French publisher Ubisoft is launching a new subsidiary that is dedicated to its core franchises.
In a release to investors, the firm said that this venture would be handling the Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six IPs; this includes upcoming games and any back catalog.
The aim, seemingly, is focus on these core franchises with greater investment. This subsidiary has a license to the Rainbow Six, Assassin's Creed and Far Cry franchises, which it has to pay Ubisoft royalty.
Speaking of investment, Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent has invested €1.16 billion ($1.25 billion) in this new subsidiary, giving it a 25 per cent stake at its valuation of around €4 billion ($4.3 billion).
For context, Ubisoft's market cap as an entire company is currently €1.91 billion ($2 billion), which begs the question why Tencent didn't just acquire the French firm rather than investing a massive amount of money into a small part of it.
“Today Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in its history,” Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot said.
“As we accelerate the company’s transformation, this is a foundational step in changing Ubisoft’s operating model that will enable us to be both agile and ambitious. We are focused on building strong game ecosystems designed to become evergreen, growing high-performing brands and creating new IPs powered by cutting-edge and emerging technologies.”
Tencent president Martin Lau added: “We are excited to extend our longstanding partnership with Ubisoft through this investment, which reflects our continued confidence in Ubisoft’s creative vision and exceptional talent to drive sustained success in the industry. We see the immense potential for these franchises to evolve into long-term evergreen game platforms and create engaging new experiences for gamers."
This news follows reporting that Tencent and Ubisoft were looking at spinning off some IP into a new company altogether. There have also been reports that the French firm has been in discussions with the likes of Microsoft and EA to sell off some of its IP.
Disclaimer: Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist and writer who has worked with Ubisoft in the past
