Intro
Out of all the gaming company titans that exist within the industry, Ubisoft is not one you would expect to struggle considering how many different IPs and titles they have ownership over. Yet, despite this precognition, reports are coming out that the company is looking for someone to buy them out for a hefty price. Let's take a deep dive into why this can be and their realistic options for this purchase.
Trouble From Within
Despite how much Ubisoft has going for them in terms of the IPs that they own, quite a few issues are curtailing the success of this gaming titan as of late. Firstly there's the stink of the harassment allegations brought against the company from some of its employees. While not as prevalent as Blizzard's own allegations, they were horrifically noteworthy and concerning for investors, which led to protests from within.
What makes matters worse for the work culture is that many employees are leaving the company in what has been dubbed "The Great Exodus", with many of these employees being developers and producers for future and present games that act as the glue for the game quality. The work allegations and current pandemic conditions have made working within this particular game company less than ideal, which may be delaying future titles for their many IPs from being developed, which will harm their stock growth for the future.
The Price of Success
One major issue that Ubisoft is having lately is that it might be suffering from its previous success. Think about it. Since the early 2010s, they have had a torrent of constant success from IPs that they own, such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Tom Clancy, Watch Dogs, and more.
These IPs were so successful in fact that they spawned series that had so many sequels, they could give Call of Duty a run for their money in sheer volume, raking in millions of dollars that attributed to Ubisoft's success. Their sequels have become so routine as of late that you could say that creating them is an art that Ubisoft has down to a science…perhaps too well.
The More Things Change
It's because of the success they have had and the number of sequels that they've created, in a way, they've emulated Call of Duty's own formula of success of creating constant sequels year after year that they've created a problem. They've become too comfy with the success mentioned above. They don't innovate or make overt changes with many of the titles that they have created. Like in Far Cry's case, they frequently change the setting but keep many of the mechanics the same.
This is fine as long as you keep things fresh now and then, but the games and sequels have become too formulaic. Too obvious. To telegraphed. The fact that Assassin's Creed exists as a game series to this day is astounding, considering the main story ended at the third game, yet here we are, with more sequels and DLCs being pumped out at such a steady rate that interest in their titles is decreasing as a result. There's no sign of them setting trends or breaking the bounds with their games. There's no innovation, no sign of anything new to get excited about. Interestingly, they're probably not only well aware of this but also are looking toward the buyout as a solution to their litany of issues.
The Chances of a Buyout
Whether a buyout is a good or bad thing for Ubisoft and the development of their games is something that can't quite be predicted at this moment of time. What can be seen is that despite them seeming quite desperate for the buyout, there's a decent chance of it happening. Bethesda, which went through its own struggles that are well documented, managed to get bought out by Microsoft, thanks to the many tempting IPs that they had under their Umbrella.
In response, Sony made what many consider to be a panic buy to counteract this by purchasing Bungie, and while they're certainly a storied game company, they don't have nearly the amount of IPs that Bethesda has. To try and play catchup, Sony purchasing Ubisoft is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for both parties, primarily if the former wishes to compete directly with Microsoft. However, the talks are from set-in-stone, and there could be many other buyers that seek to take advantage of the offer that Ubisoft is making.
Conclusion
Whether Ubisoft or Microsoft winds up buying out Ubisoft is a matter of debate. Still, it's pretty interesting to see how what was thought to be a recipe of success for Ubisoft wound up putting them in this position…along with the aforementioned work culture issues that have hung over the company like a dark cloud. It's even more interesting to see how so many of these juggernaut game companies are being picked up by the console titans as of late, which makes one wonder how the gaming industry will be affected by it for good or worse in the future. Either way, it will be another topic to discuss on GamePub down the line.
Comments