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Ubisoft is not in a good spot at the moment. It's share price dropped over 50% in the last 6 months, forecasted a 500 million operation loss for this fiscal year, and cancelled and delayed a bunch of games. But imo the company still has a lot of potential:
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Ubisoft arguably has the most diverse range of IPs in the entire gaming industry, ranging from the ultra casual (Just Dance) to the niche (ANNO, Trackmania) and from legendary franchises (Rayman, Prince of Persia, Splinter Cell) to mainstream juggernauts (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry). The company reaches many different audiences with its games.
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Ubisoft focuses on mobile as well as traditional consoles and pc. It also has deals with Netflix (Valiant Hearts 2) and Meta (AC and Splinter Cell VR) to develop exclusive games for their platforms.
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The company planning to release mobile (Rainbow Six, The Division, Assassin's Creed) and free-to-play games (The Division, Assassin's Creed) of some of its biggest IPs. In 2023, a new Assassin's Creed and an Avatar game will release as core gaming experiences.
Ubisoft has several things going against it as well: sexism and harassment lawsuits, negative sentiment on social media, expensive projects that are dead in the water like Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Skull and Bones, etc.
I see two routes of success here. Ubisoft could turn its ship around by releasing better, more unique games. They seem to be on the right track here, with the new Mario Rabbids game (that admittely underperformed), a new Assassin's Creed game that won't take 100 hours to finish and Avatar, made by Massive Entertainment and based on a franchise that grossed over 5 billion worldwide. Of course, good games do not always equal financial success.
EA was in a similar situation 10 years ago, and its shares are now worth 10x the price. Although I imagine that FIFA Ultimate Team's microtransactions played a major part in that meteoric rise.
Ubisoft could also get bought out. Its diversity of franchises and enormous back catalogue should tempt any company who is looking to enter the industry or trying to expand its offerings. Ubisoft is already working with companies like Netflix and Amazon, who are attempting to establish themselves in the gaming space. Together, Ubisoft's founding family and Tencent own about 25% of its shares, so a takeover is far from impossible.
What are your thoughts? Am I being too positive about UBI? For the record, I do not own any shares, this is just a thought experiment.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-03/at-ubisoft-the-creators-of-assassin-s-creed-cling-to-family-control
submitted by /u/SunTizzu
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