Some recent behind-the-scenes news from Ubisoft may mean major changes to the Assassin's Creed franchise after Assassin's Creed Shadows. The game developer's future has been in question for a little while now, with reports previously stating that Assassin's Creed Shadows needed to be a major financial success to help secure the company's future. While recent developments may have lessened some of these concerns, that doesn't mean that things will be business as usual at Ubisoft going forward, and we can likely expect to see some big changes, especially in light of some recent events.

Although Assassin's Creed Shadows appears to have had a successful launch, it's unclear if it's enough to save Ubisoft from its financial woes. However, an announcement from last week regarding the company's future could mean that we haven't seen the last of Assassin's Creed or other major Ubisoft IPs. That said, it does seem the landscape at the company is being changed somewhat significantly. While it's clear that Ubisoft intends to continue working on its most popular franchises, the creation of a new subsidiary for them could come with some growing pains.

Ubisoft Is Creating A Subsidiary With Tencent Investment

Tencent Invested Ovar A Billion Dollars Toward Ubisoft's New Subsidiary

According to a press release from Ubisoft on March 27, 2025, the company will be forming a new subsidiary to handle certain properties. This subsidiary is being partially financed by an investment of €1.16 billion (roughly $1.25 billion) from the holding company Tencent. While Tencent will control a minority stake in the new subsidiary, it will still be granted certain veto privileges regarding assets developed by the subsidiary. The agreement guarantees Ubisoft will hold majority voting rights to the subsidiary for a two-year period, though this isn't necessarily a long time in of video game development.

Tencent is well-known for investing in a variety of video game companies, including an investment in Epic Games, and the full purchase of League of Legends developer Riot Games back in 2011. The company has been the subject of scrutiny and controversy in the gaming world for some time now, including allegations that the company copies competitors' ideas for games and some players accusing its games of having predatory pay-to-win style mechanics.

As of now, it seems like Ubisoft will still have a major say in the direction of the games created under this new subsidiary. That said, a large investment from Tencent, and their agreed-upon veto privileges, makes it clear that the holding company will have at least some say in the future of Ubisoft's games. This is notable given the specific titles that this new Ubisoft subsidiary will be handling.

How Ubisoft’s New Subsidiary Is Handling Major IPs

Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, And Rainbow Six Are All Being Handled By The New Subsidiary

Ubisoft's new subsidiary will be a dedicated space for the development of future Assassin's Creed titles, as well as Far Cry and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. These are three of the company's biggest IPs, meaning this new subsidiary has a lot of responsibility on its hands. While the press release doesn't go into too great detail about the changes - and some plans are likely still in the works - there are some hints at how these IPs are going to be handled.

It would appear that the Tom Clancy's brand has been split, with the likes of Splinter Cell, The Division, and Ghost Recon staying solely under Ubisoft's purview.

The press release outlines four clear goals for the subsidiary regarding these IPs: improve single-player narrative experiences, create more frequent releases for multiplayer games, create free-to-play options, and integrate social features. I have no issues with the idea of improving the narrative experience of Ubisoft games, but the rest of these stated goals have me a bit uneasy. While creating more frequent releases for multiplayer games could be a good thing, I worry that this could take the form of heavily monetized content. I still haven't forgotten League of Legends' $250 Jinx skin from Tencent-owned Riot Games.

Free-to-play games are another area that I am naturally skeptical about. Sure, certain free-to-play games like Marvel Rivals have proven they can work well, but the need to monetize these games always opens the door for some more predatory pricing models. With Tencent having faced criticism in the past for including pay-to-win elements in its games, I worry it could influence Ubisoft's new subsidiary to do the same. After all, if Ubisoft is looking to increase revenue, it may be willing to try this route.

What Ubisoft’s Subsidiary Could Mean For Assassin’s Creed

A Subsidiary Dedicated To Making Assassin's Creed Games Could Be A Positive For The Series

On the one hand, a new subsidiary that is partially dedicated to creating new Assassin's Creed content could be a good thing for the franchise. Limiting this specific arm of the company's focus to creating new Assassin's Creed games could mean some much-needed innovation in the series. This seems like the perfect venue for Ubisoft's new subsidiary to commit to its stated goal of improving narrative-driven single-player experiences. However, I'm not entirely convinced this will only be a positive thing for the Assassin's Creed franchise.

Well-crafted solo games may be some of the highest quality experiences gaming has to offer, but they are also much harder to monetize for their developers. Without a constant stream of new content, many players will likely just pay once for a game like this. While paid DLC can help, it's much more expensive and labor-intensive to create this type of content for a single-player game than it is to create cosmetics for a multiplayer game. New environments might need to be created, voice actors have to reprise their roles, all factors that make creating higher-quality story DLCs more expensive.

Although it may seem cynical to assume monetization is the main thrust behind Tencent investing in Ubisoft's new subsidiary, companies don't typically invest billions of dollars without the goal of seeing a return. While I don't think we'll see an end to the mainline Assassin's Creed games in favor of a free-to-play style game, I do think we may see more spin-off titles in the series. A mobile game with microtransactions or a free-to-play multiplayer spin-off seem like potential avenues of increasing the series' overall income.

Ultimately, I don't think Ubisoft's new subsidiary will necessarily be a bad thing for the Assassin's Creed franchise. I'm not convinced Assassin's Creed Shadows was enough to single-handedly tackle the company's reported financial issues, and an influx of new capital could help turn things around for the studio. That said, while I'm cautiously optimistic, I'm not convinced the series will remain completely unscathed by some of the industry's less-than-ideal monetization practices.

Source: Ubisoft