I'ma slightly change that title just so people know what we are still talking about. 

Taking it private does not solve structural problems. Biggest one is they conditioned their buying public to expect heavy discounts soon after release. I can't think for a reason to buy a Ubisoft game at launch prize, knowing that it will be half within a year at the latest. Neither any of my gaming buddies.

Example: Stoked for the Prince of Persia Lost Crown. Right up my alley. Great game. Waited 3 months, got it for 40% less.

Shame cause Lost Crown is awesome but it's seemingly another in the line of Ubiflops but yeah they've conditioned gamers into expecting massive discounts so quickly after launch that there's no point buying at launch. Teams like Lost Crown will probably be first on the chopping block in a buyout, I still enjoy Assassin's Creeds and Far Cry's, though I see them as more like the McDonalds of the gaming industry now, Lol. Nothing special but a fun time still, but Lost Crown made me feel more like "This is something special" but welp, didn't sell well.

These things are related, though. Whenever a game comes out from a publicly traded company there's pressure to recover the capital invested in developing it. To prove to shareholders they can make money on the company instead of diluting their money on the S&P average or some other investment fund. (See: the dynamic between Square Enix and Eidos, especially the Tomb Raider games).

A private company has no such pressure and can walk its own walk. They would be better positioned to take their time before launch and not panic discount their games after launch... in theory.

I'd prefer it was the Guillemots alone looking to take it private since the stock was so undervalued, and I think I even mentioned the possibility of such a scenario, but still.

Tencent has got to be one of the worst choices, imo. 

Much as I dislike Ubisoft these days, I'd rather Tencent not get their hands on an EU/Western publishing firm. If Asia has laws against buying Asian corps, the same should apply vice versa tbh. 

Agreed Tbh.

Like I said in my post earlier though, I don't think it will be an easy acquisition for Tencent, FTC is lot more aggressive nowadays, France is talking heavily about having to protect Europe from America/China or else they'll be left behind in competitive markets and America already did a security probe on Tencent for acquiring frigging Sumo Group, Lol.

Guess we'll see what the structure of the deal will be if there is one, then it'll be easier to make a guess on what may happen, or heck it might not be Tencent but some other company, though I can't see who other than some shady private equity firm, Lol. There's not many who will want to take on 20,000 employees in one swoop.

I know Yves is going to protest it to the death (like he's done so in the past, French family and all that jazz). Tencent will need more than just money though. They'll need leverage to make the buyout worth it somehow, and I honestly don't see that working, besides them going "hey we own Riot"?.

Tencent doesn't exactly scream premium creme de la creme gaming products (maybe in China but not much in the West that makes them stand out like MS/Sony/Nintendo). 

Who knows, maybe MS might be spurred to swoop in, I mean they've gone for Activision/Blizz and Beth after all. It's just scary to think that we'll eventually approach that future where we have megacorps that own the slightly big fish, leaving just the minnows in the lake. 

Microsoft legally isn't allowed to even try to acquire Ubisoft until at least 2033 due to their divestment of Activision-Blizzard cloud licenses to Ubisoft so there's no point in speculating in that one, haha. Even if they could, I'd hope FTC/CMA/EC would come down on them like a ton of bricks and block it in an instant, I'm a big Xbox fan but fuck them, they'd probably lay off 10,000...Lol.

Ain't zero chance Sony goes for it either, they aren't going to want to take on 20,000 employees. Even Activision-Blizzard was "only" around 10k when Microsoft first made the deal to acquire them, they ballooned to about 15k during the legal battles, Lol. Can rule out the other 3rd party publishers as well doing a merger, I reckon, anyone acquiring Ubisoft is going to do massive layoffs.

Unfortunate Yves and Tencent seem to have a good relationship, Tencent owns around 10% and Guillemot Family around 15% but Tencent also owns 49% in Guillemot Brothers Ltd. Over the years, it has been pretty obvious that Yves has been working with Tencent to ensure that both Ubisoft remains independent but his family also remains a top shareholder.

They made these moves to prevent another Vivendi situation (hostile takeover) but may end up selling to Tencent anyway, Lol. I think Yves may go for Tencent owning the company if his family still is allowed a significant stake and leadership role. Not sure if that's enticing to Tencent though, Tencent tends to stay hands off but Ubisoft is mismanaged.

Were they slapped with some kind of cooling off penalty?. I wasn't even aware that was even a thing to consider (but then again, that buyout was a big one, bigger than Bethesda's purchase). 

I think Tencent sees the sinking ship as a means to gain ground in EU/US markets, but that's just my theory. Ever since they showed up ibn the games industry, they sided with Epic in a big way at first, then they nabbed Riot and controlled the biggest Moba on the planet and started expanding that IP around the field. They technically have a two pronged assault via their alliance with Epic and their WePlay (and I guess Riot, since they technically have their own client these days). 

Yves honestly has no clue what he's getting himself into tbh. Holdings companies aren't like regular corps like MS. One day they're your best mate and give you some roles, the next you're out and they've got someone else to play ball with. Holdings have no real everlasting bond (from what I've seen in history anyway, it has always been about primary interests in what they hold, rather than what they establish). 

At this moment in time Yves will likely have to make the offer, and it'll be Tencent who decides if it's a good deal or not. If not, the ship will simply sink further, so it's not like Yves is on even bargaining terms (your mention of some shares and a leadership position hint me to this scenario at least). 

Nah it isn't a cooling off period or anything like that.

Basically, the CMA blocked the ABK acquisition due to concerns about the Cloud Gaming Market, they said that Microsoft with ABK titles would dominate the Cloud Gaming market and essentially have a monopoly on it (in the future). Therefore Microsoft came up with a compromise wherein they would divest the ABK Cloud Streaming rights to another party (enter Ubisoft).

So essentially, Ubisoft owns the Cloud streaming licenses for all ABK titles ever released and all ABK titles which will be released over the next 10 years, they own these rights for a period of 10 years. So lets for example say, Microsoft wanted Black Ops 6 on xCloud? They'd have to pay Ubisoft for the permission and even then, Ubisoft has the right to refuse, Lmao. So basically Ubisoft could say "fuck you" to everyone and make ABK titles exclusive to their own cloud streaming service, they haven't, but they could.

Therefore if Microsoft acquired Ubisoft it would essentially make the entire divestment mute, cause then Microsoft would own the ABK licenses again, CMA would be pissed off, so the CMA slapped a 10 year ban on Microsoft for even making an attempt to acquire Ubisoft and Microsoft agreed to it so there's likely no legal way around it.

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Tencent could see it as a possibility to get a big foothold in the EU/US markets, right now they own some pretty big studios and IPs but Idk, I don't think they've really established themselves as a force in the western market yet, they own a bit in a fuck load of companies but nobody pays attention to minority shares and all that stuff and when people think of Riot I don't feel like they think of Tencent.

But "Tencent + Ubisoft" has a much bigger ring to it.

Though, Tencent is playing nice with Yves now but who knows how long that will last if Tencent manages to acquire the company. They can say "Oh yeah Yves, we'll keep you onboard, lets make the company private together" and then shit-can him months after, Lmao. So Yves better have some ironclad assurances.