and other minority shareholders are considering a takeover to take the company private.
Tencent already holds a 9.2% stake in the video game publisher, while the Guillemot family holds about 20.5%. The report points out that these talks are at an early stage and may not take place at all as the information is all coming from sources.
But this shows potentially more turmoil behind the scenes at Ubisoft. On September 25, management announced a postponement. Assassin’s Creed Shadow From November to February next year. It told players this was to ensure the highest level of polish, but told investors it would shift to a more “player-centric approach” and make a few changes. It will no longer use a season pass model to encourage players to spend more money on the game for perks like early access and exclusive missions, and will once again release the game on Day 1 of Steam on PC rather than its own platform.
“Our second quarter results fell short of our expectations, which led us to quickly and firmly address this issue with even greater focus on our player-centric, gameplay-first approach and unwavering commitment to the long-term value of our brand. “I did it.” CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement to investors.
The news sent Ubisoft shares up as much as 33%. Ubisoft shares were trading at their lowest level since 2015, according to analysts, and that’s a big boost considering they’ve fallen more than 40% since January. The recent decline has been attributed to mediocre reception. star wars outlawIt was released in late August with “slower than expected” sales. that outlaw The team is also working to address player feedback through a series of planned updates.
