Vivendi increased its stake in game publisher Ubisoft to 17.7 per cent, according to a notice from France’s Financial Markets Authority, giving it more than 15 per cent of voting rights, Le Monde reported.

The French conglomerate is now looking to have representation on the Ubisoft board.

Meanwhile, Gameloft, which is controlled by the same family as Ubisoft, lost an appeal to suspend a separate takeover bid made by Vivendi, with 27 May being set as the deadline for a bid for the game publisher, Reuters reported.

Ubisoft said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that the move confirms Vivendi’s “usual strategy”, which involves saying it has no intention to take control, while steadily increasing its stake and “preparing an offensive in the next general meeting”.

Vivendi has slowly been increasing its stake in both Ubisoft and Gameloft, both founded by the Guillemot family.

Gameloft wanted its bid process suspended, so that a complaint against Vivendi could be investigated – a procedure that is still ongoing.

Gameloft CEO Michel Guillemot pointed out that “Ubisoft has been criticised for not protecting Gameloft, but if one day Ubisoft bought Gameloft, it would only be in the interest of the shareholders of both companies”.

Last year in an internal email, Ubisoft’s CEO said Vivendi had a reputation for “aggressively pursuing companies within the entertainment sector” and described its actions as “unwelcome”.