A leaker is now claiming that Ubisoft has been proposing mergers and acquisitions to various gaming companies, only for it to get "laughed at." The company responsible for blockbuster IPs such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and the entirety of the Tom Clancy's video game franchise has apparently had a rough time combining its efforts with anyone else, sources claim.This information comes about as Ubisoft's stock price plummets due to the cancelation of various unannounced games and generally disappointing sales figures, making this one of the more challenging periods the publisher has had to power through. The leak says that the situation is "grim" for the company, as well as providing some context as to why this is the case.According to Jeff Grubb, Ubisoft has been attempting to set up a merger or an outright acquisition for some time now, though all of these attempts have failed up until now. Grubb claims that the popular publisher is simply "too unwieldy" and that its biggest strength was its globally distributed game development structure - a system that has recently been scuttled in favor of a more centralized, unified production setup. Naturally, this information ought to be considered with a pinch of salt. Even though Grubb seems fairly convinced of its veracity, there weren't any major sources provided to corroborate the claim.
That being said, Ubisoft certainly is going through a hard patch at this time. While stock prices have fallen by a fair margin already, the company announced yet another Skull and Bones delay on top of the cancelation of three unannounced titles. In total, the publisher has canceled seven games over the past year and a half, two of which were Ghost Recon Frontline and the VR Splinter Cell offering.
At the same time, Ubisoft has confirmed several big games for the next fiscal year, the highlight of which is Assassin's Creed Mirage, the long-awaited return to form for the AC franchise. Alongside that, Ubisoft fans should also expect to see the open-world action-adventure Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, as well as Skull and Bones itself. The recency of this announcement implies that the publisher is fairly certain it's going to hit its targeted release windows.
Some believe that Ubisoft may reveal its Star Wars game in 2023, too, it's worth highlighting. The creative director working on the game recently teased as much, and if the company manages to pull this off alongside its upcoming AC, Avatar, and Skull and Bones titles, it'd be easy to imagine things turning for the better. Whether that will end up being the case, though, is anyone's guess, and a merger is hardly off the table if Grubb's claims are true.