A full takeover of Ubisoft is “significantly less likely” said Deutsche Bank following the Tencent deal where the Chinese tech giant doubled its stake to nearly 10% earlier this month.
However, in a meeting between Deutsche Bank and Ubisoft, the latter reconfirmed the bank’s belief that it can turn itself around, regardless of any acquisition or change in leadership.
While the games pipeline looks weaker for the financial year 2023, largely due to the delay of the Avatar game, the following year looks much stronger, with the release of multiple AAA and free-to-play games.
The Tencent deal, which was struck at €80 per share against a market price of €32.74, is also viewed as a “vote of confidence from one of the largest mobile developers in these free-to-play efforts and helps to confirm our belief that these investments are currently being undervalued.”
While its effort in the free-to-play market hasn’t culminated in much so far, Deutsche Bank believes the upcoming pipeline and console games should bear more fruit.