Ubisoft’s new Tencent-backed subsidiary, which will now take over the development of major franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, has finally been named: Vantage Studios. Honestly, this news alone is a big deal, but what’s really raising eyebrows is who is co-leading this new venture.
Charlie Guillemot, the son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, whose last major project was an anime avatar AI/NFT startup. This whole thing feels like a lot of corporate maneuvering, and it officially started operating today.
The New Ubisoft Leader Is One You Wouldn’t Expect
The whole idea behind Vantage Studios is part of a larger plan by Ubisoft to reorganize its structure into several creative houses, moving away from its traditional centralized operating model. The goal is to give these new houses (with Vantage being the first) more control over their own business plans and creative direction.
Basically, they want to cut down on the layers of management to make decision-making quicker and allow them to pivot faster based on player feedback. It’s an attempt to create a shorter pathway between gathering and implementing player feedback, which sounds like a smart move, especially after the rough few years Ubisoft has had with workplace issues and struggling game releases.
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Vantage Studios is already huge, bringing together Ubisoft’s offices in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia. That’s a massive team of 2,300 employees now all working under the new banner. Apparently, the name Vantage Studios was chosen through a vote by those very employees, replacing the division’s initial codename, Nova.
The Tencent connection is what really makes this entire deal fascinating. The Chinese tech giant has a 25% stake in Vantage Studios, which was part of a massive cash injection of €1.16 billion (about $1.25 billion) into Ubisoft. If you’d like to know what that cash is for, it’s reportedly going to bring Ubisoft back to nearly zero debt once the deal is fully done.
So while Tencent clearly has a vested interest, Ubisoft says they retain full control. Tencent is just there in an advisory capacity, and the final say on all decisions rests with the co-CEOs, Christophe Derennes and, of course, Charlie Guillemot.
A New Leader for a New Age
That brings us back to Charlie Guillemot. His co-CEO, Christophe Derennes, is a long-time Ubisoft veteran, having been with the company for over 35 years. On the other hand, Charlie is returning to the fold after stepping away to launch a startup that focused on anime avatar AI and NFTs. It’s a bit of an eyebrow-raiser to see the future of
Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry are being placed in the hands of someone whose most recent venture was in the world of crypto and digital collectibles. I’d be lying if I said this appointment didn’t feel like the founding Guillemot family making sure they remain in charge, given their history of fending off takeover attempts like the one from Vivendi a decade ago.
This whole restructuring, including the creation of Vantage Studios, is a signal that Ubisoft knows it needs a change, especially given the big-name flops, studio closures, and layoffs that have plagued the company. While we don’t know exactly how this new creative house model will work in practice, the company is clearly betting on giving its development teams a higher level of autonomy and accountability.
Hopefully, this shift will lead to better, less-centralized games for us, the players, but only time will tell. For now, we’ll likely have to wait for the company’s H1 financial report in November to hear more concrete details from CEO Yves Guillemot.
Source: GameIndustry, PC Gamer
