Which company should acquire Ubisoft?

Video game company acquisitions have become increasingly common in the last few years, with notable industry-shifting buyouts like Bethesda by Xbox, Bungie by Sony, and Zynga by Take-Two. Another big acquisition rumor swirling around involves the French company Ubisoft.

Recent reports from Bloomberg and Kotaku suggest that Ubisoft is gearing up for an acquisition soon. We do not know which companies may have or could approach Ubisoft, but we can speculate on the potential candidates. 

Hence, here's a list of companies that we believe could acquire Ubisoft in the future, alongside the advantages and disadvantages each of these companies may have by making Ubisoft a part of their family.

Companies that should acquire Ubisoft

The four companies that we believe should acquire Ubisoft are PlayStation, Xbox, Take-Two Interactive, and Tencent.

PlayStation

PlayStation has been on a hiring spree, acquiring new indie studios like Haven, Firesprite, or the big established AAA ones like the Halo and Destiny creator Bungie. PlayStation is fiercely expanding its first-party studios, and rightly so since its biggest competitor, Xbox, has been doing the same, but should PlayStation acquire Ubisoft next?

Upside

While PlayStation's studios continue to craft some of the best AAA single-player experiences, they have yet to make their mark in the live-service and multiplayer sectors.
Acquiring Bungie was just one step in the right direction though PlayStation does need more companies that have a well-established live-service titles or have well-established franchises that they are looking to adapt into live-service games. 

Ubisoft is one such company which is slowly and steadily shifting towards a live-service and freemium games model. The next entry in the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry franchises will reportedly be live-service titles, and if those weren't enough, Ubisoft is also planning to release freemium titles like Ghost Recon Frontline and The Division Heartlands.

PlayStation could greatly benefit from having a diverse lineup of multiplayer titles under its banner from all these new studios as its Worldwide Studios continue to churn out great single-player experiences.

Downside

It's no surprise that some of PlayStation's first-party open-world games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghost of Tsushima were structurally very similar to the open-world games Ubisoft makes. 

Having all these studios under the same banner and releasing structurally similar games may hurt PlayStation's reputation, and these first-party games may also lose their essence, something that makes PlayStation's games so special in the first place.

Xbox 

Xbox has also been on an acquisition spree, with two of its biggest industry-breaking buyouts being Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, the latter of which is still under process. 

• Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 - Date, time, how to watch, and more
• Sony to buy Bungie, Destiny 2 developer, for $3.6 billion
• New Call of Duty games expected to remain multiplatform after Xbox-Activision acquisition
• Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion "to bring the joy"

Interestingly, there have also been rumors about Xbox acquiring Ubisoft, especially since the company announced its plan to release Ubisoft+ (Ubisoft's subscription service) and put some of its games on Xbox Game Pass, but will Ubisoft be a worthy acquisition for Xbox?

Upside

Xbox needs more AAA games under its first-party banner, games that release annually and are part of the big holiday season. Ubisoft continues to release massive multiple AAA open-world games every year, and having those in Xbox's portfolio could greatly enhance its library. 

All these games would be coming on day one on the game pass, and by having so many different studios working on so many different projects, Xbox could get in a position where it starts to put at least one AAA first-party title every month over on game pass. 

Downside

Xbox's hands could still be tied with the Activision Blizzard deal, which has yet to finish. Thus, Xbox's biggest disadvantage in acquiring Ubisoft is how little possibility it has of acquiring it.

Take-Two

Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, may not have the net worth as other names in this list, but it recently made a massive acquisition, thus confirming that it's in the market for more game studios. We don't know if Take Two is looking to acquire more video game companies at the time of this writing, but if it is, should it acquire Ubisoft?

Upside

Take-Two has a lot of big studios under its names and even bigger IPs that deserve sequels and reboots. Some of Take Two's biggest studios, like Rockstar Games, take up to eight years to develop a single game.
 Hangar 13 hasn't released a new game since 2016's Mafia 13, whereas Cloud Chamber is working on a new Bioshock game since 2019. 

Having Ubisoft under its banner could help fasten the development of Take Two's other projects like Grand Theft Auto 6. Conversely, the team at Rockstar Games and other 2K studios could help Ubisoft studios with the development of their projects. Ubisoft's open-world games are in dire need of a creative shakeup and innovation, and there's arguably no better studio than Rockstar Games to help and guide an open-world game project. 

It's no surprise that Ubisoft is still struggling to release a live-service game that could compete with the likes of Grand Theft Auto Online, Fortnite, and Destiny 2. Being under the same banner as one of the most successful live-service games could aid its future multiplayer projects.

Downside

It isn't more of a disadvantage but rather skepticism that having Ubisoft under the same banner as Rockstar Games may impact or influence the latter's overall quality of the games or vice versa.

Although widely different, both companies still make massive open-world games, and if they collaborate with one another to help each other's projects or work on the other's existing IPs, the end product may not be the game you were expecting.

Tencent

Over the last decade, Tencent has emerged as one of the biggest video game companies in the world. Tencent has aggressively bought and invested in multiple game companies like Riot Games, Turtle Rocks, etc. Tencent also owns 40% of Epic Games, which is saying something, but should Tencent acquire Ubisoft?

Upside

In an interview with Financial Times, industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, talked about how Tencent functions behind the scenes with the company it invests in. According to Ahmad, "[Tencent] do not rebrand their portfolio companies and generally leave those companies to continue the excellence that made them attractive to Tencent in the first place."

Ubisoft has the talent it needs to make immersive and innovative open-world games. What it seems to lack, however, is the financial stability of a parent organization and a new set of board members that don't interfere with the creative decisions of the various development teams. Tencent could provide it with both.

Downside

Most of Tencent's first-party games are live-service multiplayer titles built on the free-to-play and microtransaction models. Coincidentally, most of Ubisoft's popular franchises have also been moving in this direction. 
If Tencent does indeed purchase Ubisoft in its entirety, there is a slight possibility that the french company may stop making single-player games altogether.

These are all the companies that should acquire Ubisoft. For more amazing gaming content, make sure to check our section dedicated to Video Games, including the latest news, updates, guides, features, and more.

Featured image courtesy of Ubisoft.