List of Ubisoft subsidiaries

Ubisoft is a French multinational video game publisher, headquartered in Rennes, France. It was founded in March 1986 by the Guillemot brothers. Since its establishment, Ubisoft had slowly become one of the largest video game publishers. It also has the second-largest in-house development team, with more than 10000 staff members working on various properties in 33 video game studios established in different parts of the world.[1] It is a third-party developer and mostly publishes games made internally.

While Ubisoft set up many in-house studios such as Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Paris, the studio also acquired several studios, such as Massive Entertainment from Vivendi, Red Storm Entertainment, Reflections Interactive, and FreeStyleGames from Activision. Ubisoft studios often cooperate with each other in their projects, sharing different development duties. For instance, 2014's Assassin's Creed Unity saw 10 studios across the world working together.[2]

North America

Ubisoft Montreal

Ubisoft Montreal building

Ubisoft Montreal was Ubisoft's largest in-house development studio, as well as one of the largest development studios worldwide. Founded in 1997 in Montreal, the studio started with only 50 employees. 25 of them comes from Ubisoft headquarters in France, while the rest are new recruits. Yannis Mallet was the company's studio head. While the company originally focused their work on family licensed titles, the team achieved breakthrough success through the release of two new titles: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.[3]

Following their successes, they shift their focus to developing AAA titles. The company developed Far Cry 2 and the subsequent Far Cry sequels, become involved in the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series since Vegas and had become the lead developer of Ubisoft's most successful franchise, Assassin's Creed since the franchise's inception. The studio was also involved in creating new intellectual properties such as For Honor and Watch Dogs.

Ubisoft Quebec

Ubisoft Quebec was founded by Ubisoft in 2005 in Quebec City. Initially, the studio was set out to provide assistance to Ubisoft's main studios, it also participated in the development of several downloadable content for the Assassin's Creed series, such as Tyranny of King Washington for Assassin's Creed III, and Freedom Cry for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.[4] The Quebec studio worked on Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, a Kinect title released in 2012,[5] and become the lead developer for Assassin's Creed Syndicate in 2015, replacing the Montreal studio. It would be the first time the Quebec studio changed its role from a support studio to a lead developer of a triple-A game. To prepare for this change, Quebec recruited lots of new employees and the team included more than 400 members. The studio was led by Nicolas Rioux.[6]

Ubisoft Toronto

Exterior of the Ubisoft Toronto building

Ubisoft Toronto was founded by Ubisoft in 2010 in Toronto. The studio opening can be credited to the success of the Montreal studio, which encouraged Ubisoft to continue its expansion in Canada.[7] The team at Toronto are mostly employees from the Montreal studio who had worked on Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction.[8] The studio then took the lead role in developing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell game, as the then studio head Jade Raymond thought that it is Ubisoft's most iconic franchise and can help the studio to expand and recruit. Their debut game, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, received critical acclaim upon release.[9] The studio continued to contribute to other Ubisoft's project, including Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed Unity, and announced a new intellectual property, a toys-to-life game called Starlink: Battle of Atlas at E3 2017.[10] Raymond departed the studio and formed EA Motive in 2015.[11] Clint Hocking, the director of Far Cry 2, worked in the Toronto studio.[12]

Ubisoft San Francisco

Ubisoft San Francisco was founded in 2009. The studio was the lead developer for Rocksmith, and developed its sequel, Rocksmith 2014. Both titles were a critical and commercial success. The studio recruited many new employees in mid 2010s, and collaborated with Matt Stone and Trey Parker to develop South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a role-playing game set in the South Park universe.[13]

Ubisoft Halifax

Ubisoft Halifax, formerly known as Longtail Studios was founded by Gérard Guillemot, one of the co-founders of Ubisoft. Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia- Canada, Longtail Studios collaborated with Ubisoft on the development of several titles including Rocksmith, Sports Connection and Dance on Broadway.[14] The studio was acquired by Ubisoft in October 2015, and its focus would be shifted to developing AAA video games for mobile phones.[15]

Red Storm Entertainment

Red Storm Entertainment was founded by Tom Clancy and 14 other game developers in North Carolina in 1996. The company self-published the first tactical shooter, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, in 1998 and rose to international fame. Ubisoft acquired the studio in 2000. After the acquisition, Red Storm continued to work on tactical shooters and developed Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon in 2001 and its sequel Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 in 2004. Red Storm continued to collaborate with other Ubisoft studios on future Ghost Recon titles, and were involved in the development of several Far Cry games. Red Storm become one of the first Ubisoft studios to develop virtual reality projects, with the release of Werewolves Within in 2016 and Star Trek: Bridge Crew in 2017.[16]

Hybride Technologies

Hybride Technologies is a technology company. Its main role is to create visual effects for films and TV shows, and had contributed to films such as Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[17]

Europe

Ubisoft Montpellier

Ubisoft Montpellier was founded in 1994 as one of Ubisoft's graphics department. In late 2003, the studio merged with Tiwak, a technology company which worked on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. The studio was headed by Xavier Poix. The studio had released several successful games under Michel Ancel's direction, including Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil. The company also worked on several licensed titles, including The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and Peter Jackson's King Kong, and collaborated with Eric Chahi on From Dust. [18] The studio also developed the UbiArt Framework engine, used in titles including Rayman Origins, Rayman Legends, and Valiant Hearts: The Great War.[19]

Ubisoft Paris

Ubisoft Paris was founded in 1992 in Paris, and it held the status as the first Ubisoft's in-house studio. Ubisoft Paris worked on several early Rayman game as well as its spin-off, Raving Rabbids. It became the core developer of the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series and the Just Dance series, one of the most successful rhythm games in the market. Its mobile games division also contributed to titles like Assassin's Creed: Pirates.[17]

Ubisoft Milan

Ubisoft Milan was founded in 1998 in Milan. The game's initial focus was to develop handheld titles, and it brought Rayman to Game Boy Color and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Prophecy to Game Boy Advance. Milan studio also served as a support studio for Ubisoft, assisting other studios on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and Assassin's Creed III. The studio's focus then shifted to develop games that require motion control, including MotionSports and Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking with Barcelona studio and Paris studio respectively.[17] The studio was the lead developer of the company's first Nintendo Switch game, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.[20]

Ubisoft Massive

Massive Entertainment in Malmö, Sweden

Massive Entertainment was founded in 1997 in Malmö, Sweden. Formerly a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Games, Massive had placed most of its focus on developing real-time strategy games like Ground Control and World in Conflict. It was acquired by Ubisoft in March 2008.[21] Following the acquisition, Massive Entertainment worked on Uplay, Ubisoft's digital distribution platform, and developed Just Dance Now.[17] The company also developed the Snowdrop engine, and used it in Tom Clancy's The Division and an upcoming video game set in the Avatar series.[22]

Ubisoft Blue Byte

Blue Byte was founded in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1988. The company founded early successes with strategy titles such as The Settlers in 1993 and Battle Isle. Blue Byte was acquired by Ubisoft in 2001,[23] and had continued to work with The Settlers franchise with new installments. Blue Byte also helped with porting games like For Honor to personal computers.

Ubisoft had another studio in Mainz, formerly called Related Designs, which had worked on the construction and management simulation series, Anno. However, in June 2014, it was reincorporated into Blue Byte and become one of its division.[24]

RedLynx

RedLynx was founded in Helsinki in 2000, and had focused on creating racing game with the Trials series. While the studio was developing Trials Evolution, it was acquired by Ubisoft in late 2011.[25] Following Ubisoft's acquisition, the company continued to work on new Trials installment with Trials Fusion in 2014 and Trials of the Blood Dragon in 2016.[17]

Ubisoft Reflections

Ubisoft Reflections' Partnership House head office in Newcastle upon Tyne

Ubisoft Reflections was founded in 1984 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The company had developed several successful franchises, including Destruction Derby and Driver before Ubisoft's acquisition in July 2006. After Reflections' acquisition, the company continued to work on new Driver title, with the latest being 2010's Driver: San Francisco. The studio then turned to become a support team to work on other titles such as Tom Clancy's The Division, worked on vehicle physics for other Ubisoft games, and experimented with smaller projects such as Grow Home. The studio was managed by Pauline Jacquey.[26]

Nadeo

Nadeo was founded in 2000 in Paris, and gained success with the racing game franchise, Trackmania. Following the team had focused on allowing players to create user-generated content and developed a network called ManiaPlanet. All the games developed by Nadeo since Ubisoft's acquisition in 2009 were racing games, except ShootMania Storm, a first-person shooter. The company latest title was Trackmania Turbo.[17]

Ubisoft Annecy

Ubisoft Annecy was established in 1996 in Annecy, and their first game was Rayman 2 The Great Escape for the PlayStation 2. Annecy developed the multiplayer portion of many Ubisoft games, including the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series and the Assassin's Creed series. Their first title as a lead developer was Steep, an open world winter sports game released in late 2016.[17]

Ubisoft Bucharest

Ubisoft Bucharest was founded in 1992 as Ubisoft's first in-house studio that was not based in France. Consisting of 6 members when it was founded, the company's main goal was to port Ubisoft's games to personal computers. It also supported other studios on the development of Assassin's Creed's multiplayer, Assassin's Creed Rogue, Just Dance, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. A separate team in Craiova was founded to create mobile games.[17]

Ubisoft Kiev

Ubisoft Kiev was founded in April 2008 in Kiev. The studio's focus is to port Ubisoft games to personal computers, and had worked on titles such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier and Watch Dogs 2. The company also partnered with Massive Entertainment on Uplay and frequently worked with RedLynx on Trials games.[17]

Ubisoft Sofia

Ubisoft Sofia was founded in 2006 in Sofia. It had developed titles for handheld consoles, ranging from Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars, a turn-based tactics game for the Nintendo 3DS, to casual games such as Imagine: Fasion Designer and Chessmaster: The Art of Learning for handheld platform. The studio led the development of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation for the PlayStation Vita and Assassin's Creed Rogue for home consoles.[17]

Ubisoft Barcelona

Ubisoft Barcelona was founded in 1998 in Barcelona. The team's early focus was racing game, until their focus shifted to develop casual games such as Your Shape for Wii. Barcelona studios also served as a support studio, working on titles such as Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and Raving Rabbids. The title also worked with Red Storm Entertainment on virtual reality.[17]

Ubisoft Leamington

Ubisoft Leamington, formerly FreeStyleGames was founded in Leamington Spa, UK in 2002 by six industry veterans formerly of Codemasters and Rare. The studio worked on popular music games such as DJ Hero and Sing Party while it was owned by Activision. After the commercial failure of Guitar Hero Live, Activision sold the studio to Ubisoft, who directed the studio to work with Ubisoft Reflections.[27]

Futuer Games of London

Future Games of London was founded in 2009 in London. The team released the popular mobile game, Hungry Shark, before Ubisoft's acquisition in 2013.[28] After Ubisoft's acquisition, the studio continued to work on new entries in the Hungry Shark universe.[17]

Ivory Tower

Ivory Tower was founded in 2007 in Paris by former employees of Eden Games, who had worked on Test Drive Unlimited.[29] Following the release of their first game, The Crew, the company was acquired by Ubisoft. It was working on a sequel, The Crew 2, set to be released in 2018.[17]

Owlient

Owlient is a video game studio founded in 2005 in Paris. The company focused on creating free-to-play titles, with their most successful game being Howrse. It was acquired by Ubisoft in 2011.[17]

Ubisoft Bordeaux

Ubisoft Bordeaux was founded in 2017 in Bordeaux. It will serve as a support studio and collaborate with Annecy, Paris, and Montpellier on their future title. The studio was headed by Julien Mayeux.[30]

Ubisoft Berlin

Ubisoft Berlin was founded in 2017 in Berlin. It will serve as a support studio and collaborate with Blue Byte on their future title.[30]

Asia

Ubisoft Osaka

Ubisoft Osaka, formerly known as Digital Kids, was founded in Osaka. It was acquired by Ubisoft in 2008, and had since created many handheld titles including Petz.[17]

Ubisoft Shanghai

Ubisoft Shanghai was founded in 1996 in Shanghai, and had become one of China's largest development studios. The studio had worked as the support team for many of Ubisoft's projects such as the Far Cry franchise, working on wildlife animation and artificial intelligence.[17]

Ubisoft Singapore

Ubisoft Singapore was formed in 2008 and was Ubisoft's first in-house studio in South-east Asia, located at Solaris Fusionopolis Phase 2B building. Having served as a support studio, working on games such as Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Assassin's Creed II, the company worked on the naval combat of Assassin's Creed III before significantly expanding it with Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed Rogue. The company is also responsible for making first AAA multiplayer online shooting game, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms, released in 2014 and closed in December 2016. After the closure of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms, the studio creative director, Justin Farren, has came to Ubisoft E3 2017 press conferenece, announced their new IP named Skulls & Bones, and became the lead developer for its, set to be released in fall 2018.[31]

Ubisoft Pune

Ubisoft Pune was originally part of Gameloft, a mobile game developer and publisher, until Ubisoft acquired it in 2008. The studio then worked on several Just Dance titles, mobile titles, and provided quality assurance tests for many Ubisoft games.[17]

Ubisoft Chengdu

Ubisoft Chengdu was Ubisoft's second studio in China, founded in 2008 in Chengdu. The studio also served as a support studio, working on games such as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, and provided Chinese translation for games like Might & Magic: Duel of Champions. The company became the lead developer of Monkey King Escape, a mobile title, and Scrabble, in 2013.[17]

Ubisoft Abu Dhabi

Ubisoft Abu Dhabi was founded in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, with the goal of fostering the video game industry in United Arab Emirates. The studio focused on working mobile titles such as the CSI series.[17]

Ubisoft Philippines

Ubisoft Philippines was founded in 2016, and was the first major game studio in the Philippines. The studio was located on the campus of De La Salle University and is set to develop new triple-A games alongside Ubisoft Singapore.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (May 15, 2014). "10 studios are working on Assassin's Creed Unity; that's three more than AC4". GameSpot. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Ubisoft: FY14 Earnings presentation" (PDF). Ubisoft. May 15, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  3. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (February 3, 2014). "House of Dreams: The Ubisoft Montreal Story". IGN. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  4. ↑ Batchelor, James (December 3, 2014). "bisoft Quebec takes the lead for next Assassin's Creed". Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  5. ↑ Fletcher, JC (October 5, 2012). "Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth on Kinect and Wii U from Ubisoft". Joystiq. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  6. ↑ Steinman, Gary (July 2, 2014). "Ubisoft Quebec To Lead Future Assassin's Creed". UbiBlog. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  7. ↑ McEloy, Griffin (June 7, 2009). "Ubisoft opening studio in Toronto, continuing to take over Canada [Update]". Engadget. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  8. ↑ Clayman, David (May 25, 2010). "New Splinter Cell And Unannounced Ubisoft Title In the Works". IGN. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  9. ↑ Reynolds, Matthew (August 4, 2013). "Jade Raymond on the founding and future of Ubisoft Toronto". Digital Spy. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  10. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (June 12, 2017). "Ubisoft unveils Starlink video game with toys that attach to your controller". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  11. ↑ Crecente, Brian (July 13, 2015). "Former Ubisoft studio head Jade Raymond opens EA studio in Montreal". Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  12. ↑ O'Conner, Alice (August 27, 2016). "Far Cry 2’s Clint Hocking Rejoins Ubisoft". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  13. ↑ Amrich, Dan (June 15, 2017). "South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Meet Studio SF". UbiBlog. Ubisoft. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  14. ↑ Calvin, Alex (October 14, 2015). "Ubisoft acquires Rocksmith developer Longtail Studios". MCVUK. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  15. ↑ Handrahan, Matthew (October 14, 2015). "Ubisoft acquires Longtail Studios". Gameindustry.biz. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  16. ↑ Bazille, Louis (August 17, 2016). "Behind Ubisoft's Push For VR". UbiBlog. Ubisoft. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "Creativity At The Core" (PDF). Ubisoft. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  18. ↑ Freeman, Will (January 25, 2012). "Inside Ubisoft Montpellier: A Ray of light". Develop. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  19. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (September 16, 2013). "Ubi-Art cultivates both creativity and culture at Ubisoft". Gamasutra. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: Behind the Scenes". YouTube. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  21. ↑ Martin, Matt (17 March 2009). "Massive Entertainment founder leaves studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  22. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (February 28, 2017). "Ubisoft is working on an Avatar game using the Snowdrop engine". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  23. ↑ Ho, Jennifer (February 8, 2001). "Ubi Soft acquires Blue Byte Software". GameSpot. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  24. ↑ Sosinka, Michael (18 June 2014). "Ubisoft: Ehemaliges Related Designs-Studio ab sofort unter Blue Byte-Flagge" [Ubisoft: Former Related Designs studio from now on under the Blue Byte flag]. Gamezone (in German). Computec Media. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  25. ↑ Sinclair, Brandon (November 2, 2011). "Ubisoft acquires Trials studio". GameSpot. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  26. ↑ Dring, Christopher (August 11, 2016). "Why Ubisoft's Reflections is far more interesting than you think it is". MCVUK. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  27. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (18 January 2017). "Ubisoft Buys Guitar Hero Live, DJ Hero Dev From Activision". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  28. ↑ Campbell, Colin (October 1, 2013). "Ubisoft buys Hungry Shark developer Future Games of London". Polygon. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  29. ↑ "The Eden project: why The Crew creator Ivory Tower quit Test Drive Unlimited 2 to start all over again". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  30. 1 2 Batchelor, James (April 19, 2017). "Ubisoft opens two new studios". Retrieved June 16, 2017.
  31. ↑ Hussain, Tamoor (March 29, 2016). "Assassin's Creed 3 Studio Developing "One of Ubisoft's Biggest Console/PC" Projects". GameSpot. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
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