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Ubisoft draws buyout interest


"Ubisoft is reportedly attracting attention from various private equity firms that could have an interest in acquiring the company, according to a report by Bloomberg. Two firms in particular — Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. — have studied the video game publisher, according to the report, but Ubisoft has not entered “serious negotiations” with any potential buyers, claimed the report.

Both of the identified firms are reportedly in the early stages of analyzing Ubisoft. According to Bloomberg’s sources, “there’s no certainty any of the suitors will proceed with offers.” Additionally, it’s unknown whether Ubisoft’s shareholders would want to pursue a deal, the report claimed. In a statement to Bloomberg, the French game publisher did state that its solid portfolio would allow the company to capitalize on new opportunities within the video game industry, should they emerge.
 

ManaByte

Member
Phil and Satya:
Money Smoking GIF
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Paging Elon Musk.

He'll make Assassin's Creed a real life experience by creating an actual animus for humans to plug into.
 

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
I have never heard of these two firms before today.
They are effectively the #1 and #2 largest private equity firms in the world. They each have hundreds of billions of dollars.
Here's a quote about the CEO of Blackstone from their website:
Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world’s leading investment firms with $915 billion Assets Under Management (as of March 31, 2022).
 
Why? Sony can actually make good games with their ip.
Because there are 20k employees at ubisoft, sony wouldnt really be doing shit to improve a company of that size.

If they bought them its just for revenue and ubisoft isn’t a company that see’s a lot of actual profits years to year which is why they are stressing all these new GAAS and NFT initiatives. They are shitty bloated company.

If sony buys them i know the future they are moving towards is not one i care for, especially when sony already makes ubisoft style games, only better.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
They are effectively the #1 and #2 largest private equity firms in the world. They each have hundreds of billions of dollars.
Here's a quote about the CEO of Blackstone from their website:


Damn, I should pay more attention to these guys.

Because there are 20k employees at ubisoft, sony wouldnt really be doing shit to improve a company of that size.

If they bought them its just for revenue and ubisoft isn’t a company that see’s a lot of actual profits years to year which is why they are stressing all these new GAAS and NFT initiatives. They are shitty bloated company.

If sony buys them i know the future they are moving towards is not one i care for, especially when sony already makes ubisoft style games, only better.


I kinda don't get the concern. Horizon FW is already an Ubisoft game in a different wrapper.
 
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Kokoloko85

Member
Ubisoft is a publisher I dont really care about.

Some of the ips like Rayman, Prince of Persia etc I like but whoever buys them I hope its not expensive and. Doesnt go platform exclusive
 
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Damn, I should pay more attention to these guys.




I kinda don't get the concern. Horizon FW is already an Ubisoft game in a different wrapper.

Even if you truly do believe that horizon is just an ubisoft game, then why would i want them to go and buy more ubisoft games?

Anyone that games on playstation should want them to buy companies in that have genres they don’t already provide and dominate in. It’s like wanting Sony to buy crystal Dynamics to make tomb raider exclusive when we already have a better version of it
 
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Kill Ubisoft, chop up the corpse and sell the IP's to interested parties. Microsoft could do with Assassins Creed to counter Sony 3rd person open world/cinematics and Sony could do with Rayman to counter Microsoft's 2d side scroller games like Ori.

It would be preferable for the gaming community to have those IP's sold to parties that want to use them/revive them.
 

Kdad

Member
Konami just reorganized and rebranded so they can buy Ubi, mothball the IP and crank out Pachinkocreed machines.
 

EDMIX

Member
You suggesting the Activision deal?
tumblr_mdglzzgW4I1qzf09s.gif

Agreed.

I think with Ubisoft, if they can buy them cheaper, shhhhhhiiiiiit that is a publisher that can be rebranded, worked around, reshaped etc as the IPs they house are massive and imho can do wonders if under the right publisher.
This^

Nobody can fix them better.

Thats also how I see this. I think its a solid fit if it ever happens.
 

GHound

Member
Ubisoft is the nearly the last company I'd ever want to see snapped up by any company already big in gaming. So this might save me from being forced to witness (at least what I feel to be) a big ol' waste of cash.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I have never heard of these two firms before today.
Huge companies. Bad memories of Blackstone (BX)! I bought shares long time ago at $25 and dumped during the global crisis at around $10. Fast forward to 2022, it's $130 and pays a $4 dividend!

 
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Because there are 20k employees at ubisoft, sony wouldnt really be doing shit to improve a company of that size.

If they bought them its just for revenue and ubisoft isn’t a company that see’s a lot of actual profits years to year which is why they are stressing all these new GAAS and NFT initiatives. They are shitty bloated company.

If sony buys them i know the future they are moving towards is not one i care for, especially when sony already makes ubisoft style games, only better.
I feel Sony is UNFORTUNATELY already moving in that GAAS/live service direction especially with wanting to create 10 new live service games in a relatively short amount of time in the future. Seems like Ubisoft favors the live service direction as well, so I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Sony is at least thinking about acquiring them.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I feel Sony is UNFORTUNATELY already moving in that GAAS/live service direction especially with wanting to create 10 new live service games in a relatively short amount of time in the future. Seems like Ubisoft favors the live service direction as well, so I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Sony is at least thinking about acquiring them.
Sony's internal game studios are working on tons of MP focused games and they recently bought Bungie.

UBI would be a good fit for Sony for numerous reasons:

1. Tons of GAAS/mtx heavy games
2. Lots of shooters. Something Sony shelved. They want to get back into it (hence Bungie Destiny)
3. Western style games (which Sony focuses on now)
4. Games sell well. Not all of their franchises, but they got lots of heavy hitters
5. UBI games have lots of style and presentation. Something Sony games have lots of
6. Not huge buy out costs. Someone did a chart of company market caps months ago and UBI was less than $10B. I think it was $8B. Add in buyout premium and you get to about $10B. Totally doable by Sony as their latest earnings has them making $12B profit alone in one year
 
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