The crazy thing is that this is not a hostile takeover.

Last week we reported on negotiations for a possible takeover of Ubisoft. But today, a key detail of that deal was revealed.

As reported According to GamesIndustry.biz, Guillemots are trying to close this deal with TenCent, currently Ubisoft’s largest outside investor. TenCent currently owns 10% of the company.

TenCent is the largest video game company in the world, by the standard of its stock investments. The company has purchased shares in more than 600 companies in total, but its investments in video games are truly notable. Besides Ubisoft, they hold shares in Krafton, FromSoftware, Epic Games, Larian Studios, Remedy and PlatinumGames.

They 100% own Riot Games and 80% own Path of Exile developer Grinding Gears Games. Most notoriously, they were named as a big investor in FromSoftware’s parent company Kadokawa, as well as Korean conglomerate Kakao and, of course, Sony.

But on top of all that, TenCent has video game studios in their native China, which they founded and fully own. We recently covered their great PvP shooter, Delta Force. Recently, they also revealed their World Pal imitator Light of Motiram.

TenCent is negotiating with the Guillemots to have a greater voice in board decisions. For example, they want to be able to intervene on issues such as cash flow allocation. On the other hand, the Guillemots are trying to retain management control of the company, which is a very difficult sell given the company’s performance in recent years.

While this may seem like a hostile takeover, it’s actually not quite that. The Guillemots are trying to reach an agreement precisely because they are trying to avoid this hostile takeover. And this takeover has real teeth behind it.

Last September, AJ Investments accused TenCent and the Guillemots of collusion. TenCent allegedly sold its shares back to the family, without the rest of the board knowing. This behavior itself is partly to blame for Ubisoft’s current crisis, but AJ Investments still has to play nice with TenCent, as they have significant voting power as the majority shareholder.

But as things stand, TenCent could choose to walk away from this Guillemot deal. They are apparently happy with their 10% share in the company to maintain their “gambling business cooperation with the company”.

If TenCent withdraws, AJ and other minority investors will now be able to negotiate this buyout. This may or may not be a hostile takeover, depending on how the Guillemots took it. And then there are less tasty ones possibilities for the company. In the end, none of this would have happened if the Guillemots hadn’t made too many mistakes, leading to too many missed game throws. We can only hope the company finds its way, but what the developers do may have no bearing on their owners’ decision.