A couple of months ago, we heard reports coming out of Bloomberg that Ubisoft was considering potential buyout opportunities on the back of Star Wars Outlaws' disappointing launch - and some fresh reports and predictions have arrived in recent days that hint at a similar future for the French game maker.
According to Reuters, some of Ubisoft's shareholders have begun discussing "how to structure a possible buyout" of the company. One of those shareholders is Chinese conglomerate Tencent - whom reportedly wants "to remain patient" as the founding Guillemot family decides what to do next. Neither Tencent nor the Guillemot family responded to Reuters' request for comment; but Ubisoft did reply to the outlet:
"We remain committed to making decisions in the best interests of all of our stakeholders,
In this context, as we have already indicated, the Company is also reviewing all its strategic options."
On the back of this report going out late last week, video game analyst Joost van Dreunen has said that they see the Assassin's Creed publisher heading towards "privatization and dismantling in 2025" (thanks, TweakTown). According to the analyst, "without a fundamental shift in how they develop and maintain games, they [Ubisoft] risk further alienating both investors and players". With the company's share price dropping rapidly year-on-year, Joost believes the company could look very different in 2025.
While this is all rumour and speculation for now of course, these reports do come off the back of Ubisoft announcing the impending closure of its free-to-play shooter, XDefiant. The Ubisoft San Francisco production will remain playable to existing users until summer 2025 - when it will shut down for good on all platforms, including Xbox.