Chinese video game giant Tencent is planning to increase its stake in French video game developer Ubisoft, reported Reuters. Tencent already has a 5% share in Ubisoft which it bought in 2018, and recently reached out to the Guillemot family and showed interest in buying a larger share of the company.
Ubisoft is currently valued at $5.3 billion, and it is not certain how much more stake Tencent wants, but some of the sources did say that Tencent wants to get the majority share in Ubisoft.
The previously mentioned Guillemot family currently owns the highest share of the creator of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, 15% to be exact. The 5% that Tencent owns was purchased at $66 per share, and now it is willing to pay $101 per share to expand its ownership.
80% of Ubisoft is currently publicly owned. And some of the sources suggested that Tencent wants to reach out to public owners as well to become the majority owner of Ubisoft. One of the sources said that “Tencent is very determined to nail down the deal as Ubisoft is such an important strategic asset for the company”.
This means that this deal will probably go through. Mainly because Tencent is already offering a much higher price per share than the current value to avoid competition.
What Happens If Ubisoft Is Bought?
If the deal goes through, Tencent will officially own all Intelectual Properties owned or created by Ubisoft. This includes memorable titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Watchdogs, and even the upcoming Beyond Good And Evil 2.
Following the potential buy-out of Ubisoft, the new management will most likely increase the pace at which Ubisoft is developing games. Some of the IPs will move over to Tencent titles as well.
Tencent acquired a majority share in Tequila Works earlier this year. The recent spree of large video game developers being bought picked up the pace when Microsoft acquired Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard soon after. Since then talks of Sony being interested in acquiring Square Enix and Capcom have also been making the rounds.