Crypto-friendly gaming giant Tencent considering Ubisoft acquisition: Report
Chinese tech and gaming giant Tencent and the Guillemot family are reportedly in talks to buy French games publisher and developer Ubisoft.
The report comes via Bloomberg, citing “people familiar with the matter,” but after months of speculation over Ubisoft's future, the company was forced to lower its revenue expectations for its upcoming flagship title, “Assassin's Creed: Shadows.”
The purchase of Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a publicly traded company whose main shareholders are its founders, members of the Guillemot family, and Tencent.
Details are scarce, but Bloomberg reports that the deal includes taking the company private. Perhaps, this works in the same way as Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, which took the then-public social media private when it changed to X Social Media.
As a private company, Ubisoft is no longer visible to shareholders or required to publicly disclose its earnings. However, it is unclear exactly what position Tencent or the Guillemot family will take.
Yves Guillemot, the company's current CEO and one of its founders, may seek a deal that protects his family's interests as the controlling owner. This would allow Ubisoft to remain under its current management with the financial backing of Tencent, China's most important player.
Related: China's Most Valuable Company Turns to AI as Gaming Profits Slump
Web3 and Blockchain
It is unclear at this time if the speech was serious. Cointelegraph reached out to Ubisoft and Tencent, but did not receive an immediate response from either company.
However, the purchase time is reasonable. Ubisoft shares appear to have rebounded by more than 30% in the wake of the rumored acquisition, following a more than halved fall in the past 12 months.
A chart showing Ubisoft shares looking up amid buyback reports. Source: Microsoft
If such an acquisition happens, the two companies could serve as a combination of global crypto and blockchain friendly AAA gaming firms. While other gaming firms such as Japan's Square-Enix and Korea's Pearl Abyss have invested in Web3 and blockchain-based gaming, Ubisoft and Tencent have been early movers everywhere in terms of adoption.
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