Ubisoft, game publisher of the Tom Clancy Rainbow Six Series, Tom Clancy Splinter Cell series, and Tom Clancy Ghost Recon series, has announced 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," according to a press release issued by them Wednesday.

Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer at Ubisoft is quoted as saying, "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 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."

Ubisoft estimates a boost in their operating income of at least five million Euros, or 7.7 million dollars each year after this deal. Tom Clancy will be paid an undisclosed amount in four installments over the next three years. Ubisoft expects to have 130 Euros, or 200 million in their cash reserves at the end of the current fiscal year March 31, 2008. Ubisoft expects half of the million copies shipped to the US of their latest Tom Clancy title, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2, to sell within a week of release. According to NPD Group, the Tom Clancy brand was the second place brand in sales in the US last year.

Guillemot says that this deal will launch Ubisoft from being a game publisher to a "major player in the entertainment industry" as a whole with their rights to produce videogames, related books, movies, television shows, and other ancillary products carrying the Tom Clancy name. He looks forward to the opportunity to bridge all of these media forms together, and feels it will strengthen the brand even more. He also alluded to the possibility that Ubisoft may expand some of their other brands such as Rayman into new entertainment mediums.

Ubisoft currently has two more Tom Clancy games in development, Tom Clancy’s Air Combat and Tom Clancy’s EndWar.