When the announcement that Tencent was acquiring a minority stake in Ubisoft, as well as providing a long-term unspecified loan, was made back in January 2023 it was hard not to laugh. After all, two of the most vile companies in the video game industry were getting in bed together. Now, there is the possibility that the Guillemots and Tencent might take the company private, further solidifying their partnership, which would make Ubisoft and Tencent the perfect match made in hell for a number of reasons.
A recent article from Bloomberg states that Ubisoft’s founding Guillemot family, along with Chinese mega conglomerate Tencent, are reportedly exploring the possibility of taking the company private. This move comes in the wake of several high-profile game flops that includes Skull and Bones, xDefiant, the recently released Star Wars Outlaws, a delay for the controversial game Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and a sharp drop in Ubisoft’s share price as a result of these failures.
Such a drop in Ubisoft’s stock value opens it up for a potential hostile takeover either by an outside company or buying back shares to increase controlling interest in the company.
Ubisoft, and its CEO Yves Guillemot, has a history of lying to consumers to make sales, utilize draconian DRM, and was at the forefront when it comes to being anti-consumer and anti-game ownership. From lying about removing DRM to making promises that it never keeps, Ubisoft has shown it has a lack of morality and regard for consumers. Recently, Ubisoft has found itself facing a lawsuit for allegedly sharing gamers’ personal information with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) which adds to the company’s indifference to consumer rights and privacy.
As for Tencent, the company has a history of doing everything and anything to make money and violate consumer’s privacy and rights. From implementing the Anti-Addiction System that allows the Chinese Community Party to track players’ game time and even kick them out of the game to applying real-ID verification systems. All at the behest of the CCP.
Tencent has also been buying up, either completely or pieces of, a plethora of developers over the years. To the point that they are a bigger issue than the mountain-made-out-of-a-mole-hill that was the Microsoft/Activision buyout. After all, Tencent owns League of Legends developer Riot Games, developer SuperCell, and Funcom while owning shares in companies such as Epic Games, Paradox Interactive, Bluehole, and the aforementioned Ubisoft.
If this wasn’t enough, both Ubisoft and Tencent are invested in DEI. Ubisoft, a Canadian-based company, receives an exorbitant amount in loans, incentives, and tax credits to the amount of around CA $1.1 billion. Ubisoft has also been vocal about its DEI initiatives resulting in the creation of Employee Resource Groups giving rise to UbiProud and falling in line with Canada’s own push for DEI. Ubisoft’s fanatical embrace of DEI has affected its game development with Star Wars Outlaws criticized for its female lead while Assassin’s Creed Shadows for its racism and cultural appropriation of Japanese history and culture.
Like Ubisoft, Tencent has also embraced DEI but it is territory-specific. In other words, outside of China, Tencent supports and promotes acceptance of DEI. But not when it comes to its home country where DEI is rejected and the CCP’s hold on the Chinese video game industry is absolute and authoritarian. In order for outside developers to publish their games in China, there are many steps to be taken such as the game must be published through a Chinese-owned business, the game must not paint China in a bad light, as well as violence must be heavily toned down among other things.
Oh, and whatever the Chinese government wants whether it is your personal information or access to your computer, Tencent has them covered. Especially if you’ve installed one of their games that utilizes their invasive anti-cheat system.
Given all these factors, Ubisoft and Tencent truly are made for each other and a match spawned in hell. They don’t care about the rights of consumers, the consumers’ privacy, quality of their games, and even work in tandem with fascist governments. Yes, Canada is run by a fascistic regime that has gone off the deep end since 2020 and the Coronavirus. As for China, what hasn’t China done that doesn’t trod all over its citizens?
The ideal outcome for gamers would be for Ubisoft to be purchased by a different non-Chinese company altogether and expel the Guillemot family from the company (Valve needs to force developers to inform consumers if they are Chinese). Otherwise, don’t expect things to get better at Ubisoft if the Guillemot family and Tencent are able to take the company private.
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