It seems corporate acquisition is just the name of the game these days, eh? Everybody’s at it; on the entertainment side of things, you have Mickey Mouse hoovering up any studio he can lay his gloved mitts on (and then shuttering half of them), while over in the tech department, controversial Chinese conglomerate Tencent continues to dominate. Most recently, billion-dollar empire Twitter have spread themselves wide open for even-more-filthy-rich Elon Musk’s takeover bid, proving that the trend shows no signs of slowing. Very few have turned these beasts down – save for God of War‘s David Jaffe – and in the face of such overwhelming fiscal ability, how could you? In a lot of cases, it’s either accept the $200 million upfront, or die a slow death. Now, it looks like the next well-known name to be in the crosshairs of such a deal is Ubisoft, of Rayman and Assassin’s Creed fame.
Per a report from IGN, the French studio is being studied by private equity firms with “preliminary takeover interests”. Fancy talk, that. In layman’s terms, Ubisoft may be having some financial woes, and the vultures are beginning to circle. This hasn’t necessarily come out of left field; Ubisoft have already signed their soul some shares away to Tencent, and numerous analysts have indicated they are perhaps struggling in a post-COVID world. Of course, this hasn’t stopped them cranking out games, with the Mario VS Rabbids sequel on the horizon being an upcoming major release of theirs. Presumably, any imminent takeover would not shelve these endeavors. We hope.
The tip-off comes from financial folks Bloomberg, whose fairly reliable sources state that “several companies – including the world’s biggest private equity firms Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. – are considering a takeover.” It’s important to note, though, that Ubisoft hasn’t yet “entered into serious negotiations with these companies,” and it’s currently uncertain if it will. I can only imagine they’re sweating in a boardroom right now, baguettes and Pinot Gris in hand, deliberating the future of this iconic brand. Fingers crossed they make the right call.
What would you like to be the outcome of this situation? Could you stomach Ubisoft potentially going down the tube? Let us know!
Via, IGN.
