Tough times for Ubisoft: Insider reports on the French publisher's management's desire to sell their company, but no buyers yet
In the last few years, Ubisoft has not been doing too well.
In the last six months alone it became known about the cancellation of the development of seven big-budget games. And the already released projects do not bring the expected profit.
In fact, after the release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla in November 2020, the French developer has not released a single really popular project.
Authoritative journalist and insider Jeff Grubb reported that Ubisoft executives are considering selling their company or merging it with other corporations. But, unfortunately, those who want to buy Ubisoft has not yet been found.
Grubb believes that the reason for Ubisoft's problems and companies unwillingness to make a deal is ineffective management and extremely unwieldy structure (note: Ubisoft has about 20,000 employees, while Electronic Arts - 12,000 people, Activision Blizzard - about 10,000, Take-Two - 6.5 thousand).
Ubisoft definitely already did the rounds proposing acquisitions and mergers with other similar companies, and it mostly got laughed at. It's just too unwieldy. Its strength was its distributed development structure, and now that is an albatross.
- Grubb (@JeffGrubb) January 11, 2023
The most likely buyer of Ubisoft seems to be the Chinese corporation Tencent. It has repeatedly invested in the French company and is its largest shareholder.
