UNEXPECTED VULTURES CIRCLE AILING UBISOFT

French video game publisher Ubisoft is a serious acquisition target for private equity firms such as Blackstone and KKR, rather than for larger (and more anticipated) gaming entities Microsoft or Sony, according to a Bloomberg report in April. It isn’t difficult to see why: Ubisoft’s production workforce has grown to such a degree that its developer numbers are nearly twice those of more successful rival Activision Blizzard’s 10,000 employees, despite Activision pulling in far higher earnings (nearly $2 billion in gaming revenue versus $517 million for Ubisoft in the most recent third quarter, per games and esports market researcher Newzoo). With Ubisoft shares declining due to lingering sexual misconduct reports against senior managers and long gaps between major releases, the publisher is more likely to be poached by private equity and turned around for resale before it’s absorbed by an actual major gaming player.

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