The second page, on the other hand, is noticeably lighter on corporate jargon aimed at reassuring investors, instead offering straightforward details about the deal without the embellishments written, presumably, by the PR department.
According to this section, the new subsidiary will encompass teams working on the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed, and Far Cry franchises, with studios located in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia. It will also include the back catalog, along with any ongoing or future game developments within these franchises.
Notably, the new entity will not outright own the aforementioned brand trio, and instead, Ubisoft will provide it with a “worldwide, exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual license in respect of the intellectual property and similar proprietary rights owned or licensable by Ubisoft” concerning the IPs in question in exchange for a royalty.
Regarding Tencent’s role in the new venture, the company’s investment would grant it minority protection veto rights, along with certain consent rights regarding the disposal of key assets of the new subsidiary. Additionally, a 5-year lock-up would apply to the shares of the new subsidiary held by Tencent, with Ubisoft retaining exclusive control and consolidation of the new subsidiary, at least for the time being.
Apparently, that could potentially change in the future, as the statement explicitly reveals that after a 2-year period, Ubisoft may no longer hold a majority of the new subsidiary’s voting rights and share capital, ultimately implying that, going forward, the studio might lose all influence over the direction of three of its most important game series. This one clause outlined in the announcement makes the entire deal appear to be nothing more than a Hail Mary, designed exclusively to secure short-term investment at the expense of the franchises, rather than ensuring the game series’ long-term growth, as stated by Guillemot.
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