Ubisoft is one of the few, big “independent” publishers not currently tied up in a merger or acquisition.
And, recently, Ubisoft held its most recent financial results wherein, the French studio spoke about the proposition of being bought out.
“Ubisoft’s assets have never been so strong at a time when the value of assets has never been so high”, Ubisoft noted [via GamesIndustry.biz].
When pressed whether Ubisoft has changed its once-stoic position on a buy-out, CEO Yves Guillemot and CFO Frédérick Duguet stated;
“We have always taken our decisions in the interest of our stakeholders, which are our players, employees and shareholders. So Ubisoft can remain independent. We have the talent, the industrial and the financial scale, and a large portfolio of powerful IP…
Having said that, if there were an offer to buy us, the board of directors would of course review it in the interest of all stakeholders”.
When asked about why Ubisoft has not been mentioned in any (publicly known) buy-outs, Dugeut added;
“We will not speculate on why people haven’t made any offer”,
Which prompted Guillemot to interject, stating;
“if any offer was made”.
Duguet followed with;
“Absolutely. So I can’t comment on that any further. What we can say is as we mentioned, we [have] high-value assets. We have the scale to remain independent and create meaningful value in the future because we have scale in terms of the workforce, as well as engineering, technology, IPs, and totally engaged communities”.
This is, notably, in stark contrast to Ubisoft’s previous stance on potential buy-outs. Notably, back in 2015, Vivendi made an offer to buy Ubisoft. However, the studio was steadfast, saying;
“Our intention is and has always been to remain independent. [This is] a value which, for 30 years, has allowed us to innovate, take risks, create beloved franchises for players around the world, and which has helped the company grow into the leader it is today. We’re going to fight to preserve our independence”.
Of course, with other high-profile buy-outs flying around every other week, could Ubisoft be the next studio to bite the bullet? Time will tell.
ABG’s Senior Editor (News), YouTube content creator/streamer.