Report: Ubisoft eyeing studios

Last week, France-based developer and publisher Ubisoft reported record earnings for the previous 12 months, to the tune of 680.3 million euros (approx $917.1 million). Now the second-largest independent games company in Europe is on the lookout to acquire some smaller fish, according to a report from Reuters.

The company's chief financial officer, Alain Martinez, told Reuters that the company was currently considering two to three acquisition opportunities, primarily development studios. Although he did not name the companies on the radar, he did mention that if the deals went through, they would set Ubisoft back in the range of 1 million to 20 million euros (approx $1.3 million to $26.9 million).

Ubisoft chairman Yves Guillemot said at a news conference, "The idea is to stay cash positive, but we remain on the lookout for acquisition opportunities."

Ubisoft was founded by five brothers of the Guillemot family in 1986 and has developed titles including Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids, XIII, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas. The company acquired MC2-Microids in 2005, bought the Driver franchise from Atari in 2006, and acquired Sunflowers--the German publisher and developer best known for the Anno series--this April.