A thought I had whilst reading the Outlaws thread. With Ubisoft on a steep decline, who buys them out? They might be a falling company but they still own a few popular IPs.

I can only really imagine Microsoft taking the opportunity to take their big IPs for gamepass like they did with Bethesda and Activision (and then fire half of the studios).

What a dark future that is where every entertainment IP belongs to either Disney, Microsoft or Sony. :-(

Everything ending up with the Chinese, or more specifically Tencent seems the most likely. They already own a substantial share of Ubisoft's stocks, if I recall correctly.

Nobody. In spite of their failures in the enthusiast spheres, one has to realize just how much distance it'd take (especially in terms of market cap) to propose a buyout that works, at least an exponential amount of euro.

Speaking of which, I hope you didn't forget where Ubisoft is located. There are probably actual protections/state interests to prevent that from so easily happening.


Joke Answer: Gameloft, the discount Ubisoft.

Without any facts to back my claims, I'd say any company able to buy out Ubisoft isn't allowed to and any allowed to can't afford it.

I don't think they'll get bought anytime soon.
But if they were to be bought, I think Microsoft would be out of the picture now. They just bought Activision and had to fight in court for it. And due to that purchase, Xbox division is now pressured to make money more than even, which explains why their games are now coming to PS5.

Ubisoft's current structure is so bloated and inefficient that no potential buyer will touch them in this state. They would have to restructure significantly before a buy-out/merger becomes viable...

Selling Assassin's Creed is the same as closing up shop. Without AC there is no Ubisoft anymore...

^This.

West gaming market now holds on two threads:

Assassins Creed Shadows
GTA 6

If either of the two fail, many companies will be sold.
Depending on how well AC Shadows end up being, its the end for the Ubisoft we use to know, simply because of their state right now.

Because of this, I'd put my two cents into Microsoft buying Ubisoft for the sake of their IPs.

Ok, ok...I'll do it.
sigh
But just so we are clear: after that, I don't want to ever hear a word of complaint again.

lol no, only Ubisoft will be at risk if Shadows is a commercial failure, you can't possibly compare a yearly release to the sequel of the highest-grossing entertainment product EVER

And ubisoft won't suddenly disappear either

Dang it, you beat me to it!

The IP does not really matter. Nobody needs yet another Assassins Creed from bad developers.

A new generation of IP from good developers is preferable.

Black Myth Wukong is a new IP and did just fine.

French and EU anti-monopoly laws would prevent Ubisoft from being acquired by most of the large gaming players.

Maybe Mohammed bin Salman (Saudi crown prince who bought SNK) wants Ubisoft? Or maybe Elon Musk wants to throw his hat into the gaming ring - seems to stick his fingers everywhere nowadays.