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Canadian video game developer Ubisoft is reportedly seeking a buyout from its minority shareholders to avoid a hostile takeover, according to inside sources.

A report by Reuters cited “two people familiar with the matter” who requested to remain anonymous to provide the details.

The Guillemot family, the founders and largest shareholders (15%) in Ubisoft, have allegedly been in talks with the second-largest shareholder in the company, Tencent (9.99%), to organize a buyout.

Tencent is a giant, multinational media corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, China. It owns shares in over 30 gaming companies across the world, owning more than a third of studios like Epic Games and Shift Up. Tencent also wholly owns Riot Games out of Los Angeles, which created the ultra-popular League of Legends game.

The rumors allege that other minority shareholders, such as AJ Investments, have been nudging the founding family to take the company private or sell it off to a strategic investor.

The Guillemots would reportedly like to maintain control of the company, but Tencent has yet to decide whether or not it wants to increase its stake. Tencent has apparently asked for greater decision-making power in the boardroom including in regard to where cash flow is distributed. The Chinese company is hoping to avoid a hostile takeover by other investors who are unhappy with the company’s drop in stock prices.

As of the time of this writing, Ubisoft stock prices have dropped by nearly 50% in the last year, falling from almost $25 per share in December 2023 down to around $13.30 in December 2024.

‘We have utterly crushed this corrupt, gamer hating studio.’

Ubisoft has been mired in controversy for almost all of 2024, which has led to extremely sour tastes in the mouths of gamers and even poorer sales.

The company started off the year with marketing executive Philippe Tremblay saying consumers need to get used to not owning their video games in order to move the market in a direction that is focused on subscription-based access.

In April, developers of Star Wars Outlaws denounced oppression and inequality in a series of cringeworthy public statements meant to appeal to progressive audiences. Upon its release, Ubisoft said its sales were “softer than expected,” admitting to just 1 million copies sold, which was incredibly low for a budget of approximately $250 million.

In July, the company’s newest Assassin’s Creed game faced relentless backlash for fabricating a story about a black samurai and making the character the face of the game. Assassin’s Creed Shadows was eventually delayed until February 2025 as outrage spiraled online.

Game developer Mark Kern, who has led a crusade against forced diversity in video games in recent years, called Ubisoft one of the “most infected” studios in terms of heartless platitudes.

“[They] tried to make you love Star Wars Outlaws, and tried to virtue signal with Assassin’s Creed Shadows.”

Kern added, “You fought. We fought. And now, we have utterly crushed this corrupt, gamer hating studio.”

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