Ubisoft's assets may be broken up as founders seek deal with major Chinese publisher

The future of one of gaming's biggest publishers may be getting a little stranger.

A report from Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the matter indicates that Ubisoft's founding family, the Guillemots, are considering creating a "new venture" in partnership with Chinese megaconglomerate Tencent. This new company would gain some of Ubisoft's assets, giving Tencent more control while keeping the new venture privately owned.

At this time, it's unclear exactly which assets would be moved into the new company and which would remain nominally with Ubisoft. The company oversees several massive franchises, including Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon, Spliter Cell, and the Tom Clancy games.

Reports indicate that Ubisoft's heads have been seeking a buyout of some kind since at least 2024, with months of conversations between CEO Yves Guillemot and Tencent, but the parties have been unable to reach a deal so far.

The big immediate question mark surrounding these negotiations is the company's upcoming role-playing game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, which has been delayed twice and is now expected to arrive on March 20, 2025. It's one of the only games the company has publicly slated to launch in 2025, adding increased pressure to expectations surrounding its commercial success.

Alongside Assassin's Creed Shadows' delay, Guillemot confirmed the company had appointed advisors to to aid in "exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets."

Turning the corner?

Ubisoft has faced increasingly turbulent financial straights over the last couple of years, with the company explicitly blaming the claimed underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws as a major factor. Ubisoft also announced that its free-to-play shooter XDefiant would be winding down in 2025, with 277 employees affected by the closure of three development studios across Osaka, San Francisco, and Sydney.

While Ubisoft is currently in a rough patch, the company is hardly done fighting. Insider Gaming indicates that Ubisoft has a number of large games on the way that are yet to be announced or dated (or both) but are meant to launch before the end of 2026. This roster includes a remake of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Assassin's Creed Hexe, a new Ghost Recon, the Splinter Cell remake, and a few other "smaller" projects.

Other major games in Ubisoft's portfolio, such as The Division 3, Beyond Good and Evil 2, another mainline Assassin's Creed role-playing game, and another Assassin's Creed remake, are all reportedly further out.

Naturally, I'll be keeping a close eye on Ubisoft in the coming weeks and months. The company is one of the largest western publishers, responsible for the biggest games in existence. It'll be interesting to see where everything ends up falling.