Microsoft purchased ZeniMax, and more recently, Microsoft purchased Activision-Blizzard, while Sony has scooped up Bungie. In the wake of these massive changes to the gaming landscape, gaming giant Ubisoft is rumored to be courting buyers and considering selling. After Elon Musk bought Twitter, anything can seem possible, so many are wondering if Ubisoft will become a Sony or Microsoft subsidiary.
In this article, we'll explain whether or not Microsoft or Sony will buy Ubisoft and answer all your questions about the Ubisoft acquisition rumors.
Ubisoft's IP Problem: Where's the Value?
Whenever a big acquisition happens in the gaming world, you can generally expect it to come down to two factors: developers and IP. Either a company sees value in an experienced dev team with a history of success, or it sees value in the IP a publisher or developer owns.
In the case of Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax, yes, there were experienced, successful developers in the mix, but the big get for Microsoft was ZeniMax's huge library of beloved IP from The Elder Scrolls to Doom to Fallout to Dishonored and much more.
Related: Why Call of Duty Is Failing, Losing Money and Players
Sony's acquisition of Bungie works the other way. Bungie only owns the Destiny IP, and while Destiny is a hugely successful franchise, it's just one franchise. Really, what Sony saw in Bungie was the legendary developer who created Halo and then went on to create another hugely popular franchise. With Bungie's plans to build a totally new game in the coming years, that possible success is what Sony's after.
The value of Ubisoft's most successful, relevant IP in modern times and its development studios is a lot more complicated than it is with ZeniMax or Bungie. Franchises like Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed or Far Cry or The Division aren't really associated with particularly memorable characters, exceptionally deep narratives, or ingenious gameplay innovations. These games, in the modern-day, tend to offer huge swaths of content and familiar-yet-crunchy gameplay loops all in the context of an open-world sandbox.
People pick them up because for the price there's lots to do, and the familiar gameplay loop and open-world structure of Ubisoft games are often comforting and approachable to gamers. Plus, these tend to be graphically quite impressive and offer single-player experiences in an increasingly multiplayer world.
Related: Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile Explained: Release Date, Cross-Play, Maps, and More
Both Microsoft and Sony have studios capable of building big open-world sandbox games, and both Microsoft and Sony own studios that have built games like these in the past. And if the big draw of an Assassin's Creed game, for example, isn't it actually being uniquely Assassin's Creed, why spend the money on either the IP or the studios that build these games?
The Surprising Size and Scale of Ubisoft
For context, Activision-Blizzard has around 10,000 employees spread across the world, and the company took in nearly $9B in revenue in 2021. Ubisoft, on the other hand, has around 20,000 employees spread across the world, and the company took in around $2.5B in revenue in 2021.
You read those numbers right. Ubisoft has nearly 10,000 more employees but only makes a fraction of the money Activision-Blizzard makes. Accordingly, Ubisoft's costs will be, inevitably, significantly higher than those of Activision-Blizzard when Ubisoft has to manage and support nearly double the employees.
Related: Call of Duty: Warzone Is Broken and Won’t Be Fixed Without a Sequel: Warzone 2
In short, the margins for Ubisoft are a heck of a lot tighter than you might think for a company of Ubisoft's size. Plus, Ubisoft's studios are distributed across the world with many of them spread around Europe whereas studios in the Activision-Blizzard umbrella, for example, tend to be a bit more concentrated and less spread out.
A company like Ubisoft, considering its size, would not just be massively difficult for a Sony or Microsoft to integrate, but the margins on Ubisoft's games are so much lower than that of other publishers, the hassle would not make sense for either company.
Money, Money, Money
Microsoft spent a staggering $68.7B on Activision-Blizzard and $7.5B on ZeniMax, while Sony picked up Bungie for $3.6B. Microsoft made over $161B in revenue in 2021, while Sony made around $82B in revenue in 2021.
Related: Sledgehammer Games Is Saving Call of Duty: Vanguard and Treyarch and Infinity Ward Should Take Note
Considering the size and scale of Ubisoft, an acquisition would inevitably be closer to the size of the Activision-Blizzard acquisition rather than the ZeniMax or Bungie acquisitions, and that immediately prices Sony out. Sony is a significantly smaller company than Microsoft, and for Sony, making an Activision-Blizzard size acquisition is simply not feasible.
Microsoft is massive and likely could purchase Ubisoft, but considering they've spent a cool $75B in just two acquisitions in the last few years, totally independent of the studios they continue to gobble up, it doesn't make a lot of sense for Microsoft to immediately make another gargantuan purchase.
This lines up with the actual rumors surrounding Ubisoft's possible acquisition. Investment firms are rumored to be considering buying the company, which would make sense. Ubisoft might have a lot of overhead, but they do reliable business, and an investment firm with tons of capital looking to make a reliable investment could see lots of value in Ubisoft.
Related: Call of Duty: Vanguard Got a Huge New Update Overhauling Spawns
Plus, this would likely mean few changes, if any, would come to Ubisoft. Considering the company's focus on consistency and monetization (alongside less savory things like NFTs), Ubisoft doesn't feel or act very much like the independent company it is. This also makes sense, considering Ubisoft's nearly 20,000 employees. Point being, new suits to report to behind-the-scenes probably won't result in many changes to Ubisoft's games, which fans are sure to appreciate.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!