Topic: Ubisoft Buys Rights to Tom Clancy Name

[Jonnyboy117]

Ubisoft pays Tom Clancy a one-time lump sum, giving them all rights to future Tom Clancy video games, books, movies, and lunch boxes.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=15584

 UBISOFT ACQUIRES THE TOM CLANCY NAME FOR VIDEO GAMES, RELATED BOOKS, MOVIES AND MERCHANDISING    

  SAN FRANCISCO – March 20, 2008 – Today, Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announces 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 million Euros by the end of fiscal 2007-08, compared to a previous expectation of approximately 150 million Euros. 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 million Euros 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 a 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."

[planetidiot]

Does this mean they can make games he had nothing to do with?  Or have they already been doing that?

[Enner]

Mm, a Ghost Recon lunch box.

Seeing as how The Sum of All Fears movie wasn't recieved all that well, I wonder if Ubi expects much out of the movie side of the deal. The books will be a nice bit of pocket change seeing as how I see Splinter Cell books on shelves from time to time.

planetidiot: I assume they have been doing that. I guess there's a chance that they consulted with Clancy for ideas on Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, R6: Vegas, and EndWar.

[Crimm]

I think the interesting thing is that Ubisoft may intend to start publishing books.

[UncleBob]

Damn... does this mean I can't name my first born Tom Clancy now?

What about Clancy Tom?

[animecyberrat]

How about Uncle Tom?

[KDR_11k]

Does this mean they can make games he had nothing to do with?  Or have they already been doing that?

As opposed to books he had nothing to do with?

[RABicle]

An old maddox that is highly appropriate here.

loling at  Tom Clancy's Lunch Box.

[planetidiot]

So we can look forward to Tom Clancy's Raving Rabbids?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

DAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[DAaaMan64]

man64?