According to Wccftech, Ubisoft has announced the acquisition of the MOBA game March of Giants from Amazon. The deal is expected to close on December 16, 2025, at which point the entire Montreal-based development team will become part of Ubisoft. The team is led by creative director Xavier Marquis, the original creative director of Rainbow Six Siege, and senior production leader Alexandre Parizeau, former managing director of Ubisoft Toronto. As part of the agreement, Amazon will continue to provide marketing support for the game on its Twitch platform. This move comes shortly after Amazon laid off over 14,000 workers in October, with significant cuts hitting its game studios and leading to project cancellations.
A Full-Circle Return for Talent
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just an asset purchase; it’s a homecoming. Both Marquis and Parizeau are former Ubisoft heavyweights, and their quotes in the press release drip with that “returning to the mothership” energy. Marquis literally says it “brings things full circle.” For Ubisoft, this is a huge win. They’re not just buying a game in development; they’re acquiring a proven, veteran team with deep institutional knowledge of how to build and sustain a live-service tactical shooter—Marquis’s work on Siege is the blueprint. They get a project with “closed alpha” momentum and a team that already knows how to navigate Ubisoft’s corporate structure. That’s a lot of potential friction avoided.
Amazon’s Gaming Retreat Continues
But what does this say about Amazon’s gaming ambitions? Look, the context is impossible to ignore. This sale follows those massive 14,000 layoffs and the cancellation of big projects like a Lord of the Rings MMO. It seems like Amazon is fundamentally narrowing its focus. They’re stepping back from funding original, risky AAA IP from the ground up. Instead, they seem to be prioritizing game development only around established, bankable IP—like the Tomb Raider and Mass Effect projects they announced. And honestly, why wouldn’t they? Their real strength is in adaptation and distribution—Fallout was a monster hit for Prime Video, and Twitch is their marketing engine. Developing a new MOBA to compete with League and Dota is a brutal, expensive marathon. Selling it to a company built for that grind? That might just be the smartest play they’ve made in gaming.
Ubisoft’s Live-Service Gambit
So for Ubisoft, this is a clear move to double down on the competitive live-service arena that CEO Yves Guillemot mentions. They’ve had hits like Rainbow Six Siege and XDefiant, but the MOBA genre is a crown they’ve never worn. Acquiring March of Giants gives them a potential entry with a team that (on paper) has the right pedigree. The big question is whether Ubisoft’s notorious corporate processes will help or hinder this “innovative and differentiated project” they’re buying. Can they provide the agility a live-service MOBA needs to survive? The deal structure is interesting, too—Amazon still handling Twitch marketing is a weird, co-dependent footnote. It basically admits Amazon keeps the valuable platform, while Ubisoft takes on the risky, capital-intensive game development. That tells you everything about where each company sees its strengths right now.
