Ubisoft IP Could Cost Buyers More Than The Company Itself, Says Report

Earlier this week, we heard that Microsoft has seemingly held talks with Ubisoft about buying some of the French company's gaming IP - and a fresh report tells us that purchasing these franchises would likely cost a pretty penny for the Xbox owner, if they were to go ahead and pick anything up.

By way of a new report from outlet Bloomberg, it's said that Ubisoft is looking to invite investment into "a new entity" containing some of its big IP, including Assassin's Creed. It appears that how these franchises will divided and shared is still unclear, but the "yet-to-be formed IP unit" could be priced "higher than the size of the main company", it's said.

Picking this information apart, what it's basically saying is that if Ubisoft's founders gather up all of its big game series' to sell off - that collection of franchises could cost more than buying Ubisoft outright. It seems that a decision about which direction to go in hasn't been made just yet, but the report notes that Ubisoft is keen for "bids to be made as soon as this month".

"The company is considering selling a minority stake in the venture and has contacted potential bidders, including current shareholder Tencent Holdings Ltd. and funds globally and in France, where Ubisoft is based, the people said. Ubisoft has asked for preliminary bids to be made as soon as this month, the people added, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter."

We haven't heard anything directly from either Ubisoft or Microsoft about whether the Xbox owner is actually interested in buying any of this stuff, so it's probably not worth expecting anything for now. Multiple reports on this have hinted that Tencent is in the driving seat here - and we'll continue to see how this story unfolds in the coming months.

Which Ubisoft IP would you be looking to pick up? Tell us what you think of this down in the comments below.

[source bloomberg.com]