Videogaming remains fiercely independent

French videogame publisher Ubisoft announced on March 20 '18 that media conglomerate Vivendi had abandoned its hostile take-over, initiated in October '15

Vivendi will sell its 27% stake - a bitter sweet victory for the Guillemot brothers after loosing  Gameloft, another videogame editor they launched in 1999, to Vivendi in a hostile takeover in July '16

For Vivendi ,  there is much to be said for a videogaming division in the light of potential synergies with its TV, movie and telecom platforms, in an attempt to repair its unfortunate sale of American subsidiary Activision Blizzard in 2013.  Y. Guillemot argued in the past that the approach would fail because Vivendi 'does not understand' the business of videogaming 

Still a young industry, combining creativity to hook players with advanced technology, videogaming seems to side with the Guillemot's as our theme demonstrates with the very successful stock run of these independent companies

For now, with competing distribution networks (Internet, telecom, TV, movies...) eager to carry games, this wide range of options supports high videogaming share prices all around and the valuations may well protect the companies against renewed takeover attempts for now

By announcing that the sale of the Vivendi stake would allow the entry of Tencent of China   (with 5% of capital) as part of a 'strategic partnership', Ubisoft demonstrates how worldwide distribution - and synergies - can be shared, asTencent has committed to distribute PC and Mobile Ubisoft games in China (over 500 million players)