Rumored Ubisoft and Tencent agreement comes to fruition with 25% stake and new division for the Assassin's Creed developer

Following French publisher Ubisoft's success with the launch of its new open-world action RPG Assassin's Creed Shadows last week, the firm has officially confirmed a major upcoming structural change for its business operations.

Specifically, Ubisoft announced on Thursday morning that it's creating a new gaming subsidiary that encompasses three of its largest franchises: Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. The multinational Chinese company Tencent will invest €1.16b (roughly $1.2b) for 25% stake in the division, giving it an approximate enterprise value of €4b ($4.3b). This number exceeds Ubisoft's own by a large margin.

In exchange for a royalty, Tencent will be granted "a worldwide, exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual license" for Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. The new subsidiary will include all of Ubisoft's development teams currently working on these intellectual properties and both previously released and upcoming games, and "will focus on building game ecosystems designed to become truly evergreen and multi-platform."

Ubisoft's announcement elaborates on this further, explaining that the group will take advantage of the investment to "drive further increases in quality of narrative solo experiences, expand multiplayer offerings with increased frequency of content release, introduce free-to-play touchpoints, and integrate more social features" into these brands. The rest of the publisher, meanwhile, will focus on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and The Division (among other projects).

"With the creation of a dedicated subsidiary that will spearhead development for three of our largest franchises and the onboarding of Tencent as a minority investor, we are crystalizing the value of our assets, strengthening our balance sheet, and creating the best conditions for these franchises’ long-term growth and success," commented Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot in the company's press release. "With its dedicated and autonomous leadership team, it will focus on transforming these three brands into unique ecosystems."

Tencent president Martin Lau also provided a statement. "We are excited to extend our longstanding partnership with Ubisoft through this investment, which reflects our continued confidence in Ubisoft’s creative vision and exceptional talent to drive sustained success in the industry," he said. "We see the immense potential for these franchises to evolve into long-term evergreen game platforms and create engaging new experiences for gamers."

Notably, Ubisoft was rumored to be seeking a buyout with Tencent in 2024 following recent struggles with the performance of the publisher's games. A report earlier this year also suggested that the two companies were looking to make a deal over some of Ubisoft's assets; this, evidently, is the result of those discussions.

Completion of this transaction is expected to finish before the end of 2025.

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The start of a Ubisoft recovery?

As previously mentioned, Ubisoft has gone through significant financial struggles in recent years, with several games like Star Wars Outlaws ultimately failing to live up to the firm's performance expectations. The company's free-to-play shooter XDefiant is also scheduled to shut down this June, with the publisher also closing three studios in the US, Japan, and Australia.

With that context in mind, this deal with Tencent makes lots of sense for both parties; Ubisoft secures some very crucial funding, while Tencent stands to profit from future successes and gains rights to Ubisoft's biggest properties. This partnership — along with new upcoming releases like The Division 3, Beyond Good and Evil 2, the Splinter Cell remake, and others — has the potential to right the ship for the French publisher.

It's worth noting that Ubisoft's 2025 has seemingly started off quite well, with Assassin's Creed Shadows enjoying three million players just a week after its release. That makes it one of the most-played and fastest-selling entries in the series, with it only being surpassed by 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla.