A little talent, a little luck and a little timing! That's Ubisoft's recipe for extricating itself from an uncertain future and calming worries. After a number of rumors that we relayed to you, and a fairly successful launch for its latest game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, France's largest studio has announced the creation of a new subsidiary. This entity will bring together the Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy's licenses, and will be partly owned by Tencent.
A question of timing
The Chinese conglomerate will invest €1.16bn in this new subsidiary, valued at €4bn, giving it around 25% of the capital. An impressive valuation, higher than that of parent company Ubisoft, in part thanks to a good timing. The franchise's latest opus, Assassin's Creed Shadows, set in feudal Japan, was warmly welcomed by the public.
For information, Ubisoft and Tencent are already closely linked. Tencent holds a 10% stake in the French studio, as well as an indirect interest. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to strengthen Ubisoft's balance sheet, significantly reducing its consolidated net debt, while accelerating its transformation and supporting the growth of selected franchises.
The new branch will also include the teams responsible for these franchises, based in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona and Sofia. For the moment, no details have been given as to how many of Ubisoft's 17,000 employees will be attached to this new structure, as not all the employees of these studios work exclusively on the three licenses concerned. The subsidiary will have its own independent management, although it will continue to report to a board of directors controlled by Ubisoft.
Ubisoft's main unit will focus on the new Tom Clancy: Ghost Recon and The Division titles, as well as on other existing games and new licenses. Alongside the three franchises integrated into the subsidiary, games currently in development at Ubisoft include Anno 117, the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Splinter Cell. The studio said it would communicate more about its future operating model "at a later stage". The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Ubisoft gained 9% as trading began following this announcement.
