Ubisoft fends off Vivendi takeover, gets in bed with Tencent
Ubisoft fends off Vivendi takeover, gets in bed with Tencent
In total, Vivendi will get around €2 billion from the sale fo their stake in Ubisoft, with the money coming from a multitude of investors as well as Ubisoft itself, who will buy back some of their stock. Investors include Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot (through Guillemot Brothers SE), the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan and Tencent, a Chinese gaming giant.
Vivendi purchased these shares in Ubisoft for €750 million, netting a massive profit after their of investment. This purchase frees Ubisoft from the threat of a hostile takeover, which means that the company will continue to operate normally.
Another noteworthy aspect of this deal is that it brings Ubisoft much closer to Tencent, giving the Chinese gaming giant an even larger stake in the global video games industry. Tencent already owns Riot and 48% of Epic Games, the creators of Unreal Engine and Fortnite.
Alongside this deal Ubisoft announced a strategic partnership with Tencent which will help bring Ubisoft’s games into the Chinese market, allowing the company to access the country’s growing gamer demographic. Below is a comment from Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot.
Tencent manages the largest online games community in China and one of the largest, most active social networks in the world, so this deal should help us dramatically increase our games’ exposure and engagement in China,We are fortunate to have a fantastic partner in Tencent, and look forward to continuing to work with them to deliver great gaming and entertainment experiences for Chinese players.
The Chinese gaming market is notoriously difficult to access, thanks to their strict regulations on foreign media. Tencent is the biggest player in this market, making them an ideal partner for developers and publisher who want to sell their games in China.
China has laws in place which requires foreign developers to have a domestic sponsor as a publishing partner within the region, which prevents Ubisoft from accessing the country’s gamers on their own.
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