Ubisoft

Ubisoft Entertainment S.A.

Type	Public
Traded as	Euronext: UBI
Industry	Interactive entertainment Video game industry
Founded	1986
Headquarters	Montreuil-sous-Bois[1]
Key people	Yves Guillemot (Chairman and CEO)
Products	Video games (List of Ubisoft games)
Revenue	€972 million (2010)
Operating income	€260 million (2010)[2]
Net income	€89.8 million (2010)[2]
Employees	6,700[1]
Website	www.ubi.com www.ubisoftgroup.com

Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. ( /ˈjuːbisɒft/ yoo-bee-soft;^[3] Euronext: UBI) is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries.^[1]

As of now, it is the third largest independent game publisher in Europe, and the third largest in the United States.^[1] The company's largest development studio is Ubisoft Montreal, which currently employs more than 1,700 people.^[4] Yves Guillemot, a founding brother, was the chairman and CEO. As for 2008–2009 fiscal year, Ubisoft's revenue was €1.058 billion, reaching the 1 billion euro milestone for the first time in its history. Ubisoft has created its own film division called Ubisoft Motion Pictures which will create shows and films based on its games.^[5]

Contents 1 History 2 Studios 2.1 Current 2.2 Defunct 3 Upcoming games 3.1 2012 3.2 2013 3.3 TBA 4 Uplay 4.1 Games 5 Hardware 6 Controversies 7 Lawsuits 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

History

The five brothers of the Guillemot family founded Ubisoft as a computer game publisher in March 1986 in France (Brittany).^[6] Yves Guillemot soon made deals with Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line, and MicroProse to distribute their games in France. By the end of the decade, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.^[7]

In the early 1990 years, Ubisoft initiated its in-house game development program which led to the 1994 opening of a studio in Montreuil, France, which later became their headquarters. Ubisoft became a publicly traded company in 1996 and continued to expand to offices around the globe, opening locations in Shanghai and Montreal.

In 2000, Ubisoft acquired Red Storm Entertainment.^[8]

In February 2001, they acquired Düsseldorf, Germany based Blue Byte Software.^[9]

In March 2001, Gores Technology Group sold The Learning Company's entertainment division (which includes games originally published by Brøderbund Software, Mattel, Mindscape and Strategic Simulations, Inc.) to them. The sale included the rights to IPs such as the Myst and Prince of Persia series.^[10]

In October 2001, they acquired Gamebusters and moved them to the German Offices.^[11]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft committed itself to online games by getting behind Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, The Matrix Online, and the European and Chinese operation of EverQuest. The publisher established ubi.com as its online division. However, in February 2004, Ubisoft cancelled the online portion of Uru and backed out of the publishing deal on The Matrix Online. Nevertheless, a mere week later, the company announced its acquisition of Wolfpack Studios, developer of Shadowbane.

In December 2004, a rival game corporation Electronic Arts purchased a 19.9% stake in the firm, an action Ubisoft referred to as "hostile" on EA's part.^[12]

In March 2005, Ubisoft acquired part of MC2-Microïds (Microïds Canada) and integrated it into Ubisoft Montreal.^[13]

In July 2006 Ubisoft also bought the Driver franchise from Atari for a sum of €19 million (US$24 million) in cash for the franchise, technology rights, and most asset. Additionally, though Ubisoft is not acquiring the studio outright, the members of Driver developer Reflections Interactive became employees of Ubisoft. As a result, Reflections Interactive was subsequently renamed Ubisoft Reflections.

On 11 April 2007, Ubisoft announced that it had acquired German game developer Sunflowers,^[14] followed by an acquisition of Japanese developer Digital Kids that November.^[15]

Ubisoft is also responsible for publishing famous franchises produced by other important studios for some specific platforms, such as Resident Evil 4 for PC, which is a Capcom production, and Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon for PlayStation 2 and Harvest Moon Online, which are Marvelous Interactive productions.

On 8 July 2008, Ubisoft made the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising. Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 100 team members. The studio's many projects include such innovative films as 300, Frank Miller's Sin City, Avatar and the Spy Kids series.

On 10 November 2008, Ubisoft acquired Massive Entertainment from Activision.^[16]

In 2009 Ubisoft Inc. acquired the domain Imaginetown.com from S. J. Crowley, writer, illustrator, former Walt Disney Imagineer and creator of The Ghostniks Haunted Adventure Series.

Studios

As the fourth largest video game company in the world as of 2009, Ubisoft studios employs the second largest amount of in-house development staff in the world and has several divisions and offices throughout the world.^[1] While some were founded by Ubisoft, others have been acquired over time:

Current

• Ubisoft Annecy
• Ubisoft Bulgaria
• Ubisoft Casablanca
• Ubisoft Chengdu, started on 17 September 2007.^[11]
• Ubisoft Germany in Düsseldorf, Germany, started in 1995, acquired Gamebusters in October 2001 and merged employees.^[11]
  • Blue Byte Software in Düsseldorf, Germany, founded in 1988, acquired February 2001.^[11]
  • Related Designs Software GmbH, founded in January 1995,^[17] acquired a 30% stake in the company on 11 April 2007.
  • Sunflowers Interactive Entertainment Software GmbH in Heusenstamm, Germany, founded in 1993, acquired on 11 April 2007.^[18]
• Ubisoft India, started in 2008 after acquiring the Pune Gameloft studio. Will focus on porting games to the current generation of handhelds.^[19] In Times Animage 2009 held at Pune it was disclosed by Ubisoft officials that the Pune Studio was developing its own games on DS, Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.
• Ubisoft Ukraine, started 29 April 2008.^[11]
• Ubisoft Massive in Malmö, Sweden, founded as Massive Entertainment in 1997, acquired from Vivendi Games on 10 November 2008.
• Ubisoft Montpellier, current projects include Rayman Origins, From Dust, Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Michel Ancel is a developer for this division.
• Ubisoft Montreal, started in 1997 as Ubisoft Divertissements Inc.,^[20] acquired the Canadian division of Microids on 2 March 2005, eventually merged into this division.
  • Hybride Technologies, acquired 8 July 2008.^[11]
  • Quazal, acquired in 4 November 2010.^[21]
• Nadeo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Paris, France, founded in 2000. Acquired in 5 October 2009.
• Ubisoft Nagoya, started in September 1996 as "Digital Kids". Acquired by Ubisoft in 2008.^[22]
• Ubisoft Paris, made games such as Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Red Steel, Red Steel 2, and XIII.
• Ubisoft Poland, opened in 2009.^[11]
• Ubisoft Quebec, started 1 June 2005, based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada^[23]
• Ubisoft Red Storm in Morrisville, North Carolina, USA, founded in 1996 and acquired in August 2000.^[11]
• Ubisoft Reflections in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, founded in 1984 as Reflections Interactive and acquired in 26 August 2006, from Atari.
• Ubisoft Romania in Bucharest, Romania and Craiova, started in October 1992.
• Ubisoft São Paulo, started on 24 June 2008 and on 20 January 2009 they acquired Southlogic Studios and integrated it into this studio.^[24] The studios were closed in late 2010 to focus on games distribution.^[25]
• Ubisoft San Francisco, North American Headquarters
• Ubisoft Shanghai, announced in early 2009 that their new, Shanghai studio would develop the upcoming Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 title, I Am Alive, instead of the originally expected Darkworks.
• Ubisoft Singapore, started on August 2008. Ubisoft cited the Singapore government's demonstrated interest and support for the video game industry, together with other factors such as the quality of Singapore's universities and training institutions, as reasons for opening a studio there. Ubisoft Singapore is focused on developing their own game titles.^[26]
• Ubisoft Tiwak
• Ubisoft Tokyo, started in 1994.
• Ubisoft Toronto, announced on 6 July 2009,^[27] is led by Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond.^[28] Their first productions will include a new installment of the Splinter Cell series made by staff coming from the series' core team at Ubisoft Montreal.^[29]
• Ubisoft Vancouver, started on 3 February 2009 after acquiring Action Pants Inc.^[30]
• Ubisoft Milan, started in early 1998.
• Ubisoft Barcelona, started 1998.
• RedLynx, acquired in November 2011.

Defunct

• Sinister Games, acquired in April 2000, closed in June 2003.^[11]
• Wolfpack Studios in Austin, Texas, U.S, founded in 1999 and acquired on 1 March 2004. Closed in 2006.^[31]

Upcoming games

2012

• Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
• Far Cry 3 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
• I Am Alive (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
• Just Dance Final Party (Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online (Microsoft Windows, Wii U)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Retribution (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
• Prince of Persia (Wii, 3DS)^[32]

2013

• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)^[32]

TBA

• Tom Clancy's EndWar 2 (TBA)
• Beyond Good & Evil 2 (TBA)
• Killer Freaks from Outer Space (Wii U)

Uplay

With the release of Assassin's Creed II in 2009, Ubisoft launched the Uplay network, which is activated either in-game or via the Uplay website.^[33] Uplay allows players to connect with other gamers, and to earn rewards based on achievements in Uplay enabled games, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stating that "the more you play, the more free goods you will be able to have".^[34]

Games

• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
• Assassin's Creed Revelations
• Call of Juarez: The Cartel
• Driver: San Francisco
• Heroes of Might and Magic VI
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
• Pure Football
• R.U.S.E.
• Shaun White Skateboarding
• Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic
• Splinter Cell: Conviction
• The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom
• Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

Hardware

Controversies

Ubisoft had, for a time, used the controversial StarForce copy protection technology that installs drivers on a system and is known to cause some hardware problems and compatibility issues with certain operating systems, starting with the game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, which was not compatible with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for quite some time, until a patch was released by the makers of StarForce. On 14 April 2006, Ubisoft confirmed that they would stop using StarForce on their games, citing complaints from customers.^[35]

In the February 2008 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), Editor-in-Chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu asserted that Ubisoft had ceased to provide all Ubisoft titles to the EGM for any coverage purposes as a result of prior critical previews and negative reviews.^[36][37]

Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, was quoted in the company's third-quarter 2008-09 sales report as saying "as some of our games did not meet the required quality levels to achieve their full potential, they need more sales promotions than anticipated."^[38]

In January 2010, Ubisoft has announced the Online Services Platform, which forces customers to not only authenticate on the first game launch, but to remain online continually while playing, with the game even pausing if network connection is lost. This makes it impossible to play the game offline, to resell it, and means that should Ubisoft's servers go down, the game will be unplayable.^[39] In February 2010, review versions of Assassin's Creed II and Settlers 7 for PC contained this new DRM scheme, confirming that it is already in use, and that instead of pausing the game, it would discard all progress since the last checkpoint or save game.^[40] However, subsequent patches for Assassin's Creed II allow the player to continue playing once their connection has been restored without lost progress.^[41] In March 2010 outages to the Ubisoft DRM servers were reported, causing about 5% of legitimate buyers to be unable to play Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 games.^[42][43] Ubisoft initially said this was the result of the number of users attempting to access their servers to play, however Ubisoft later claimed that the real cause of the outages were denial-of-service attacks.^[42][43][44]

The company's use of Aaron Priceman, also known as Mr. Caffeine, as a spokesman at E3 2011 was criticized for its reliance on witty remarks, inability to pronounce Tom Clancy (he pronounced it Tom Culancy), sexual innuendos and imitations of video game sound effects with little to no response from the audience.^[45]

In August 2011, Ubisoft released From Dust with DRM protection, contrary to previous statements that the game would not have any DRM related restrictions. Though a promise was made to remove it, after several months the DRM had still not been removed from many if not all copies of the game. Also, the game was widely described as "badly ported" from consoles. Joystiq reports that "paying players will find a capped frame rate, limited resolutions for the windowed mode, no anti-aliasing and plenty of bugs".^[46]

On November 23 the creative director of Ubisoft's 'I am Alive' Stanislas Mettra stated "We've heard loud and clear that PC gamers are bitching about there being no version for them," said Mettra. "But are these people just making noise just because there's no version or because it's a game they actually want to play? Would they buy it if we made it?". Mr Mettra also added "It's hard because there's so much piracy and so few people are paying for PC games that we have to precisely weigh it up against the cost of making it. Perhaps it will only take 12 guys three months to port the game to PC. It's not a massive cost but it's still a cost. If only 50,000 people buy the game, then it's not worth it." The statements made by Mettra are fast becoming notorious.

Lawsuits

In 2008, Ubisoft sued Optical Experts Manufacturing (OEM), a DVD Duplication company for $25 million plus damages for the leak and distribution of the PC version of Assassin's Creed. The lawsuit claims that OEM did not take proper measures to protect its product as stated in its contract with Ubisoft. The complaint also alleges that OEM admitted to all the problems in the complaint.^[47]

See also

• List of Ubisoft games
• Ubisoft Entertainment games
• Frag Dolls
• UbiWorkshop

References

External links

• Ubisoft's public site
• Ubisoft's corporate site

Ubisoft Main subsidiaries Blue Byte Nadeo Red Storm RedLynx Massive Milan Montreal Paris Quebec RedLynx Reflections Romania São Paulo Shanghai Japan Toronto Ukraine Former subsidiaries Wolfpack Studios Franchises Anno Assassin's Creed Brothers in Arms CSI Driver Far Cry Ghost Recon Imagine Naruto Might and Magic Myst Petz Prince of Persia Rainbow Six Rayman Rabbids Red Steel Silent Hunter The Settlers Splinter Cell Related articles List of Ubisoft games

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