According to Eurogamer.net, Ubisoft has confirmed its €1.16bn Tencent investment is “on track to close in the coming days” after last week’s surprise delay to its financial report. The Chinese conglomerate is acquiring a minority stake in Vantage Studios, Ubisoft’s new subsidiary that will house Far Cry, Rainbow Six Siege, and Assassin’s Creed. Charlie Guillemot, son of CEO Yves Guillemot, will serve as co-CEO alongside Christophe Derennes. The delayed report, which caused trading halts and acquisition speculation, was actually due to auditor and revenue reporting issues. Ubisoft’s net bookings grew 20% year-on-year for the first half of this financial year, driven by strong Assassin’s Creed performance. The company’s final major 2025 release will be Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Switch 2 on December 2nd.
The Tencent investment reality
Here’s the thing about this “pivotal milestone” – it’s essentially a massive cash infusion to keep Ubisoft afloat while they reorganize. Yves Guillemot calls it “transformation,” but let’s be real: €1.16bn is emergency funding dressed up as strategic partnership. And putting the CEO’s son in charge alongside existing leadership? That smells more like keeping control in the family than genuine innovation.
The Vantage Studios gamble
So they’re creating this new studio structure with “Autonomy, Focus, and Player Centricity” as guiding principles. Basically, they want to turn three aging franchises into “annual billion-euro brand ecosystems.” But hasn’t the gaming industry learned that annualizing franchises leads to burnout and quality issues? Look at what happened with Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed itself before they backed off annual releases. Now they want to double down?
Leadership turbulence
The departure of Assassin’s Creed series lead Marc-Alexis Côté right before this reorganization speaks volumes. First they claim he had “his own expectations,” then he clarifies he was asked to “step aside.” That’s corporate speak for “we’re cleaning house and he didn’t fit the new vision.” When you lose the creative force behind your flagship franchise during a major transformation, that’s concerning.
The financial pressures
Ubisoft desperately needs this cash. Twenty percent growth sounds impressive until you remember they’re coming off some rough years. And their mention of Rainbow Six Siege’s cheating problems after going free-to-play? That’s the downside of the model they’re probably expanding across all three franchises. More free access means more cheating, more moderation costs, and potentially alienating the core player base that made these games successful in the first place.
