Ubisoft Buys Tom Clancy Name Rights

With games series such as Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and the Splinter Cell all featuring the Tom Clancy name, Ubisoft made a bid to secure its continued use.

"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.

In a move that will undoubtedly save the company a bit of money, Ubisoft acquired the intellectual property rights to the Clancy name. While the actual sum paid for the rights has not been disclosed, the purchase is thought to be giving Ubisoft around US$7.8 million a year in profits, however, making it a worthwhile investment.

The deal not only secures the use of the name on games, but also “ancillary products including books, movies and merchandising products.” So, you can pretty much guarantee Ubisoft is going to publish a lot more supporting products for its games series as well.

“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."

Read more at GamesIndustry.biz and the Ubisoft press release.