What to Think About Ubisoft's Chinese Passions?

It’s been impossible to miss the news this week: Breton publisher Ubisoft, facing significant economic and social difficulties¹, with its profits down by half a billion euros for the fiscal year 2022-2023, has decided to sell to a Chinese company. That company is Tencent², which I briefly mentioned in a previous article discussing politics, soft power, and Black Myth: Wukong³. Specifically, Ubisoft is partnering with Tencent to create a subsidiary that will hold the exclusive exploitation rights for Ubisoft’s major licenses⁴: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, in exchange for a welcome cash injection of 1.16 billion euros. Is this foresight? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, the news has provoked reactions, from censorship suspicions due to an update in Far Cry 4⁵ removing certain explicit content, to a minority shareholder taking legal action in France⁶ to try to block the project, causing quite a stir! However, it’s crucial to remain calm: the shareholder in question, AJ Investments, reportedly holds only 1% of Ubisoft’s capital and seems to be a professional agitator⁷ with a grudge against Ubisoft⁸. As for censorship, the absurdity in censorship is quite fashionable in the industry (I particularly remember the incident with Kasumi’s skirt being too short for the U.S. on the cover of Dead or Alive: Dimensions in 2011), but with progressives leading a witch hunt that drives all media to self-censorship, it’s hard to tell which repressive force has won: wokism or communism? And while some might want to blame Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, caught in a sterile debate concerning its protagonist⁹, let’s remember that it’s not selling too poorly¹⁰, and rumors of Tencent’s involvement have been circulating for several months¹¹.

By the way, Ubisoft already has some connections with China: the group has two studios located in the Middle Kingdom, in Shanghai¹² (since 1996) and Chengdu¹³ (since 2008). In fact, this isn’t the first time Tencent has come to Ubisoft’s aid during troubling times. You might remember the fraternal battle between Vivendi, led by Vincent Bolloré, and Ubisoft, under the Guillemot brothers¹⁴, who are French entrepreneurs and especially proud Bretons. This conflict was resolved in 2018 when Vivendi withdrew, pocketing some liquid assets along the way¹⁵ — rest assured! — and when Tencent entered Ubisoft’s capital (with a 5.8% stake), primarily as a telecommunications (mainly Internet) actor at the time. Ubisoft certainly has a history rich in twists and turns. Now, old Bob will sum it all up for you!

1984: The Guillemot brothers launch into video game imports with their mail-order company, Guillemot International.
1986: Creation of Ubi Soft and initial autonomous developments.
1988: Move into the legendary “Château Ubisoft” (not as legendary as a certain “Armory Kink”, but I digress…).
1995: Rayman, the group’s first global success.
1996: Ubi Soft becomes Ubisoft Entertainment and begins international expansion.
2004: Electronic Arts launches a hostile takeover bid on Ubisoft, holding up to 19.9% of shares before the Guillemot brothers manage to thwart the attack.
2004 (again): FarCry
2006: Rayman Raving Rabbids
2007: Assassin’s Creed
2008: Ubisoft acquires the name (and brand) Tom Clancy¹⁶.
2009: Just Dance (franchise has sold 80 million copies to date).
2005 – 2014: Ubisoft releases an average of 40 titles per year.
2015 – 2018: The thwarted offensive from Vivendi.

What an adventure nonetheless! For a more detailed history, follow this link¹⁷! Does the new alliance with Tencent, which finds itself in a more advantageous position than the first time, signal the end of the journey? The video game industry has its fair share of fallen champions that have left nothing behind (Ocean, Infogrames, Psygnosis, …) or empty shells with just a name (Atari, Rare, Konami, …). Even giants like Electronic Arts seem to be losing steam lately¹⁸. So, thinking of Ubisoft as eternal would be a grave mistake. But if this flagship of the French video game industry disappears or falls completely under Chinese control, the entire French sector could be called into question.

Even though the industry boasts over 400 studios in France¹⁹, most are tiny and have little impact on the global video game market. Aside from Ubisoft, only Ankama, Arkane Studios, Asobo, and Quantic Dream²⁰ have a minimal international presence. And even then, Ankama’s success relies on the diversity of its activities, with only one truly significant game (‘Dofus’). Arkane Studios hasn’t been faring well²¹ since the failure of ‘Prey’, Quantic Dream has faced closure rumors since being acquired by another Chinese company, NetEase²², while Asobo largely owes its survival to a commissioned, albeit very successful game: ‘Flight Simulator’. In short, the future of the video game industry in France looks bleak. Add to this that the industry’s workers, led by Ubisoft staff, have been struck by the French malady of strikes²³, and their resistance to the end of remote work²⁴, and you might agree that the future isn’t looking rosy. Under these conditions, it’s impossible to attract foreign investors, whose doubts about the reliability of French workers were definitively resolved, unfavorably, on February 13, 2025. As for the refusal to end remote work, there’s no doubt that this demand will pose no difficulty for Chinese investors, who will have no problem accommodating remote work… conducted by Chinese workers!

As the global video game industry faces a significant selloff, investing in the French video game sector seems riskier than ever for a foreign investor, particularly in an era where the renowned “French Touch” is waning²⁵ (a somewhat pretentious term referring to the creativity of French industry pioneers like Philippe Ulrich, Eric Chahi, Frédérick Raynal, Paul Cuisset, and Michel Ancel, the father of Rayman). The numbers don’t lie: only Ubisoft still appears in the top 20 global publishers²⁶, sitting at an unimpressive fifteenth place! And honestly, it’s been several years (or even more than a decade) since old Bob has purchased a French game (excluding Flight Simulator, as it’s a Microsoft commission). Quantic Dream hasn’t produced anything notable since Heavy Rain (2010), Dishonored dates back to 2012, and no Ubisoft game has seemed worthwhile since Steep (2016)²⁷. One exception: Operation Wolf in VR²⁸, a commissioned game. So, what remains in the French video game industry? Past glories, names that have stayed famous: that’s precisely what Tencent has acquired with the new subsidiary. Is this the liquidation of assets before bankruptcy? Not if the Guillemot brothers fight as they have brilliantly done in the past. But do they have the will for it? After a lively 40-year journey and with a mutinous crew as storm clouds loom on the horizon, the temptation might be great for the industry’s captain to cash in his chips at the casino before the stock market crash triggered by the partnership announcement wipes them out, and to enjoy a well-deserved retirement. Time will tell!

What to Think About Ubisoft’s Chinese Passions?

Bob Dupneu

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