By announcing on Tuesday the strengthening of the Chinese Tencent to its capital without the latter having any influence on its governance, Ubisoft cut short speculation about its possible takeover by a third party.
The French video game publisher, which has experienced commercial setbacks and an image crisis since 2020 after acts of harassment, now intends to reassure about its long-term industrial strategy.
What, perhaps, to raise a stock market valuation well below that of its American competitors EA, Take-Two or Activision.
“
The video game will not be spared the challenges of inflation, hybrid work and increased competition.
But our industry will continue to reach new heights and will soon surpass other entertainment in terms of impact and engagement
,” its CEO Yves Guillemot told a press conference.
“
I am convinced that Ubisoft has all the assets to be a major player.
»
Capitalize on three strong brands
Among these, the publisher's rich catalog of licenses, three of which will be the subject of special attention: Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
Ubisoft wants these brands to generate a total of $3 billion in annual revenue by 2027, three times more than today.
And to achieve this, "
we want to transform them into iconic media franchises and become a major player in pop culture
", underlines Sandrine Caloiaro, director of the portfolio.
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In addition to premium games for gamers, Ubisoft wants to reach a wider audience with TV series, movies and more accessible games.
Projects with Netflix are in production, including three mobile games reserved for its subscribers.
The three licenses will also be deployed “
on all screens, with a strong focus on mobile
”, continues Yves Guillemot.
This last point partly explains Tencent's interest in the French group.
The Chinese designed for Activision
Call of Duty Mobile
, a huge commercial success.
Will he also work on Ubisoft mobile games?
The editor does not wish to comment on this point.
Five new Assassin's Creed games
The group illustrated this strategy on Saturday during its Ubisoft Forward conference.
He unveiled no less than five games from the Assassin's Creed license for console and PC (
Assassin's Creed Mirage, Red, Hexe
), including one multiplayer (
Invictus
), and also for mobile (
Assassin's Creed Jade,
which will happen ... in China).
He also lifted a corner of the veil on Assassin's Creed Infinity, a still mysterious online platform that will bring together all the games in the saga, past and future.
Finally, the saga will also have its mobile game on Netflix, in addition to a series.
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If Ubisoft wants to push three brands, it does not intend to put away its dozens of other licenses in a box.
The group has one of the most varied creative catalogs on the market.
An asset for its Ubisoft + subscription service, soon available on consoles, and which will be open to games from other studios.
It thus poses as an alternative to Microsoft's Game Pass and Sony's PlayStation Plus.
The door remains open for a buyer
“
We also have a unique ability in the industry to create new brands.
Several under development are based on new technologies such as the cloud, Voxel, augmented and virtual reality
,” reveals Yves Guillemot.
The group also points to its tools as an asset, such as the Anvil and Snowdrop game engines.
“
As the industry refocuses on the Unity and Unreal engines, having our proprietary technology will be a strong competitive advantage, and a source of creative freedom.
In the same spirit, Ubisoft is working on Scalar, a production tool based on cloud computing.
Read alsoUnreal, Unity: 3D engines attacking the metaverse
The French group also points as a strength to its 60,000 developers, spread over dozens of studios around the world.
The latter were worried by speculation that Ubisoft would be a choice choice for a Sony or an Amazon at a time of consolidation in the video game industry.
The clarification of the partnership with Tencent, which protects the group from any hostile operation for eight years, "
gives long-term prospects to our employees
", underlines Yves Guillemot.
However, the group would like to point out that Ubisoft is not closing the door to takeover proposals, which will be studied by its board of directors.