Ubisoft Aims to Rack up Five Billion Players with Tencent Deal 10 April 2018, by Lucie Godeau

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Ubisoft aims to rack up five billion players with Tencent deal 10 April 2018, by Lucie Godeau

But last month Vivendi bowed out, selling its 27.3 percent stake in a two-billion-euro ($2.5 billion) deal that saw Tencent, a digital giant whose market values rivals that of Facebook, come in.

"As soon as they expressed their desire to leave, we brought them a solution, with partners who wanted a stake," explained Guillemot, who nonetheless said the battle with Vivendi had an upside.

"With our strategy for creating value, we proved that we didn't need anyone, and that they were not going to bring any added value," he said.

Yves Guillemot, chief executive of French video game When the deal was signed "there were some nice developer Ubisoft, in his office at the company's parties here", Guillemot said, though he was in the headquarters in Montreuil, outside Paris US at the time.

'Good balance'

Fresh from winning a long corporate battle, French Tencent, which operates China's ubiquitous video game powerhouse Ubisoft is aiming for a WeChat messaging platform, is the country's leader tenfold surge in its global playing audience after in social media and gaming, claiming one billion securing a partnership with Chinese internet giant clients. Tencent. Guillemot said China had an "incredibly vibrant" PC "Within ten years, Ubisoft wants to reach five billion gaming market, and huge potential for smartphone players" who have taken up the challenge of at gaming. least one of its games, compared with the 500 million it has now, chief executive Yves Guillemot Ubisoft had already signed a deal with Tencent last told AFP in an interview. year to develop "Might and Magic: Era of Chaos", which has generated Chinese sales of more than Speaking at the company's offices in Montreuil, $100 million. just east of Paris, Guillemot made no secret of savouring his victory against Vincent Bollore, the "We also signed an agreement to develop our French chairman of Vivendi who has a long history Ketchapp mobile games on WeChat. We think it will of corporate raiding. add 100 million players for Ketchapp games," he said. In 2015 Vivendi began acquiring shares in the publisher of hit titles like "Assassin's Creed" and Ubisoft is also betting on the growing popularity of e- "Far Cry", threatening the Guillemot family's control sports, hoping to organise more live gaming of Ubisoft since they no longer owned a majority competitions. stake.

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"The goal is to be in the top five of the most- But Guillemot said his first order of business will be watched games," with titles such as "Rainbow 6", to get out of the office, giving himself a few days of "For Honor" and "Just Dance", Guillemot said. vacation after some fast-paced months.

And the five-year deal with Tencent, which got no © 2018 AFP seats on the Ubisoft board and said it would not raise its stake, offers some protection from further shareholder battles, after Vivendi and before that Electronic Arts in 2004.

For its part, the Guillemot family has no plans to gain a blocking minority by increasing its own 18.5 percent stake, with voting rights of 23 percent.

"We want most of all a good balance between our different shareholders, one that stays stable over the long term," he said.

Broad horizons

The company's ambitious target of five billion players is also based on both hardware and software innovations that are expected to sweep through the industry.

"In ten years, handsets will be much more powerful," with smartphones capable of exceeding current standalone gaming consoles like PlayStations, Guillemot said.

And with more people playing via cloud computing, Ubisoft will be able to deliver its games to TVs, mobile phones or even self-driving cars.

"It's going to make our games available on the majority of screens," Guillemot said.

"The trick will be to create games that are adapted to these new technologies, with themes that speak to everyone."

Ubisoft is also basking in the strength of its lineup, with "Far Cry 5", the latest in the immersive blockbuster shooter series, this month becoming the fastest-selling title in the franchise.

The company said it had pulled in $310 million from sales in the first week alone, and has now sold more than 40 million copies of "Far Cry" overall since the first instalment was launched in 2004.

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APA citation: Ubisoft aims to rack up five billion players with Tencent deal (2018, April 10) retrieved 29 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2018-04-ubisoft-aims-rack-billion-players.html

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