Microsoft has spent close to $100 billion on historically third-party publishers and developers over the past few years, but now it’s been sniffing around Ubisoft’s intellectual property as well.
A disgruntled shareholder of the embattled French firm recently accused the company of failing to disclose “discussions between Microsoft, EA, and others that are interested in acquiring IPs from Ubisoft”.
Juraj Krúpa, the irritated investor in question, alleged that the conversations were shared in a “a restricted article published by business investment platform MergerMarket”, and that neither shareholders nor the public were informed.
Ubisoft has since issued a statement to IGN revealing that it continues to review “various strategic and capitalistic options going forward”.
In a Bloomberg article since, it’s claimed the publisher could spin some of its biggest franchises off into a new company, with Chinese juggernaut Tencent – which already owns almost 10% of the French firm – potentially lined up to invest.
Ubisoft’s share price has tumbled over the past five years, and it’s been struck with a series of expensive failures, like the undercooked Star Wars Outlaws, which launched to lacklustre sales last year.
