Developer Ubisoft, famous for series like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Watch Dogs, is opening two development studios, expanding its reach in Europe.
The first one is going to based in Berlin, Germany and will be teaming up with Ubisoft-owned Blue Byte on an unnamed AAA project. Recently, Blue Byte made Anno 2205 and assisted Ubisoft Montreal on For Honor and Rainbow Six Siege.
We know that Ubisoft is currently working on the next Assassin’s Creed game. They say the game will be released “when it’s ready.”
“…we had an opportunity to take it to another level,” Co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot said. “So we said we’ll take all the time it takes to make the experience fantastic. It was feasible because we have other games. There’s a huge potential in this game to revolutionize the IP, so we said, ‘Let’s make sure we change our model so we have more time and that we can bring back a greater experience.'”
The second studio that Ubisoft opened is Ubisoft Bordeaux, which will operate out of southwest France and will assist other French studios in Paris, Annecy and Montpellier. The French studios are most known for making Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Steep and Just Dance 2017.
It also seems like Ubisoft is working several other unnamed projects at the moment.
The new studios are coming at an uncertain time for Ubisoft. Currently, they are in battle with the company Vivendi, who has been acquiring stock from Ubisoft despite Ubisoft’s wishes to remain independent. Ubisoft has always been a family-run company, so they have been trying to keep their independence by buying back their stock and appointing independent directors.
In response to the Vivendi invasion, Guillemot said that he would not continue as CEO in a Ubisoft owned by Vivendi despite vice president of live operations Anne Blondel saying that Ubisoft wouldn’t be the same without him.