Vivendi taking over Ubisoft

Meh, they only thing I care about from Ubi is Rayman, and they don't really care about him outside of Ancel.

That said, greedy investors will be sure to accept their bribe money and run like hell before it all goes to shit.

Rayman and Splinter Cell are the only series I really care about from Ubisoft, and even then I only like the 3D Rayman games and hate what they did to Splinter Cell with Conviction and Blacklist.

Ubisoft has built a reputation for making derivative and mediocre games but on occasion they make games like Siege or For Honor. Siege, though I still have to play it is a game I respect and admire. You can bet your butt Vivendi wouldn't allow a game like that to happen again.

Doesn't Vivendi already have Activision?

This seems like a Monopoly.

No Activision Blizzard split from Vivendi in 2013.

So as someone who hasn't really read up on this, could someone explain to me why Vivendi would want to change the games Ubisoft makes in any significant way? To use a metaphor, if they want a piece of a delicious pie, why would they change the ingredients?

edited 27th Apr '17 6:44:23 AM by LordVatek

They want to build up its share value in the short term for a major profit and thus onsell of their own shares - so acquire, then use Ubisoft to acquire more IP and other dev studios then liquidate and retain IP etc etc.

It's the older style of media company operating - equating acquisitions and ownership with value; potentially increasing the churnout of titles (a la EA in its earlier incarnations) to inflate share value.

Well, that's the risk at least.

Anyone speculating on what Vivendi would do with Ubisoft is honestly talking out of their asses because Vivendi's not said anything about what they would do to Ubisoft's product. Plain and simple.

Anyway, at the moment it's a waiting game. the last general assembly of the stockholders, Vivendi didn't make any move to ask for a seat on the board (And in fact, didn't send any of their key people to said meeting at all). While they own the most shares, they do not own a majority, so it's at this point a simple waiting game, Vivendi needs to show they can do a better job than the Guillermot family, which runs Ubisoft (and founded it) to get on the board. Or shell out a ton for a hostile takeover. It also means that Ubisoft can't afford big "failures". Likely why Asscreed is on continued hiatus, and very likely why we're unlikely to see a Watch_Dogs 3 after the 2nd lukewarm sales despite the better reception.

Ah, okay then.

edited 27th Apr '17 6:49:53 AM by LordVatek

True, speculation on my part is going by prior behaviour in the area.

But Vivendi have had a share drop of 3% and will likely be looking for something to shore up their price somehow.

And Vivendi have a poor track record on their investment outputs. Look at the companies they've bought out in France. Use that as the yardstick.

Yeah, but Ubisoft is also a lot bigger than much of the stuff Vivendi usually gobbles up. Both in terms of size and revenues.

Ubisoft to buy-back all of the shares owned by Vivendi and Vivendi commits to not buying any stocks in Ubisoft for five years.

In others Vivend is NOT taking over Ubisoft

Boo!

I wanted to see greed getting devoured by even more greed against its will!

I take Ubisoft over Vivendi any day,glad they're remaining free

So Tencent was the white knight after all. Wonder which western pub they're going after next.

Also Ubisoft is basically freeee and independent nearly,yay for them!

Considering that AC: Origins was great (and sold/reviewed well), and some of their upcoming titles (notably Far Cry 5) are looking promising, this is a good thing, most likely.

The bad new is that this is only for the next 5 years, and it cost Ubisoft $2.45 billion dollars to buy off Vivendi's shares - over twice what Vivendi had originally invested (man did they walk out of that deal winning). That was one expensive saving throw on Ubi's part, and now that means Tencent has some influence over their future actions.

Yeah. Also with Tencent's involvement, it means they are eyeing the Chinese market, which can have design decisions when the chinese censors get involved.

Why is everyone so big on hating Vivendi? Could someone fill me in on what they've done?

Vivendi is a giant media conglomerate with holdings in various media. Think Warner Bros

Their only interest in video game publishers is purely financial. Think of EA but with even less video game experience to draw upon.

Ubisoft doesn't stand to gain anything by being own by them. And the pressure they put on Ubisoft's owner to resist the takeover I have no doubt causes some of Ubisoft's more dumb decision.

edited 24th Mar '18 12:43:00 PM by Ghilz

Vivendi was the man behind the man while people abhorring Activision was at its high. It's a pretty poor picture to infer from.

Plus, Ubisoft had to avert the hostile takeover by paying Vivendi over $2 billion, and also by allowing another major company, Tencent, to hold a signicant portion of their stock. So not only have they just lost a ton of their own savings, but now they're partially beholden to a Chinese company notorious for P 2 W games.

edited 25th Mar '18 6:17:42 AM by SgtRicko

I don’t suppose there’s any chance of that leading to a proper Assassin’s Creed set in China, is there?