Ubisoft will face BIG Trouble Soon-what about AC Shadows? the end of Ubisoft?
5I don’t want to sensationalize and politicize this channel. But gaming has always been sensationalized by the studios and the media. Sadly, gaming is becoming more and more politicized. There have been some crazy things happening between Ubisoft and Tencent. So, let me just tell you what I think is going on. This will take only a few minutes of your time. As always, I am curious what you think about it, as I am merely a tiny channel on YouTube and you guys are a smart and well-educated audience.
As you might know, in the past few weeks I have made 2 videos that dealt with the difficulties Europe’s software house Ubisoft is facing. I talked about how Tencent of China is in talks to buy Ubisoft…the fact that Ubisoft is in financial trouble is a drama by itself but now the drama has somewhat grown even more. So, what happened?
In early January 2025 the Department of Defense of the United States of America has classified Tencent as a, and I quote, ‘a Chinese Military company operating in the USA’.
So, although it is not exactly clear what this Tencent classification means for the talks between Ubisoft and Tencent, this development may change everything. There is a chance that Ubisoft, the company that has developed gaming franchises like Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy titles and many more, can now effectively no longer engage in business discussions with Tencent, as Ubisoft games sell worldwide, and the US gaming market is important to Ubisoft.
As expected, Ubisoft’s leadership has reacted to this. Afterall Ubisoft is no longer able to act independently as the French video games publisher has lost so much market value in the past few years. Tencent, on the other hand, is approaching 500 billion dollars in market capitalization and is clearly a huge company with many joint ventures and investments. Heck, at one point, Tencent owned 5% of Tesla, the EV company.
So, the latest news this week is that Ubisoft and Tencent are planning to create a ‘new venture’ together. The CEO and owner of Ubisoft (Yves Guillemot) has not been opposed to this and seems to support the idea of starting a new venture between the two companies.
So, what do you think? What will Ubi-Cent or Ten-Soft be like? What about upcoming games, such as the ‘we put all our eggs into one basket’ Assassin’s Creed Shadows that is launching in late February?
As I said, I am merely a tiny gaming channel on YouTube, and I am super curious about what you think. What will happen next between Ubisoft and Tencent! Let me know what you think in the comments.
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