Ubisoft's Woes Share Price Drop, Calls for Sale, and Return to Steam

TapTechNews September 28th news, Ubisoft used to be one of the giants in the gaming industry and created well-known IPs such as Assassin's Creed and Far Cry. However, the company's business decisions such as 'canned games' and restricting the game release platform in recent years have triggered negative evaluations. In the past 5 years, Ubisoft's share price has dropped by 80%, and now with the cold reception of works such as Star Wars: Outlaws, the situation is getting worse.

According to Reuters, as Ubisoft's share price has fallen by about 50%, the hedge fund AJInvestments, which holds a 1% stake in Ubisoft, recently disclosed that it is calling on Ubisoft's management to allow the company to be sold to a third party or private equity firm, and said that this proposal has received the support of 10% of shareholders.

This is not the first time AJInvestments has pressured Ubisoft. A few weeks ago, the fund called for a replacement of the chief executive and urged the company to go private or be sold.

Currently, Ubisoft is controlled by its founder, the Guillemot family, which holds 15% of the company's shares, while Tencent is the second largest shareholder with less than 10% of the shares.

According to TapTechNews' report yesterday, a Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed that starting from Assassin's Creed: Shadow, Ubisoft games will return to Steam, and all the company's new works in the future will be simultaneously launched on Steam on the release day. This also means that Ubisoft has ended its exclusive cooperation agreement with Epic.