Ubisoft shares are down and at least one investor isn’t happy, concerned that the company has effectively been taken “hostage”.
Late last month, Ubisoft released Star Wars Outlaws, an ostensibly AAA game set in one of the most beloved media franchises of the past 50 years. What should have been a slam dunk hasn’t turned around Ubisoft’s fortunes.
Currently Ubisoft shares are sitting at a nearly 10 year low. The Assassin’s Creed developer has been churning out games such as Skull and Bones, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown to little longterm effect. Even the impending release of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows doesn’t seem to be improving Ubisoft’s share value.
AJ Investments, a minor shareholder in Ubisoft is unhappy with the company’s major shareholders, going as far as to blame them for the company’s misfortune:
Ubisoft at current state is mismanaged and shareholders are hostages of Guillemot family members and Tencent who take advantage of them. Management is focused on pleasing investors with beating quarterly results and not focusing on long-term strategy to provide exceptional experience for the gamers. Our company has extensive knowledge about the gaming industry and we were longterm shareholder in Activision Blizzard and we started our Ubisoft position couple weeks ago and still adding to it.
You can read the full open letter from AJ Investments here.
The “Guillemont family” mentioned in the open letters refers to the family of Ubisoft cofounder Yves Guillemont. Guillemont recently defended the $70 price tag for Skull and Bones, famously calling it a “AAAA” game.
AJ Investments ends their open letter with a call to take Ubisoft private and avoid a takeover, while also calling for a change in management and a refocus on the company’s “Core IPs”.