Earlier this week, we heard that Microsoft has seemingly held talks with Ubisoft about buying some of the French company's gaming IP - and a fresh report tells us that purchasing these franchises would likely cost a pretty penny for the Xbox owner, if they were to go ahead and pick anything up.
By way of a new report from outlet Bloomberg, it's said that Ubisoft is looking to invite investment into "a new entity" containing some of its big IP, including Assassin's Creed. It appears that how these franchises will divided and shared is still unclear, but the "yet-to-be formed IP unit" could be priced "higher than the size of the main company", it's said.
Picking this information apart, what it's basically saying is that if Ubisoft's founders gather up all of its big game series' to sell off - that collection of franchises could cost more than buying Ubisoft outright. It seems that a decision about which direction to go in hasn't been made just yet, but the report notes that Ubisoft is keen for "bids to be made as soon as this month".
"The company is considering selling a minority stake in the venture and has contacted potential bidders, including current shareholder Tencent Holdings Ltd. and funds globally and in France, where Ubisoft is based, the people said. Ubisoft has asked for preliminary bids to be made as soon as this month, the people added, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter."
We haven't heard anything directly from either Ubisoft or Microsoft about whether the Xbox owner is actually interested in buying any of this stuff, so it's probably not worth expecting anything for now. Multiple reports on this have hinted that Tencent is in the driving seat here - and we'll continue to see how this story unfolds in the coming months.
Which Ubisoft IP would you be looking to pick up? Tell us what you think of this down in the comments below.
[source bloomberg.com]
Comments 14
Just buy the whole company Microsoft then I can have UBI games on my GPU.
Would be good if they already had with assassins creed shadows out next week.
The more studios and games on GPU the better especially new day one games.
@OldGamer999 I believe Xbox have just under 20,000 staff including ABK, Zenimax etc. post all the layoffs. Ubisoft have another almost 20,000 staff, that is humongous wage bill and number of people to manage. First thing that would happen would be another huge round of job cuts.
The only benefit to Ms buying Ubi outright would be the dismantling of Ubisoft+ and rolling it into Gamepass. Honestly though I don’t see why MS just make their own games in the genre. After Shadows launches AC will be a worthless tarnished brand that would require a ton of effort just to fix its relation with players. Why not just make a stealth game with no baggage?
I'd love them to secure Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, and Rayman. That said, I'd love a remaster of the PoP Trilogy too.
Save your money MS they aren't worth it.
After what we got from the ABK acquisition (Xbox becoming third-party plus barely any ABK games on Game Pass) there’s now people cheering for Microsoft to now acquire Ubisoft? Smh…
@themightyant
Wow didn’t know Ubisoft were that big.
I’m sure the managers can try and manage 🤣
@IOI
Of course I would want Microsoft to own Ubisoft. I then get all the new games day one on GPU, like assassins creed shadows next week.
GPU is already great now the games have started rolling out so add Ubisoft and I’m laughing all the way to the bank.
Ubisoft ip is good
I cannot see Microsoft acquiring anything significant from Ubisoft's IP portfolio, given their ABK expenditure and studios shuttering. With that said, I wouldn't mind having Ubisoft + as part of GPU.
They wouldn’t be allowed to buy Ubisoft as a whole (not that they would want to).
I also think MS are in a perfectly good place studio wise that they don’t really need anything in the Ubisoft stable.
They have plenty of varied IP and stuff in the back catalogue that could be brought back to life.
@PsBoxSwitchOwner 1000%
Only ubisoft ip I'd love to see them buy is the trials series!!
Trials hd is the 360 arcade goat!!
And trials horizons only builds on that game still amazing today to play!!
Ubisoft ruined the franchise and red lynx 😭
Lines up exactly with what I said in the other Ubi acquisition post. They are bloated with too many employees and those employees have WAY too many rights for any American or Chinese corp to want to take on. If this story is true then we know for certain: Ubi's devs are a liability, not an asset.
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