There have been reports that Vivendi might take over Ubisoft as the company is slowly increasing its stake although Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot has reiterated that he wants to keep the company independent. Anne Blondel, Ubisoft's vice president of live operations has also shared her thoughts on Vivendi's possible takeover.
"I know for a fact, having been there for 20 years, that if you [separate] us from our independence, if you take away the way we like taking risks and inventing new stuff, well it's not going to be the same Ubisoft--for me, it wouldn't be the same," Blondel said in an interview with PCGamesN. She also added that being independent and autonomous made the company successful for 30 long years.
The potential takeover has been an ongoing subject for a while now since Vivendi has been purchasing and increasing more stocks on Ubisoft. According to GameSpot, Ubisoft has been always a family-run company and has been trying to protect its independence by purchasing back more shares and having independent directors' appointment.
Anne Blondel, on the other hand, explained that being independent allows Ubisoft to take a lot of risks in its titles and build diverse experiences. The Crew", "Valiant Hearts", "Child of Light" and more are just one of the titles that Blondel said Ubisoft has been taking dodgy moves to promote them in the market.
Furthermore, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot had previously said that he cannot continue being the CEO under a Vivendi-owned Ubisoft adding that the company has been considering in obtaining an estimated $110.7 million budget primarily in mobile phone games part. The company might also hire 500-1,000 staffs in France in the next five years.
Ubisoft Entertainment SA is headquartered in Rennes, France and is a multinational video game developer and publisher founded by five brothers of the Guillemot family in March 1986. The company is best known for game franchises such as "Far Cry", "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon", "Rainbow Six", "Watch Dogs" and more.
