Ubisoft s fortunes have been soaring over the past decade, and they think they can reach the very top of the publishing industry. EA did own a stake in the company, but they sold it last year, which Ubisoft founder and CEO Yves Guillemot says opens possibilities.
“When they left it changed lots of things for us. We had a competitor owning a share of the company and we were always wary that they could decide they would go for the company and that wouldn’t have been welcome,” said Guillemot. “The problem is that when you have the number one player in your company, you can t buy another company that would be in conflict with them or their strategy. So now we are totally independent again, we feel a lot better, we are number three and our goal is to beat those guys, EA and Activision, at some point.”
Ubisoft made $1.4 billion in revenue last year, which is impressive but still a far way behind the $5 billion of EA and $6.5 billion of Activsion. Still, Ubisoft is undaunted by the task of taking on the industry s biggest powers.
“We got from number 25 to number three, so we think that we can continue and that it is possible to be number one. It’s not certain, but we are taking the steps that we think will get us there,” said Guillemot. “It has to be by creating or finding products that will make the difference and will be recognized as the best products in the industry. We have to create the products that will fuel the growth. I m not saying we won t do acquisitions, but the focus is on creating products.”
Source: MCV
