Ubisoft has $1.2 billion acquisition war chest

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 2nd 2008 at 3:30PM }

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, speaking with Les Echos, says the publisher has a $1.2 billion war chest for spending on acquisitions. The executive states the company needs to grow rapidly to keep pace with publishers like EA (which may, or may not, acquire Take-Two) and the other 800 lbs. gorilla on the block, Activision Blizzard.

Guillemot says acquisition isn't the only way Ubisoft is growing. The company is getting involved in films and licensing, along with opening up new studios and pushing into Asia. He also states that the company will begin working on CG movies, starting with mini films based on its franchises at first, and then moving on to feature films. Hopefully, any Ubi-produced CG film will fare better than Square's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

[Via GameDaily, Develop]

Tags: acquisition, guillemot, ubisoft, warchest

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

samfish @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:38PM

Nice! 1.2 billion dollars will go a long way towards turning everything they touch into complete shit!

THEN WE CAN GET MORE IMAGINE SERIESZ GAMES! AHH HAHAHAHAHA!

baby sea tuna @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:48PM

They should acquire me. I could really use some of that money. In return, I will sell them the rights to the Imagine:Prom-Night Dumpster Babiez game I'm developing.

samfish @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:50PM

For marketing purposes, I think you should just rename it to Imagine: Abortionz.

Imagine: Coathangerz has a bit of that pizazz! to it as well.

baby sea tuna @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:04PM

Can it come with a special DS stylus?

Mr.ESC @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:18PM

*Throws up.

Wow you people are really disgusting. I expect this on 4chan but not here.

Also you aren't thinking like a corporation, you think this game as a single title when Ubisoft can make a franchise out of it.

The first title could be
Imagine My first teenage unwanted pregnancy.

The second could be either Imagine: Abortionz / Coathangerz or Life as a single motherz or why not all of them. I’m thinking in something like Pokémon Diamond pearl version instead of variations between creatures you can choose if the baby lives or dies.

I like your idea of a special edition with a stylus shaped like a coathanger, it could be the special edition that would be only available at Gamestop. F*ck little game shops, who buys there anywayz?

samfish @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:20PM

A DS stylus is a good idea, but for the Wii version, we need a cheap plastic Wiimote attachment that costs about 5 cents to manufacture but allows us to jack the price of the game up by about $10 bucks.

baby sea tuna @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:26PM

Good point, Mr. Esc. You are hereby in charge of the marketing department.

On his way out, the former division head informed me that the Limited-Edition Wii version will also come with a special hanger-shaped shell peripheral for the remote. This will also be compatable with the "Mommie Dearest" game scheduled for release in Q3.

Mr.ESC @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:43PM

What a great idea. I'm glad we are all in the same boat here.

I love; I really love the release date Q3 just Brilliant I mean Ubisoft was only going to release 25 titles during Q3:

Only 5 Rabbids game.
15 Imagine games including
Imagine: B*tch go and get me a Sandwichz.
Imagine: Women place is in the kitchenz.
Imagine: Why can’t you make a darn coffee woman? My secretary makes better coffee than this sh*tz.
4 ports of Ubisoft older titles for Wii but with decreased graphics and more loading times.
Oh yeah and Far cry 2 I guess.

But with out titles we can assure that Q3 of this year will be the most saturated months in gaming history until Q4.

Also we need the PSP ports that we are going to announce as the best with original content you won’t have anywhere else (Yeah as if) but we’ll make the PSP version so broken and with so many loading times that the people who bought it will be forced to get the Ps2 and Wii version. The suckers will trade in their PSP versions to buy the Wii and Ps2 version that will have the same exact content with less bugs and loading times and it will be cheaper too so the suckers will be encouraged to do so. The idiots will buy the same game twice isn’t it great?

Slaziman @ Jun 2nd 2008 5:10PM

Imagine: funny Joystiq commentz

j.howlett @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:55PM

words ending in q & z, thats quazy

Haggard @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:43PM

They should just pump it entirely into Far Cry 2.

Martez @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:46PM

"He also states that the company will begin working on CG movies, starting with mini films based on its franchises at first, and then moving on to feature films."

Ugh. Do not want a Splinter Cell CG movie.

baby sea tuna @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:49PM

Fair enough, but what about a Prince of Persia?

Martez @ Jun 2nd 2008 3:53PM

I'd be a little more interested in that, but I just overall think "UbiFilms" is a bad idea. I have a hard time thinking Ubisoft in its current state could pull it off if Square couldn't do it at one of it's highest points.

Rubix42 @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:13PM

Sure, but with the fan success of FF VII Advent Children, Square showed it can be down properly. Plus, take Ubi-films, through in a well known producer (aka Jerry Bruckheimer, working on the PoP movie) and a good director, you may have money well spent.

A CG Splinter cell would be bad, but a CG PoP could be dynamite. Too bad we can't just call them Western Anime's or something cooler than CG Films though.

Deck @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:02PM

I think some smaller CG films based on Splinter Cell or PoP would be awesome.

I know Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was not received well but I actually liked it.

I think some short CG ubi films could be rather intriguing.

Kevin @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:02PM

/me is still waiting for the FF: Spirits Within game.

Cuz, the movie was totally a video game plot, minus the control and freedom of a game.

Martez @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:27PM

I liked the movie too, but that doesn't mean it was actually good :)

Wii60Warrior @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:03PM

Better them than freaking EA...

God thats so much money...I wonder what the average salary over there is?

Mr.ESC @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:07PM

Why make Trillions when you can make BILLIONS!

*Puts little finger in lip.

J @ Jun 2nd 2008 9:24PM

it's nice to get drunk before reading joystiq comments.

J.Goodwin @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:13PM

Ubi films based on Rayman and Beyond Good and Evil would be massive.

Mr.ESC @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:20PM

For some reason I see "Directed by Uwe Boll" under the title of those movies.

Korova Pyro aspect @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:25PM

Quick ... lets start a game company and announce that we are making a game about rabbits. Ubi wants to corner the rabbit-based games market, so they will have to buy us out.

Step 3: profit

j.howlett @ Jun 2nd 2008 7:11PM

spirits within was an okay sci fi story that didn't need to be in all CG. it didn't feel like a final fantasy story. no chocobos, no moogles, no gil, i'm blanking on if there was a cid. the movie was a technical and visual masterpiece but if you call it final fantasy i'd like to see a mage ( black, while, or red ), some armor, something that recalls something in the games. even cat or bunny girls