However, it appears that the reason for increase in voting power may be far more innocuous. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the increase in voting rights may actually be due to a slightly obscure French stock market law which automatically doubles the voting rights associated with certain share types after they've been held for a certain amount of time.
Electronic Arts has on the whole been a fairly quiet shareholder in Ubisoft since the original share acquisition, rarely, if ever, exercising their powers to affect Ubisoft strategy. GamesIndustry.biz also suggests that any real takeover bid would be fraught with risk, largely due to the complexities of trying to integrate such large, unwieldy, and highly likely culturally different organisations. In summary, it wouldn't make sense.
Ironically, Ubisoft may have something that Electronic Arts desperately needs - the ability to take risks and try developing new intellectual property. While games such as Red Steel have failed to create blockbuster hits among gamers, they, and Ubisoft's investment into the Nintendo DS, have done wonders for Ubisoft's share price, in marked contrast to Electronic Arts' share price which has largely stagnated. While Electronic Arts desperately needs this ability to take risks, any real attempt to migrate this agility from Ubisoft to Electronic Arts is doomed to fail, largely due to Electronic Arts' demonstrated history of smothering partners and acquisitions. As such, Ubisoft may be able to sleep safe in the knowledge that their independence is assured for now.
Loading...
