Overview
Ubisoft Entertainment is a French computer and videogame developer and publisher with headquarters in Montreuil-sous-Bois, France. It was founded in 1986 by five brothers, of which Yves Guillemot serves as chairman and CEO. The company consists of 26 studios spread across 18 countries. As of 2011, it was the third most valuable independent videogame publisher in the world, and the second largest in terms of in-house development staff with over 6,900 staff worldwide. Ubisoft also ranked 26th on the list of the largest software companies in the world. Their most famous games and franchises are, The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time series, Rayman franchise, Assassin's Creed franchise, Brothers in Arms and the Tom Clancy franchise which includes the Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell series.
History
Ubisoft's original logo.Ubisoft was created by the five Guillemot brothers in 1986. Soon the company acquired publishing deals with companies like Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line and LucasArts, and exclusive rights to distribute their games in France. Their first internally developed game, Zombi, was released in 1989, and over the next several years Ubisoft expanded expanded their distribution to United States, Germany and United Kingdom as well as forming development studios in Paris (France), Montpellier (France) and Bucharest (Romania). In 1995 the company developed and published Rayman for the Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation. The game became the best selling Playstation title of all time in UK.
Ubisoft's old logo.Ubisoft has expanded heavily through the years. Between 1996 and 2000 the company established development studios in Shanghai (China), Annecy (France), Montreal (Canada), Casablanca (Morocco), Barcelona (Spain) and Milan (Italy), and distribution offices in Spain, Italy, Australia, Belgium, China and Denmark. Ubisoft also acquired Red Storm Entertainment (Tom Clancy franchise), Blue Byte Software (The Settlers) and the games division of The Learning Company (Prince of Persia, Myst).
In 2002 Ubisoft ranked among the top 10 independent publishers in the world for the first time. Between 2002 and 2005 Ubisoft launched their online gaming portal ubi.com, opened new distribution offices in South Korea and Austria, a new studio in Quebec City (Canada) and in 2003 introduced their new logo. MC2-Microïds was acquired and integrated into Ubisoft Montreal a year later.
In 2006 the Ubisoft Paris developed Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter won the BAFTA award for Best Game of the Year. Between 2006 and 2010 Ubisoft opened distribution offices in Mexico and Poland and founded studios in Sofia (Bulgaria), Kiev (Ukraine), Chengdu (China), Pune (India), Toronto (Canada) and Singapore. They acquired Reflections Interactive (Driver), Digital Kids, Massive Entertainment (Ground Control, World in Conflict), Nadeo (TrackMania) and the visual effects studio Hybride Technologies (300, Sin City). This period also saws the 2007 launch of the Assassin's Creed franchise, Ubisoft's most successful series to date, and Uplay, Ubisoft's online awards service, in 2009.
Ubisoft's new logo as of 2017.In 2011 Ubisoft created Ubisoft Motion Pictures, their own film division, with the intent of creating films and television shows based on their game properties. To date, Ubisoft Motion Pictures has not actually produced any content.
Production Studios
Ubisoft currently consists of 26 studios spread across 18 countries, making it one of the largest video game publishers in the world.
Current
Former
Notable Studios
Ubisoft Montreal
Ubisoft Montreal is located in Montreal, Canada. It has over 2,500 employees, making it is one of the largest development studios in the world. The studio was founded in 1997 in a converted textile factory and has since become Ubisoft's primary production studio, creating its most successful and most numerous game titles.
The crew of Ubisoft Montreal.They first met success with the 2002 release of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, which was soon followed in 2003 by the acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Since then they have developed iterations of Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia, as well as the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six games, Far Cry 2, Just Dance 3 and many others. Most recently Ubisoft Montreal has developed the Assassin's Creed games (lead developer on all but Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood) and is worked on Far Cry 3 (released Dec 4th, 2012), Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots and Watch Dogs.
Ubisoft Romania
Ubisoft Romania is located in Bucharest, Romania and was founded in 1992. They are best known for their work on Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2, but also have developed the Chessmaster games, the Blazing Angels games and several games in the Silent Hunter franchise.
Ubisoft Paris
Ubisoft Paris is located in Paris, France. Best known for the Red Steel and Just Dance series for the Wii, they have also developed Raving Rabbids 2 and the cel-shaded first-person shooter XIII (based on the comics of the same name).
Ubisoft Montpellier
Ubisoft Montpellier is located in Montpellier, France. Their most notable games include the Rayman series and Beyond Good & Evil, to which they are also working on a sequel. They were also responsible for Peter Jackson's King Kong (based on the movie of the same name).
Upcoming Games
2014
- Assassin's Creed: Rogue (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
- Child of Light ( Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Wii U, Playstation Vita)
- The Crew (Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
- Far Cry 4 (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
- Just Dance 2015 (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
- Might & Magic X: Legacy (Microsoft Windows, OS X)
2015
TBA
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