The French publisher acquires the Tom Clancy brand from the bestselling novelist for an undisclosed sum...

Ubisoft has announced that it has acquired the Tom Clancy brand from the novelist for an undisclosed amount. The move marks the strengthening of a decade-long collaboration between the publisher and the 'Hunt for Red October' writer, and allows Ubisoft to use the Clancy brand in future videogames and 'related products' such as movies and books.

The publisher is currently working on two new brands in the Tom Clancy umbrella franchises, EndWar and Air Combat, joining Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon. Although a definitive price for the acquisition has been held back, Ubisoft has revealed a 20 million Euro drop in expected net cash by the end of the fiscal year - though this could quite easily be a way of reflecting lower than expected results.

Making the announcement, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, "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."

"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 recognised around the world for offering exciting video games, films and books...Capitalising 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."

In a separate conference call, Guillemot has suggested that the Tom Clancy brand may even move into the MMO space, which certainly sounds like a significant expansion over the persistent online war planned for EndWar. It's unclear whether a Clancy MMO would fall foul of US government plans to 'patrol' virtual worlds in the name of National Security...