Popular mobile game publisher Gameloft, known for its popular mobile game franchises such as Asphalt, Modern Combat, and Dungeon Hunter, is now majority controlled by media corporation Vivendi, following an offer for shares and a letter to Gameloft and its employees months ago about a takeover of the company to help it grow and expand with further development. Vivendi has announced today that it owns 61.71 percent of Gameloft’s shares, which also nets them more than half, 55.61 percent exactly, of Gameloft’s voting rights. Vivendi reportedly picked up the controlling amount of shares at €8 per share.
While more funding and more secure financial backing don’t seem like a bad thing, and it likely isn’t, Gameloft has apparently wanted to remain an independent company, making this tender offer on controlling shares more of a takeover that the company did not wish to happen. It’s entirely possible that Gameloft could simply flourish from the changes announced today, but it’s also possible that any other number of things could happen, such as a merger with Ubisoft, another renowned publisher and developer of games across numerous platforms that Vivendi has expressed interest in acquiring the controlling shares for.
Alongside now having the controlling stake of Gameloft and having the most voting rights, it also sounds like Vivendi will be looking to decide on the members of Gameloft’s Board of Directors going forward, having stated that they will hold the Annual Shareholders meeting on June 29th where they will “appoint a majority of the total number of directors comprising the board.” Whether this means that all current board members will hold their seat is still unclear, as is Gameloft’s future plans following the shift in controlling shares for the company. For fans of Gameloft’s titles, this will hopefully mean no changes for the continued quality of development of future titles and updates to existing ones, but with Vivendi now being able to rule the deciding vote on anything, there is no telling how things will proceed down the line as Vivendi is reportedly known for aggressive tactics in the business. Vivendi also at one point owned Activision-Blizzard, who has seen some of biggest successes in recent years, so it’s also entirely possible that this could be a huge boon for Gameloft in the long run.