Ubisoft Sells Off Some of Its Family Silver

Ubisoft is spinning off three of its top brands – Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six – into a new subsidiary in which Tencent is investing €1.16 billion. Ubisoft is calling this a historic step that will help it to be agile and ambitious at the same time.

Since rumours began circulating in October 2024 that Ubisoft could be delisted with the help of minority shareholder Tencent, the industry has been waiting for an official announcement. That has now happened. In terms of content, however, the deal that is supposed to free the beleaguered publisher is quite different from what was speculated.

Specifically, Ubisoft has announced the creation of a new subsidiary that will receive an exclusive and universal licence for the three brands Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Assassin's Creed, and Far Cry. The new subsidiary will also take over all teams from the studios in Montréal, Québec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia that work on games in these franchises. The same applies to the entire back catalogue of the brands and all games that are in development or will be developed in the future.

Ubisoft is thus spinning off three of its most valuable IPs into a separate subsidiary, which will be based in France and wholly owned by Ubisoft. However, Tencent will invest €1.16 billion in the company immediately prior to the transaction. In return, Tencent will receive almost 25% of the shares in the new, as-yet-unnamed subsidiary.

The amount of the investment is not arbitrary, but guarantees Ubisoft entrepreneurial control over the subsidiary, which will also have its own management team supervised by a board. Since no names were mentioned – neither for the new subsidiary nor potential managers – it is unclear whether the Guillemot family will be personally involved in the subsidiary.

"Today, Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in its history," said Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "As we accelerate the company’s transformation, this is a foundational step in changing Ubisoft’s operating model that will enable us to be both agile and ambitious. We are focused on building strong game ecosystems designed to become evergreen, growing high-performing brands and creating new IPs powered by cutting-edge and emerging technologies."

Martin Lau, President of Tencent, added: "We are excited to extend our longstanding partnership with Ubisoft through this investment, which reflects our continued confidence in Ubisoft’s creative vision and exceptional talent to drive sustained success in the industry. We see the immense potential for these franchises to evolve into long-term evergreen game platforms and create engaging new experiences for gamers."

It is difficult to say what the ultimate consequences of the step announced today will be for the teams and the other parts of Ubisoft. What is certain is that the outsourcing and the investment by Tencent will significantly ease the financial pressure on Ubisoft and strengthen the balance sheet.

In any case, Ubisoft's plan is to use the newly gained freedom to enable the new subsidiary to massively develop the ecosystem around the three IPs. The quality of narrative solo experiences should increase, multiplayer offerings with more frequent content releases should expand, free-to-play touchpoints should be introduced, and more social features should be implemented.

At the same time, the existing Ubisoft will focus on the company’s other brands, develop selected new IPs, and continue to deliver state-of-the-art game engines and online services. More details about the plans for the existing Ubisoft business will be announced at a later date. What is known, however, is that two other game series in the Tom Clancy's franchise – Ghost Recon and The Division – will remain part of Ubisoft. So what remains of Ubisoft is anything but second-rate.