Wikipedia

Gameloft

Gameloft SEis a French video game company based inParis,founded in December 1999 byUbisoftco-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games for themobile devices,video game consoles,andPC.Formerly apublic companytraded at theParis Bourse,Gameloft was acquired by media conglomerateVivendiin 2016.

Gameloft SE
Company typeSubsidiary
Euronext:GFT
IndustryVideo games
Founded14 December 1999;24 years ago(1999-12-14)
FounderMichel Guillemot
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Revenue258,000,000 Euro (2017)Edit this on Wikidata
Number of employees
3,400 (2024)
ParentVivendi(2016–present)
Websitegameloft
Footnotes / references
[1]

History

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Game development strategy

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Gameloft was founded by Michel Guillemot, one of the five founders ofUbisoft,on 14 December 1999.[2][3]By February 2009, Gameloft had shipped over 200 million copies of its games since its IPO,[4]as well as 2 million daily downloads of its games via theApp StoreforiOS.[5][6]Gameloft'schief financial officer(CFO), Alexandre de Rochefort, noted that the company's games generated about 400 times more revenue on iOS than onAndroid,partially becauseGoogledid not develop itsGoogle Playstorefront to "entice customers to actually buy products"; as a result of which Gameloft heavily cut its investments in Android games development in November 2009.[7][8]In July 2010, Gameloft instead attempted to sell Android games directly through its website, avoiding the use of Google Play.[9]

In a May 2011 keynote, de Rochefort stated that he wanted to avoid moving the company to theNASDAQstock exchange, as the U.S. games market appeared to be nothing more than a largeeconomic bubble,especially when seeingZynga's thenUS$10 billiontotal stock value.[10]

Gameloft's games have often been accused of beingclones of other properties;[11][12][13][14]when asked about it at the November 2011Consumer Electronics Show,chief executive officer (CEO) Michel Guillemot stated "The videogame industry has always played around a limited number of themes. There is maybe one new idea a year."[15][16]In response to many users commenting on Guillemot's remarks, Levi Buchanan ofIGNdefended Gameloft, stating that its games were usually well-polished, in contrary to the original concepts' games.[17]

By July 2014, Gameloft announced that they would focus more strongly on quality than on quantity, as was stated to have previously been the case.[18]

In April 2013, Texan companyLodsysfiled a lawsuit against Gameloft, among other mobile game developers, for infringing its patent onin-app purchases.[19]Similar lawsuits were previously intervened byApple Inc.,who claim to have licensed the technology from Lodsys for usage in its App Store.[20]

In February 2012 and February 2016, Gameloft penned publishing contracts withGREE, Inc.andGungHo Online Entertainment,respectively, to facilitate its presence in the Asian market.[21][22]

Vivendi subsidiary

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In October 2015, French media conglomerate Vivendi announced that they had acquired a 6.2% stake in Gameloft's stock,[23]which was quickly raised to 10.2% a few days later.[24]By February 2016, Vivendi had acquired 30% in the company, and launched ahostile takeoverbid.[25][26]In accordance with French law, Vivendi started atender offerto acquire further shares.[27]

Following the announcement, Gameloft's board of directors strongly advised shareholders against selling stock to Vivendi to avoid the hostile takeover.[28]By May 2016, Vivendi had won over the majority of shareholders, enabling them to move forward in the takeover.[29]

The acquisition was completed on 1 June 2016, with Vivendi having acquired 56%, anabsolute majorityover Gameloft's ownership.[30][31]Employees of Gameloft were presented with anopen letterwelcoming them to the new parent company's family.[32][33]

Analysts believed that the takeover was just the first step towards also purchasing Ubisoft, another video game venture founded by Guillemot and his brothers, although Vivendi only held a 17.7% minority in that company at the time.[34][35][36]In response to Vivendi's actions, Guillemot announced that he would step down from his company and join his brother Yves Guillemot at Ubisoft to prevent it from also being taken over.[37][38]Guillemot later clarified that his stepping-down would take effect on 29 June.[39][40]

On 8 June, the Guillemot brothers announced that they were regretfully selling their ownership in Gameloft to Vivendi.[41][42]The transaction awarded Vivendi another 21.7% in Gameloft's capital.[43][44]After Guillemot departed from Gameloft on 29 June, Vivendi set up a new board of directors for the company, with Vivendi's present chief operating officer (COO), Stéphane Roussel, appointed Gameloft's chairman and CEO, and Gameloft's previous CFO, de Rochefort, additionally taking over the management of the company's 39 subsidiaries.[45]At that point, Vivendi owned 95.94% of Gameloft'sshare capital.[46]

Corporate affairs

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Gameloft is headquartered in the9th arrondissement of Parisand operates 17 game development studios worldwide.[47][1]

Studios

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In July 2011, Glenn Watson,lead programmerof Gameloft'sAucklandoffshoot, stated that the company's management created a "constant sense of urgency" at its studio, having employees regularly work 12- to 14-hour days.[48]A new studio inNew Orleanswas opened in August 2011, taking advantage oftax breaksgranted by the government ofLouisianain July 2009 to establish 150 new jobs.[49]

On 29 January 2013, Gameloft's India studio inHyderabadwas closed midway through the workday, leaving 250 people unemployed.[50][51][52]Between June and August 2015, Gameloft'sTokyolocation laid off roughly 80 people, effectively closing the studio.[53]Additionally, on 8 July 2015, all operations at the company'sNew York Cityoffice were halted, and as many as 100 employees were laid off.[54][55]Shortly after, in September 2015, Gameloft'sSeattlestudio was closed down and its 15 employees were let go.[56][57][58]The studio was opened just a year prior to its closure.[59][60][61]Seven studios were closed in total in 2015.[62][63]Guillemot stated that these actions were taken to accommodate its "ambitious cost reduction program", instantiated after the company saw anet lossof€16.6 millionin thefiscal yearthat ended on 30 June 2015.[64][65]

In January 2016, Gameloft opened a Nigerian marketing office for regional expansions,[66]and shut down its Auckland studio, firing roughly 160 employees.[67][68]At the time, Gameloft Auckland was New Zealand's largest video game studio.[69]Gameloft'sValencia,Spain, location was shuttered in April 2016.[70]In July 2017, Gameloft appointed John-Paul Burke ascountry managerfor its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[71]Gameloft UK later closed in December 2019.[72]Gameloft Budapest (founded 2012) was closed in March 2023.[73]

On February 22, 2024, Gameloft cut 38 jobs from its Lviv office in Ukraine and an unknown number of employees from its Toronto office.[74]On July 10, 2024, the Cluj office was closed and its 136 employees were laid off.[75]

List of studios
Name Location Founded/acquired Ref.
Gameloft Barcelona Barcelona,Spain 2006 [76]
Gameloft Bucharest Bucharest,Romania 2000 [77]
Gameloft Kharkiv / Gameloft Kharkov Kharkiv,Ukraine 2007 [78]
Gameloft Montreal / Gameloft Montréal Montreal,Canada 2000 [79]
Gameloft Brisbane Brisbane,Australia 2014 [80]
Gameloft South-East Asia
2004 [81]
Gameloft Lviv Lviv,Ukraine 2014 [82]
Gameloft Sofia Sofia,Bulgaria 2005 [83]
Gameloft Toronto Toronto,Canada 2011 [84]
Gameloft Paris Paris, France 2022 [85]
FreshPlanet New York City,United States 2018 [86]
The Other Guys Buenos Aires,Argentina 2020 [87]

Services

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In October 2019, Gameloft announced a partnership with mobile operatorGruppo TIMto open TIM I Love Games, a games subscription service forAndroidandiOS,exclusive to Italy and TIM customers.[88]

Games

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Main article:List of Gameloft games

References

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