One Of The Biggest Gaming Companies Is Now Up For Sale
Acquiring new gaming studios is the new norm, and it has now been revealed that one of the biggest studios in the world could be sold very soon.
This article is more than 2 years old
Acquiring gaming studios seems to be the new norm. At least, it appears as if Microsoft and Sony are doing their parts to acquire what companies they can. This whole idea makes the “console wars” battle seem that much more important. Sony purchased Bungie for a whopping $3.6 billion. Bungie is known for making the Destiny series. Microsoft also purchased Bethesda for $7.5 billion, a famed developer responsible for Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Doom. Both companies are seeing the value of acquiring these sought-after developers, and they could fight one another for the newest developer that could be up for sale soon. That developer is none other than Ubisoft.
The reports, thus far, have stated that private equity owners are currently having preliminary talks to purchase Ubisoft. This is massive news considering how huge Ubisoft is. The developer is responsible for the Assassins Creed series, Far Cry, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Just Dance. These are only a few franchises from the studio. Purchasing this studio would mean huge gains for whatever company is able to acquire the developer. Considering that both Bungie and Bethesda sold for a whopping combined $11.1 billion, it stands to reason that Ubisoft would land somewhere near the higher end of that number. The developer is responsible for a massive number of titles, including upcoming and past titles. This surprising acquisition rumor has been due to the flagging stock price of Ubisoft in recent years. It has also been reported that the studio is currently auditing several aspects of the business. While that is not out of the norm, it has been confirmed by insiders that this might be due to the acquisition happening sooner rather than later. Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. are two of the private equity companies looking into the acquisition.
It would be massive for either Sony or Microsoft to acquire Ubisoft, but it appears as if they may have some challenges in the form of these private equity companies. There could be a collective wanting to get their hands on Ubisoft, especially considering how expansive gaming has become in the past 10 years. There is a ton of money to be made in the gaming industry, and the purchase of the other studios should be further proof of that.
Back in February of 2022, the CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, claimed that the company would remain “independent.” However, he also claimed that they would listen to acquisition offers as well. When asked why there had not been any acquisition offers, he claimed to not want to speculate on that. There were likely no acquisition offers due to other companies not truly knowing if Ubisoft was up for sale. Now that they know, expect an all-out war to acquire one of the biggest gaming studios in the world.
Ubisoft is currently worth $4.61 billion, according to Macrotrends, so expect that number to be met in some fashion when the company is bought out. Hopefully, Sony or Microsoft are the ones who land the storied game developer. Gaming studios should remain under a gaming company’s umbrella. Expect to see more heated talks about this acquisition in the coming months.
