In recent years, French media conglomerate Vivendi has acquired more and more stock in Ubisoft, fueling concerns that the company would eventually attempt a hostile takeover of the games publisher. Ubisoft and CEO Yves Guillemot have made it clear they oppose the moves, and now they’ve gotten precisely what they were seeking–a complete sell-off of Vivendi’s Ubisoft stock.
The news was shared today, with Ubisoft saying it has reached an agreement for Vivendi to sell its entire stake in the publisher. The shares being sold will go to multiple sources; the Guillemot brothers will acquire some, Ubisoft will initiate a buy-back for some, and the company will get two new “long-term investors:” the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Tencent. The latter is the massive Chinese company that also owns stakes in a variety of game companies, including Fortnite maker Epic. This acquisition by Tencent (which amounts to 5% of the company) is part of a new partnership meant to “significantly accelerate the reach of Ubisoft franchises in China in the coming years,” according to a press release.
“The evolution in our shareholding is great news for Ubisoft,” Guillemot said in a statement. “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.”
“Today, Ubisoft is fully reaping the benefits of our long-term strategy and the successful transformation towards a more recurring and profitable business. Ubisoft is perfectly positioned to capture the numerous video game growth drivers in the coming years. We are focused more than ever on delivering on our strategic plan.”
Vivendi said on more than one occasion that it did not plan a hostile takeover of Ubisoft, at least on a short-term basis. In November, it announced that it didn’t intend to make such a move in the next six months–a window that was coming up in the near future. Despite this, Vivendi’s 27.3% stake in the company meant it was approaching a threshold where it would be legally required to pursue a controlling interest in the company.
It’s no secret that Ubisoft wanted Vivendi out of the picture. Guillemot argued that Vivendi threatened Ubisoft’s ability to innovate and be agile–a convincing argument given how successful the publisher has been in recent years. With Vivendi out of the way, one hurdle is out of the way for the company.
As it turns out, getting to watch an actor see a video game character that’s modeled after their likeness, mimicking the micro-expressions in their face, and speaking the lines they recorded, for the first time, is pretty incredible. Janina Gavankar is Star Wars Battlefront II’s Iden Versio, and until I sat down with her late last year, she wasn’t sure which of the hours upon hours of motion capture and voice recordings would make it into the final game. That didn’t seem to matter, though, since it was obvious that Gavankar so passionately and wholly knows Iden as a character that every word that did make it into the game was layered in a whole lot of personal investment.
Updated: Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate responded to IGN’s request for comment regarding player concerns about the longevity of Sea of Thieves’ currently available content and specifically cosmetic items.
Neate told IGN that Sea of Thieves has always been intended as “a game that grows and evolves, and we will release new cosmetic options ongoing as part of that.”
New Mechanics and “ways to play” will also be part of those ongoing updates, and Rare will assess player feedback going forward after addressing the game’s launch and current server problems that Rare is “working 24/7” to fix.
In an effort to deal with the ongoing launch day server issues affecting Rare’s Sea of Thieves, the developer has announced a temporary plan to suspend new players from joining the game.
Those who are currently signed out of Sea of Thieves will be unable to sign in for an undetermined amount of time, according to the Sea of Thieves Twitter account.
“In order to resolve the issues players are seeing with the servers, we will be temporarily suspending new players joining the game. We’ll get everyone back in and playing as quickly as we can,” the account said.
Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate provided the following statement to IGN about the server issues:
Over the weekend, The New York Times and The Guardian each published stories exposing the exploitation of data from over 50 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a political analytics firm that worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Facebook has since come under fire from politicians, lawmakers, and users alike, as all parties demand answers to how the company managed to mishandle the personal data of millions of its users. To better understand the impact of these reports, IGN has compiled a brief rundown of the events that led to the exposure and an overview of what’s happened since.
Nintendo showcased more than a dozen games during today’s indie-focused Switch presentation. Along with a number of brand-new titles that have yet to be released, the stream revealed a handful of acclaimed games that are being ported or remade for Switch in 2018.
Nintendo kicked off the presentation by announcing a Switch release of Mark of the Ninja, the critically acclaimed 2012 stealth-action platformer. Few details were shared about the title, but the game is slated to arrive for the hybrid console sometime this fall and will be a “high definition remaster.”
In addition to that, the classic puzzle game Lumines is also being remastered for Switch. This “HD remake” will release for the system in spring and features new HD rumble support, which will match up with both the beat of the music and the action on-screen, as well as local multiplayer.
Switch will also receive the humorous RPG West of Loathing and Reigns: Kings and Queens this spring. The former is a quirky stick-figure western that features traditional turn-based battles, while the latter is a compilation of Reigns and Reigns: Her Majesty, two Tinder-inspired RPGs in which players swipe left or right on various cards to make decisions on how to rule their kingdom.
The presentation ended with a look at The Banner Saga 3, which will arrive on Switch (and other platforms) sometime this summer. Before then, however, players will be able to experience the entire trilogy from the beginning with the Switch release of Banner Saga 1 and 2. Those two games are slated to launch for the hybrid console “soon” and carry progress and decisions over from one title to the next.
The latest Nintendo broadcast, the Nindies Spring Showcase 2018, was fairly short–it lasted just over 10 minutes, but it was packed with news on more than a dozen games coming to Switch. Not long after it concluded, Nintendo held a Nindies event for press where it revealed several more acclaimed games that are coming to the system.
Three more game ports have been revealed. First up is Nidhogg 2, the competitive action game where you and one opponent (AI or human) square off in a swordfighting duel to reach the opposite edge of the screen. Developer Mark Essen subsequently confirmed the news on Twitter, saying it’s due out on Switch in North America and Europe sometime in 2018.
Next up is Hyper Light Drifter. The stylish action RPG comes to Switch this summer. (The game will also have a crossover shirt in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.) Finally, rounding out the list is Crashlands, an RPG where you’re stranded on an alien planet and have to build a base, tame creatures, and fight off enemies to survive. A release date for it has not yet been shared.
It’s unclear why none of these were announced during the stream, which was used to reveal some other remasters and ports. Regardless, the bottom line is this: There are a ridiculous number of Switch games coming, with even more likely on the way, as Nintendo claimed that the number of developers working on Switch content has quadrupled since last year.
Nintendo aired another Nindies Showcase presentation today, highlighting more than a dozen intriguing indie-developed games coming to Switch in 2018. Along with brand-new titles like the “musical bullet hell” game Just Shapes & Beats and The Banner Saga 3, the broadcast revealed a number of Switch ports and remakes of beloved indie classics, such as Mark of the Ninja and the musical puzzle game Lumines.
In addition to sharing some new details on each title, Nintendo showcased a new trailer for most of the games featured during today’s presentation, giving you a much better look at some of the most notable indie games on the way for Switch this year. We’ve rounded up all of the trailers from today’s broadcast below. For more news from the broadcast, check out our roundup of all the new Switch games from the Nindies Showcase Spring 2018.
Mark of the Ninja Remastered
Mark of the Ninja: Remastered – Announcement Trailer
God Of War PS4 Makes Big Changes
Sea Of Thieves – First Look At The Kraken Gameplay
Sea Of Thieves Launch Livestream
GS News Update: Here’s When Sea Of Thieves Servers Go Live, And More Info On That Day One Patch
PUBG Mobile iPhoneX Gameplay Live
New Releases – Top Games Out This Week — March 18-24
GS News Update: Dragon Ball FighterZ Broly And Bardock DLC Release Date Confirmed
GS News Update: Sea Of Thieves Is Having Some Launch Issues
Dragon Ball Legends Gameplay: Super Saiyan Battles On The Go
