French publisher Ubisoft may be looking to sell, according to a new report.
Bloomberg previously reported that private equity firms were beginning to take interest in Ubisoft. Kotaku then reported on Saturday that Ubisoft is working to audit aspects of the company in preperation for an eventual sale.
Acquisitions are at an all-time high in the gaming industry, with 2022 already seeing Microsoft in the process of buying Activision Blizzard for almost $69 billion, while Sony is acquiring Destiny developer Bungie for $3.6 billion.
Ubisoft previously defended against a hostile takeover from Vivendi, with the Guillemot family remaining firmly in charge at Ubisoft an controlling around 15% of the company’s shares. Kotaku notes that Ubisoft’s stock price has fallen heavily in the last couple of years.
According to the report, Ubisoft is facing numerous internal problems that could lead to the company being sold, including delays acorss various projects. Ubisoft projects include a remake of Splinter Cell, which is currently in very early development, as well as Assassin’s Creed Infinity. Other games, such as the next Far Cry and Ghost recon titles, are also reportedly far away. Ubisoft also confirmed the existence of a new multiplayer game called Project Q on Saturday.
In the more immediate future, Ubisoft currently claims that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Home, and the long-delayed Skull and Bones are all slated to arrive sometime before April 2023. As reported earlier in 2022, Ubisoft is developing a standalone Assassin’s Creed game that was previously DLC for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, something Kotaku alleges is a “stop-gap measure” for a period in which the company lacks new game releases.
