With the EA buyout shaking up the business side of the gaming industry, some may be wondering how the other large-scale, previously unchanging entities are going to navigate the future. While perhaps not quite as much of a shakeup, Ubisoft has confirmed that it will be opening a new development company alongside Tencent.
Having dropped a press release earlier in the year about the Ubisoft and Tencent backed subsidiary Vantage Studios will reportedly employ over 2,000 people and will work on the biggest franchise names under Ubisoft’s umbrella.
This new studio will apparently allow its teams to work on each project with less oversight, perhaps in response to Ubisoft’s games lacking in performance in recent years, with the hope that they can effectively tap into what resonates with audiences.
Vantage Studios Launched By Ubisoft
The new studio will be operated by long-time Ubisoft veteran Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot, the latter of whom is the son of another long-time Ubisoft veteran, Yves Guillemot.
Tencent reportedly has a 25% stake in the new company, with its role becoming that of an advisory one to the leadership team – though creative control apparently rests with the two aforementioned co-leads.
The new company is apparently an effort to bring these long-standing franchises under a single roof, whereas they’ve been diversified across Ubisoft’s various branches prior.
Are Ubisoft Sales Down?
Despite Ubisoft’s sales down just under 4% in the first half of 2025, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has become the year’s best selling new game.
However, worries over safeguarding their key franchises might help to explain the welcomed investment from Tencent.While some of their previous flagship titles, such as Far Cry 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2 have been titles that some players might think of genuine classics, they’ve struggled to replicate in the years since.
Ubifsot is often used an the unfortunate example of why AAA gaming has lost its soul, with many critical of open world games filled with meaningless, checklist-style activities.
While this might be a niche that they are happy to fill and market to, getting to the point where your games are used as a negative example is going to have an impact on audience perception, making the decision to pivot perhaps a sensible one.
