Chinese Tech Giant Tencent Wants To Increase Its Stake In Ubisoft

Tencent, China’s biggest gaming firm and social network, is aiming to up its stake in Ubisoft, Reuters reports. 

The company, which already owns the likes of League of Legends developer Riot Games and Hood: Outlaws & Legends developer Sumo Group, previously bought a 5% stake in Ubisoft back in 2018, but is now apparently aiming to go bigger. Reuters’ sources claim that Tencent has reached out directly to Ubisoft’s founding family, Guillemot, to express interest. 

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Reportedly, the Guillemots currently own 15% of Ubisoft, and Tencent is hoping to buy an additional stake directly from them. How much this will actually equate to isn’t known, but two anonymous sources apparently told Reuters that Tencent is aiming to become Ubisoft’s single largest shareholder, so we can only assume it’ll be quite a chunk. 

Apparently, Tencent previously spent €66 per share when it bought its 5% stake, but that’s gone up a fair bit now. Reportedly, each share might now cost up to €100, so it could end up being a pricey deal. As of now though, nothing is finalised.

In other news, next month, Ubisoft will be streaming a Ubisoft Forward “multi-game showcase”, which will almost certainly include some stuff for gamers to be excited about. The event will take place on 10 September, and some are speculating that we might be getting some Assassin’s Creed news, as it was previously revealed that “the future of Assassin’s Creed” will be unveiled during a September livestream.

The timing would certainly line up, although there’s still not been any official word on it just yet. Just to add to the speculation further, some fans have been wondering whether this so-called “future” of the franchise will be the live service game, Assassin’s Creed Infinity, which we know is a thing that exists, but we’ve not seen it yet. GTA Online with an Assassin’s Creed coat of paint on the top might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but we’ll just have to see what happens.