After months of what was thought to be certain acquisition of Ubisoft by Vivendi, it appears the two companies have come to an agreement. Vivendi will be selling back all of its shares, to which Ubisoft will be buying them each one, which is about 27% of Ubisoft's entire stock. In return, the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan and Tencent will become investors in the company. Ontario Teachers' will buy €250 million worth of shares (3.4% of its capital) while Tencent will be acquiring 5.0% of capital. Each share will be bought at a locked rate of $66/per. These shares are also different than normal, as the contract states that neither company will get any representation on Ubisoft's Board of Directors.

In short, this means Vivendi will make a full exit from attempting to acquire Ubisoft, and are barred from attempting to invest in the company for the next five years. Meanwhile, two new companies will be heavily investing in Ubi, which will mutually benefit all parties, and Ubisoft will utilize this in order to secure a larger market in Asian territories. This also puts the Guillemot brothers back in control as having the most shares and in Ubisoft once more.

The evolution in our shareholding is great news for Ubisoft. It was made possible thanks to the outstanding execution of our strategy and the decisive support of Ubisoft talents, players and shareholders. I would like to warmly thank them all. The investment from new long-term shareholders in Ubisoft demonstrates their trust in our future value creation potential, and Ubisoft’s share buy-back will be accretive to all shareholders. Finally, the new strategic partnership agreement we signed will enable Ubisoft to accelerate its development in China in the coming years and fully leverage a market with great potential.

Source: GBAtemp Press Inbox

 

[brunocar]

Again. It's not important, and hell, how many shooters let you change the HUD? Heck, scratch that, how many games?

Does R6S allow you to change HUD?

R6S has a whole menu dedicated to customizing your HUD, payday 2 also has one, though more limited, fortnite lets you turn HUD elements on and off, etc.

yet CSGO has big hud and small hud, all the while TF2 lets you use custom HUDs, so its not like source engine isnt capable of it

 

[gnmmarechal]

of course it does, its on its infancy, but you cant deny its something new and smart that is somehow successful, you dont see many online games like that every day

Oh, yes I can, Sure it is sucessful, but that's not the point. Sure R6S is something *different*, but so is CS. It's not like Siege was the first R6 game either....

Look. CSGO and R6S are completely different and neither is a generic FPS. And that's what sets them both apart from the other shooters.

 

[Chary]

Bringing the topic somewhat back to its original point, people seem to accept that the loss of Ubisoft would be fine, or at the very least, now that there's no danger of Ubi being eaten by a worse company, people seem think that a Vivendi purchase wouldn't have had much impact.

Lootboxes and potentially unlikeable practices aside, Ubisoft is a huge company. Hating Assassin's Creed and Fay Cry might be the cool thing to do, but this company has so many franchises. Plus, they've really turned things around in recent years. They put out the most well-received Assassin's Creed game in years, they turned the disastrous Watch_Dogs series into something fantastic with the 2nd game, they went back and have been trying to make For Honor better, far after launch when they didn't have to, Rayman is at his peak, and Division and RS6 have very loyal fanbases that have been at least treated well by Ubi via post launch support. And they've always been good supporters of Nintendo--we got a fairly good SPRG out of the Rabbid crossover. It's clear they at least want to better their franchises, and are putting in active effort.

They're not a perfect company, not by a long shot, but they're not the worst one out there, either. Them not getting taken over my Vivendi is only good news, for them, and the industry.

 

[Futurdreamz]

But why did Viviend arbitrarily stop? Haven't they always been the graveyard of good gaming companies?

 

[brunocar]

Oh, yes I can, Sure it is sucessful, but that's not the point. Sure R6S is something *different*, but so is CS. It's not like Siege was the first R6 game either....

siege is a spin off :/
previous rainbow six games are singleplayer tactical shooters with coop, but competitive multiplayer was always tacked on, vegas improved on that but it wasnt until siege that they focused on multiplayer alone, thats why it has a short single player and the operators as a mechanic

 

[gnmmarechal]

siege is a spin off :/
previous rainbow six games are singleplayer tactical shooters with coop, but competitive multiplayer was always tacked on, vegas improved on that but it wasnt until siege that they focused on multiplayer alone, thats why it has a short single player and the operators as a mechanic

Well, I don't think the whole "unlocking" things is a good thing for any sort of competitive game tbh. I'd rather have it done like CS and put every player, new or old, on the same footing. Games like LoL do this as well, and... I don't really like it either, but it is what it is.

Also... imo, R6S seems a bit too... gimmicky. Sure, that's its appeal for some, I suppose, but meh.

 

[brunocar]

Well, I don't think the whole "unlocking" things is a good thing for any sort of competitive game tbh. I'd rather have it done like CS and put every player, new or old, on the same footing. Games like LoL do this as well, and... I don't really like it either, but it is what it is.

Also... imo, R6S seems a bit too... gimmicky. Sure, that's its appeal for some, I suppose, but meh.

as i said before, operators open up oportunities, but with all the vanilla operators you already have a fuck ton of options, some characters are basically alternative versions of other characters anyways, like how buck is the same as sledge, but he has a more limited breaching item but more firepower to compensate

 

[gnmmarechal]

as i said before, operators open up oportunities, but with all the vanilla operators you already have a fuck ton of options, some characters are basically alternative versions of other characters anyways, like how buck is the same as sledge, but he has a more limited breaching item but more firepower to compensate

No, what I mean is the whole unlocking part of the game, and the grind that comes with it. Imo, it'd be fairer for newer players if nothing of the sort existed.

 

[brunocar]

No, what I mean is the whole unlocking part of the game, and the grind that comes with it. Imo, it'd be fairer for newer players if nothing of the sort existed.

but vanilla operators are free to everyone, do i have to repeat myself? the game is built around the vanilla operators, the other characters are just variations of the same functions

 

[Chary]

But why did Viviend arbitrarily stop? Haven't they always been the graveyard of good gaming companies?

I think they knew they had Ubisoft in a corner, so basically Ubisoft has exchanged a crapload of money to get Vivendi off their backs. This lets Vivendi get back way more than they invested, and though Ubi takes a hit, they have investors that are going to assist them with moving to a huge new market in China. And then, when the clock ticks down, in five years, the contract is up, and Vivendi is free to do another attempt at a hostile takeover.

 

[gnmmarechal]

but vanilla operators are free to everyone, do i have to repeat myself? the game is built around the vanilla operators, the other characters are just variations of the same functions

Doesn't matter. Regardless of any "variations", they exist. Small differences are small, but they are there.

 

[brunocar]

Doesn't matter. Regardless of any "variations", they exist. Small differences are small, but they are there.

its not a disadvantage, everyone will die with the same amount of lead and every tactical option is in the vanilla operators, the extra operators are just that, extras, like the subclasses in TF2

 

[Yepi69]

From my point of view, not even Vivendi wants Ubisoft.

 

[Nama]

I'm glad Vivendi didn't get them, UbiSoft isn't perfect but I'm a Rayman fan and VERY happy they continue to keep a beautiful HD 2D platformer. Most companies don't give a crap or don't consider it worth the bother of doing 2D HD, granted 2D HD sprites are even better(see: KOFXIII, ).