Ubisoft attempts to fend off Vivendi takeover by expanding its board.
>In short, Vivendi has been buying up a lot of Ubi shares, though it claims a takeover is not its intention. However, with a holding of roughly 18% of Ubisoft's voting shares, Vivendi does want a seat on the board of directors, from which it can steer the company.
>Ubisoft is not at all keen on this idea—Vivendi is the company Activision Blizzard paid $8 billion to be free of. Its nomination of two new directors appears to be a direct attempt to prevent the encroachment.
While I'm not big on Ubisoft - have never really been a huge fan of their constant wave of cash-grabs and rehashes, a hostile takeover by Vivendi is a fate worse than death. Their studios would be absorbed, castrated, gutted, and flipped inside out or just outright disposed of. Ubisoft itself would eventually be brought down, and eventually revived as a horribly bloated and regurgitated monstrosity of what once was. Their games would ride 100% completely on the rails of being totally safe, with no risks, twists, or new IPs.
Ubisoft would die, but their corpse would be molested in the worst ways possible.
What are you guys' thoughts on this? I'm actually rooting for Ubisoft to pull through, despite my dislike of them as a company. A Vivendi takeover would just make them a black, soulless machine.
Forgot the source:
http://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-attempts-to-fend-off-vivendi-takeover-by-shuffling-its-board/?utm_content=buffer3a551&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=buffer_pcgamer
>>343930743
While others may disagree, I view Ubi as circling the drain already. The only series they own that I like, Anno, most recently had a really shitty edition and will not likely improve. So honestly, I know nothing of Vivendi or what they might do, but Ubisoft is pretty terrible already.
>>343930743
>heir games would ride 100% completely on the rails of being totally safe, with no risks, twists, or new IPs.
But that is already the case right now.
Recycling gameplay elements and giving them new names is not "creating new IPs".
They deserve a fate worse than death for what they did to their IPs over the past decade, they pissed all over every single one.
>>343931456
Blizzard paid $8 Billion just to break free of them
Let that sink in for a minute.
$8 Billion just to escape being stuck under them.
Vivendi is the only company I would say is possibly equally as bad or worse than EA.
>>343930743
Doesn't matter. After a certain point of being shit anymore really doesn't matter. I don't touch any ubisoft games due to their shitty record and the same goes for any blizzard games.
>>343931815
Blizzard is a very successful company. Everything they touch turns to gold. Comparing them to Ubi without any other supporting evidence for Vivendi being anus isn't very compelling.
Heh, holy shit.
Don't care desu fampai. I don't buy Ubishit games. Sucks for them and their employees tho. If vivendi does become majority stockholder, they prolly will more than likely be pretty fucked.
>>343931972
>Everything they touch turns to gold.
WoW, SC2, HotS, and the current state of Hearthstone say hi.
vivendi is cancer in company form, never actually improved any company they bought, all they do is buy them a few seat, literally leesh the victim dry with bad decision and golden parachutes in their favors, then leave the corpse with more money than what they paid first. It's a company surviving on destruction.
>>343930743
I might be alone on this, but they do not deserve this.
>>343932232
>I don't like them, therefore are failures
You are a god damn idiot anon.
>>343930743
Ubisoft deserves anything and everything that's coming for it.
Uplay is by far the shittiest piece of turd I've ever seen and their every game requires it. Fuck that.
Vivendi would just bleed them dry, and leave them lifeless on the curb.
While I'm not a fan of Ubisoft, I'm also not a fan of Vivendi ruining Ubisoft, and proceeding to sit on top of their IPs for an eternity.
At least with Ubisoft alive, there's that glimmer of a chance that I'll someday get a good Prince of Persia reboot, or that they'll give the Zombie-U games another chance.
With Vivendi they'll just grind Tom Clancy and Assassin's Creed into dust, while doing mass layoffs and studio closures, and then run off with the money.
>>343932232
WoW and SC2 are old franchises that have paid for themselves many times over long ago. Hearthstone still prints money and Overwatch is wildly successful. I don't know shit about HotS but I imagine it still makes them money.
There is not a single IP Ubisoft has that I would be sad to see go.
Even Rayman. We got 2 new good games, much more than anyone asked for much less expected
>>343932232
WoW is STILL by far the most successful MMO compared to anything else. It's one of the few subscription based MMOs and it has millions of players. I think FFXIV might come up next and at some point it had over million players.
SC2 sold like candy. It's better for Blizzard if people stop playing it because they have to spend less on the servers.
HotS I might agree on.
Hearthstone has also made billions for them.
Yeah let them try it, we anonymous will kick their f*cking asses if they make a move.
>>343930743
Ubisoft is as good as dead.
And which games does Vivendi worked on? Last i remember was Evil Genius... Idk
>>343932232
WoW has made them a fortune. I understand people are (rightfully) upset at it's state and current direction, but it's time is past and they know it.
Star Craft 2 made them plenty of money. Their only crime was how horribly mismanaged it was when it was relevant.
Diablo 3 had a great launch and brought them a fortune, but suffered terribly negative reception. It's since been turned around pretty heavily, and still has a moderate amount of active players.
Heroes of the Storm is F2P and likely cost them next to nothing to publish, while still bringing in money off of skins and boosts.
Hearthstone is very much healthy and alive.
Overwatch is their new cash cow.
Blizzard's IPs are doing perfectly well in terms of making them money at this point. They might not be the best, and some games might not be as great as they used to be, but they certainly have their finances figured out.
>>343930743
I hope it happens. Fuck Ubisoft.
>>343933209
Vivendi doesn't make games. They just take over studios, cut down on staff and studio expenses by doing mass lay-offs and closing studios, publish a few games, and then ride off into the sunset with their stock shares and a nice green check-mark on their company portfolio.
Who the fuck is vivendi and hpw do they have the money to pull this shit?
>>343932848
>There is not a single IP Ubisoft has that I would be sad to see go.
You got the wrong idea. If you think AC games every years was obnoxious, just imagine a re-release of Unity every year several times for the next decade.
This is why you don't go public as a gaming company. Valve had the right idea.
>>343933632
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivendi
A company worse than EA. They have their fingers in all things media, and put money above all else.
They'll buy a majority share of Ubi stock, and the minute things look sour, they'll steer them into the ground, run off with their shares, and call it a successful business endeavor.
>>343933403
Wont make a difference to ubisoft in terms of game them.
>>343933632
Vivendi is basically a megacorp ,the cyberpunk one, it doesn't care what it buy , as long as they make money , they recently bought a popular TV group called canal+ and trashed all the good thing
>>343933952
If you own an apple farm and put people who have a public record of letting all the apples they own rot in charge, you can't claim there's no difference to your apple farm.
>>343933774
and the people who make some of those games decent would just leave and go to new companies
>>343933952
Again, I'm not big on Ubisoft, but it would be worse than how Ubi is currently.
You think yearly AC games are bad? Imagine the literal same fucking game released infinitely with even more minimal changes. Imagine every Tom Clancy game being the same fucking shit, instead of them at least trying to do new shit. Imagine within 3-4-5 years Ubi sinking into it's own shit, and never seeing a single fucking Ubisoft IP ever the fuck again.
No Rayman.
No Prince of Persia.
No Assassin's Creed.
No Splinter Cell.
No Far Cry.
No chance at a Beyond Good and Evil sequel.
No chance at a good Driver game.
No more Watch_Dogs.
It would all be sat on and lost for fucking ever.
>vivendi used to be a water company founded by napoleon the 3rd
>>343934664
It's like hostile takeovers are just fucking ingrained into their legacy.
>>343932760
>any chance of a ZombiU sequel
Never ever, despite a new IP selling relatively well on a new console with the majority of reviews being positive, despite it clearly suffering from being rushed to launch. It didn't sell a bazillion copies therefore it was a cataclysmic failure.
Man, has Ubisoft even made anything goodsince Driver San Francisco
>>343935590
Not really. Their games are so run of the mill these days, and game bloggers are so used to their shit that they probably have an automated program that just farts out a half-baked AC review, and then giving it the typical "Winner of X amount of awards!" and fill it with buzzwords to gain it some attention.
I personally don't know of any of my normie friends who have been interested in the series since Revelations.
>>343935590
They used a budget for 3 fucking games.
I was a okay game but goddamn. Also it sold like shit outside of WiiU.
>>343935943
>Their games are so run of the mill these days
If you think that shit's bad now, just wait until Vivendi absorbs them.
>>343936129
>Vivendi is this entity of pure evil that puts EA to shame
>Ubisoft is the incompetent idiot who keeps fucking everything up but doesn't hurt anyone except himself
I'm not sure how this could go and I don't really care.
>>343934336
>No Assassin's Creed.
>No Far Cry.
>No more Watch_Dogs.
where the fuck do I sign?
>>343933632
European version of Viacom or Comcast
they make most of the music you hear on top 40 radio.
>>343930743
Ubisoft doesnt make anything worthwhile anyway. They deserve to die.
>>343932261
If theyre shit how do they have so much money to buy shares?
All I need to know is
Would Vivendi bring back PoP?
What would the Vivendi Tom Clancy games be like?
The answers will make up my mind how I feel about the situation.
Which companies have Vivendi actually and how (with examples). Sorry, just have no insight into this and am interested.
Ubisoft is literally the most inconsequential dev out there. Take them. Literally nothing if value will be lost.
Ubishit will be fine because their games sell really well
>>343930743
Vivendi just wants another piggybank to loot from like Activision.
>>343937380
>Would Vivendi bring back PoP?
No
>What would the Vivendi Tom Clancy games be like?
they'd be whittled down to just a yearly Division game
Vivendi is responsible for Activation's worst output, when they were releasing 2 Guitar Hero games a year along with metric ton of licensed trash, with them in control you would see a massive expansion of Just Dance games since at their core Vivendi is a music company
>>343937380
Vivendi wouldn't bring back shit.
They'll just focus Ubisoft more directly on AC and TC, and then wait for them to die of bloodloss while sucking them dry.
>>343937869
I feel sick.
>>343930743
That's what you get for going public.
>>343937869
>GH games.
Damn, That hurts a lot. Because WoR and DJ hero was pretty good. But Yeah, 5 games in 1 year is overkill.
>>343932232
Yeah you're right, none of those games are commercial successes at all.
But seriously how fucking retarded are you?
>>343930743
>Ubisoft itself would eventually be brought down, and eventually revived as a horribly bloated and regurgitated monstrosity of what once was. Their games would ride 100% completely on the rails of being totally safe, with no risks, twists, or new IPs.
>Ubisoft would die, but their corpse would be molested in the worst ways possible.
I had no idea Vivendi bought out Ubisoft 5 years ago.
Karma for what they did to Patrice and Ass Creed.
hhahahahah!
>>343933262
>Heroes of the Storm is F2P and likely cost them next to nothing to publish
HotS was in development from the shipment of Wings of Liberty. It probably cost them a lot of money between the various false starts they had on Blizzard DOTA and the legal battle with Valve.
The rest make them money. Hearthstone was a skunkworks project and probably has a crazy ROI.
>>343930743
Am I the only who like Ubisoft?
Their games are comfy because I know what to expect and everything they make is just meh at worst.
Even now I'm enjoying some of the latest Far Cry games.
Certainly don't wish bankruptcy on them and people losing their jobs.
Also isn't this the company that murdered Spyro and Crash Bandicoot?
>>343939310
Ubisoft ships unfinished samey garbage.
Still don't deserved to be swallowed by Vivendi.
Vivendi is the devil, literally. They'll suck out every last drop of creativity and lifeforce from everything and everyone they get in contact with. They feast on broken ideals and ruined lifes and they couldn't care less about the fate of the jobs lost in their manical policies.
>>343932232
>the current state of Hearthstone say hi.
Spotted the butthurt control player who can't handle aggro and thus the game is dead.
>>343930743
So this would kill Ass Creed forever through massive hemorrhaging through yearly games?
Yeah, as if that wasn't happening already. Let them fucking burn. Cancer kills an AIDS-riddled husk.
If Ubisoft didn't want this to happen they shouldn't have made themselves public. But they wanted more money instead and now they're paying for it.
>>343941235
This exactly. They wanted to have cake and eat it too, now it's biting them in the ass.
>>343930743
Well, VU Games did give us some pretty good games, and Ubisoft is circling down the drain already. I believe a takeover would be for our benefit.
I don't see what the problem here is. No one cares for Ubisoft games. Even normies are tired of them.
