(AOF) – In accordance with its commitment to have a majority of independent members, Ubisoft’s Board of Directors is proposing the appointment of Claude France as an independent director, on the recommendation of the Appointments, Compensation and Governance. Claude France is Managing Director of Worldline France, Director of the MTS digital services activities of the Worldline Group and member of the board of directors of Ingenico.
During her career, she has held various commercial management positions in companies in the technology and digital sectors. She has been part of the Worldline Executive Committee since 2018.
The appointment of Claude France to the Board of Directors will be subject to the approval of Ubisoft’s annual general meeting of shareholders, which will meet on July 5, 2022.
“The Board of Directors will benefit from Claude’s expertise in operational transformation, marketing and strategy, which she has acquired throughout her career in the technology sector, declared Yves Guillemot, Chairman and CEO and co-founder of “Ubisoft. With experience in multicultural and international environments, she will bring a new perspective to the Board of Directors, so that Ubisoft continues to innovate and strengthen its position as a technological leader.”
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Key points
– World’s third largest independent video game publisher created in 1986, holding the flagship franchises Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Watch Dogs, Far Cry and the Tom Clancy series (Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Rainbow, etc.) with 141 million active players;
– Turnover of €2.2 billion split between North America for 50%, Europe for 37% and Asia-Pacific for 11%);
– Games available on all media: 33% on Playstation, 21% on XBox, 23% on PC, 11% on Nintendo and 8% on mobiles;
– 5 strengths for the business model: ownership of all brands, integration of technological innovations in the R&D policy (like Google Stadia for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey), control of internal production at 96%, then
rise in
power of recurring revenue (64% contributed by the “back catalog”) and profitability via digitalisation;
– Capital held by 2 reference shareholders – 15.9% of the capital and 23.3% of the voting rights by the founding brothers and the Guillemot family and 4% by the employees, Yves Guillemot being Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Board of administration of 11 members;
– Solid balance sheet, with €1.7 billion in equity, €80 million in net debt and €1.6 billion in cash.
Challenges
– Strategy for the gaming community: creation and production of video games on all media, dematerialized, multi-player and multi-platform via Ubisoft Connect / development of franchises / respect for player data / quality of infrastructures, reinforced by the acquisition of the i3D.net host;
– Innovation strategy led by the Knowledge Management and Technology Group departments on the one hand, the Innovation Lab on the other: open to animation and film via Motion Pictures (Raving Rabbids series) / developing streaming and cloud gaming;
– Environmental strategy driven by the BEGES report and praised by Sustain Analytics: use of renewable energies for French and Canadian data centers / sequestration of GHG emissions and reduction of emissions per employee by 8.8% in March 2024, compared to 2019 / member of Playing for the Planet;
– Spin-offs from the integration of Ketchapp, some games of which will be integrated into the Weixin laptop – 980 million users – of Chinese Tencent and development of a new Star Wars game with Lucasfilm Game;
– Visibility of the activity with an order book equal to the annual directory figure;
– Production power via the “Lead associate” organization of 45 creation studios, and cutting-edge technologies (Anvil and Snowdrop for engines, Ubisoft connect and I3D.net for distribution, Web3, VR, voxel, etc.) .
The metaverse revolution –
Ubisoft has taken a first step in the realization of its metaverse through the launch of Ubisoft Quartz, a platform where players can obtain virtual objects certified and traceable on a blockchain. New players have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in recent months. Their games (“Axie Infinity” or “Blankos Block Party”), still confidential, allow users to own their avatars or plots of virtual land, which they can then resell to other players. Niantic, publisher of the “Pokémon Go” video game, has just raised $300 million to fund companies operating in the metaverse. The company quickly positioned itself on this technology from which “Pokémon Go” is derived, which has generated more than 5 billion dollars in revenue since its release.