Ubisoft Acquires the Tom Clancy Name for Video Games, Related Books, Movies, and More

[malware]

Today, Ubisoft announced that it has concluded an agreement with Mr. Tom Clancy to acquire all intellectual property rights to the Tom Clancy name, on a perpetual basis and free of all related future royalty payments, for use in video games and ancillary products including related books, movies and merchandising products. The price of this all cash acquisition is not currently disclosed.


Post acquisition, Ubisoft expects to have a net cash position of around 130 M€ by the end of fiscal 2007-08, compared to a previous expectation of approximately 150 M€. Additional payments will be made as well in fiscal 2008-09 and fiscal 2009-10.
On the basis of past performance of Tom Clancy branded video games, and excluding any potential contribution coming from sales of ancillary products, the royalty savings generated by this acquisition are estimated to have an average positive impact on Ubisoft's operating income of a minimum of 5 M€ per year.

"After ten years of a highly successful collaboration which has seen the creation of blockbusters that set standards in the videogame industry, such as Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, today, acquiring the perpetual property rights of the Tom Clancy name for video games and related projects is a major event,” stated Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer at Ubisoft. “The future of our industry lies in our capacity to create and develop brands that captivate consumers and that present myriad of opportunities for the full spectrum of entertainment, be it video games, books, movies or other media. The Tom Clancy brand is recognized around the world for offering exciting video games, films and books. The most recent example of such value creation through brand management is the EndWar book, based on the video game story, which has been in the NY Times top 10 Paperback Mass Market Fiction bestseller list for the last four weeks. Capitalizing on the strong franchises that we’ve built over the past 10 years, we will take the Tom Clancy game brand to the next level of the global entertainment industry."

Source: Ubisoft

[DanishDevil]

Whoa. Too many companies are getting too powerful man...

[INSTG8R]

Meh so they can now churn out whatever console inspired dumbed down rubbish of any kind and call it a Tom Clancy....This is definitely the nail in the coffin for anything that used to resemble a smart tactical Tom Clancy game of old...good bye R6 and GR you used to be fun but have now dwindled to just carrying the name.

[Mussels]

Tom Clancy: Takes a bath

[erocker]

Lol, might as well. I hope this does nothing to ruin the series. I don't think we need Tom Clancy's Pony dress-up or anything.

[GSG-9]

Originally Posted by INSTG8R

Tom Clancy game of old...good bye R6 and GR you used to be fun but have now dwindled to just carrying the name.

or more importantly his books...which set everything else in moation. But I guess those have been screwed for some time, since most of the books in series that he started are now shadow written or flat out say "Tom Clancy's [enter series here]" "Written by [enter NOT Tom Clancy here]". Its been going down hill anyway. I guess he had a good run..

[imperialreign]

and now . . . we'll see 3 different game series go straight into the toilet.

If they start pumping out crap, hopefully, the devout fans of the series will make their displeasure known by not buying crappy releases.

[effmaster]

Originally Posted by imperialreign

and now . . . we'll see 3 different game series go straight into the toilet.

If they start pumping out crap, hopefully, the devout fans of the series will make their displeasure known by not buying crappy releases.

If Ubisoft is smart they wont ruin the series of Tom Clancy. They are just trying to save themselves some royalty fees off of every Tom Clancy title that they sell. I hope he keeps making books though because those were always interesting reads.

[INSTG8R]

Originally Posted by effmaster

I hope he keeps making books though because those were always interesting reads.

Yep I have pretty much every TC Book right here on the shelf next to me. Read them all many times. I never got into the shadow written stuff. It just didn't feel the same.

[calvary1980]

I have a collection well actually it's my brothers but I've read some. Executive Orders, Patriot Games and the Op-Center collection. Patriot Games is my favorite. good move by Ubisoft

- Christine

[GSG-9]

Originally Posted by INSTG8R

Yep I have pretty much every TC Book right here on the shelf next to me. Read them all many times. I never got into the shadow written stuff. It just didn't feel the same.

I also have them all -the shadow series
I am glad I'm not the only one who can tell its not the same!