Ubisoft Confident It Can Remain Independent Amidst Industry Acquisitions

If you’ve been paying attention to the video game industry as of late, you likely already know that 2022 has so far been defined by one word: acquisitions. 

Take-Two Interactive was the parent company of Grand Theft Auto and announced in January it would be buying mobile firm Zynga. A week later Microsoft revealed that it would acquire Activision Blizzard (the company behind Overwatch, Call of Duty) for an incredible $68.7billion. Then two weeks later Sony announced it had purchased Bungie, which is the creator of Destiny 2. 

Analysts and gamers alike speculated on possible acquisitions. Names like EA or Ubisoft have been at the heart of these discussions. Yves Guillemot from Ubisoft was able to speak out in a quarterly earnings presentation yesterday, stating that there are no workplace mistreatment allegations at all. 

“We have always taken our decisions in the interest of our stakeholders, which are our players, employees, and shareholders,” Guillemot said, as reported by Eurogamer. “So Ubisoft can remain independent. We have the talent, the industrial and financial scale, and a large portfolio of powerful IP.” 

Guillemot doesn’t rule out the possibility of Ubisoft being acquired by another company, though. 

“Having said that, if there were an offer to buy us, the board of directors would of course review it in the interest of all stakeholders,” he said. 

Similar to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and what’s to come of that, any company that theoretically acquires Ubisoft would be taking on a mountain of employee exoduses, workplace misconduct accusations, and more. 

This December report details an ongoing exodus within Ubisoft. After a disappointing summer, employees were unhappy about Ubisoft’s handling of internal scandals. Back in July, a new report revealed that many Ubisoft employees were unhappy with how leadership handled “Me Too” and in October of 2020, a report revealed that 25 percent of Ubisoft employees experienced or witnessed workplace misconduct. 

[Source: Eurogamer]

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