Ubisoft

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Ubisoft Entertainment SA, formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA, is a French computer and video game publisher and developer headquartered in the Parisian commune of Montreuil. The company has facilities in over 20 countries, with notable studios in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada.

Its main subsidiary Ubisoft Montreal was responsible for developing and publishing the Assassin's Creed series until 2014, from which point Ubisoft Quebec took over. Other subsidiaries have also contributed to the franchise in smaller ways; Gameloft was founded in December 1999 and was responsible for developing mobile adaptations of Assassin's Creed games until the French investing firm Vivendi initiated an aggressive 9-month takeover in October 2015, while Ubiworkshop was formed in late 2009 and primarily focused on short media like film and comics before branching out into fan apparel and accessories around late 2014.

History

The Guillemot family's five sons Claude, Michel, Yves, Gérard, and Christian originally founded "Ubi Soft" as a computer game publisher in 1986 in Britanny, France, with the company name being a portmanteau of "ubiquitous software". As CEO, Yves made deals with Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line, Inc, and MicroProse to distribute their games in France. By 1990, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. From there, Ubisoft became a publicly traded company in 1996 and continued to expand to offices around the globe, opening locations in Shanghai and Montreal.

On 20 December 2004, Electronic Arts paid the Dutch investment firm Talpa Beheer BV between $85M–$100M to acquire their nearly 20% stake in Ubisoft, an action that Yves referred to as "hostile". In response, on 3 March 2005, Ubisoft acquired the private French adventure game publisher MC2-Microïds' studio in Montreal and subsumed the 50-member team into Ubisoft Montreal, intending to use MC2's titles like Still Life and Amerzone to stave off Electronic Arts' growing market share.

On 11 November 2008, Ubisoft acquired the Swedish game developer Massive Entertainment after Vivendi deemed it surplus material following its own purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Assassin's Creed developers

Annecy

Ubisoft Annecy developed the series' early multiplayer element and were among the 10 teams that developed Assassin's Creed: Unity.

Blue Byte

Ubisoft acquired the German game studio Blue Byte on 7 March 2001 and the studio has since developed Assassin's Creed: Identity.

Bordeaux

Ubisoft Bordeaux contributed to Assassin's Creed: Valhalla's development and were the main team behind Valhalla's first downloadable expansion Wrath of the Druids. They later led the development of Assassin's Creed: Mirage. ^{[citation needed]}

Bucharest

Ubisoft Bucharest assisted in the development of the multiplayer modes of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, ^{[citation needed]} Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Unity, ^{[citation needed]} and also contributed to the main campaigns of Assassin's Creed: Rogue, Valhalla, and Mirage. ^{[citation needed]}

Chengdu

Ubisoft Chengdu contributed to Unity, Rogue, and Valhalla.

Da Nang

Ubisoft Da Nang was established in September 2019 in Da Nang, Vietnam. It was responsible for the development of Assassin's Creed: Freerunners. ^{[citation needed]}

Kyiv

Ubisoft Kyiv contributed to Black Flag, ^{[citation needed]} Unity, and Valhalla.

Milan

Ubisoft Milan contributed to Black Flag, ^{[citation needed]} Rogue, and developed the HD version of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. ^{[citation needed]}

Montpellier

Ubisoft Montpellier contributed to Black Flag, ^{[citation needed]} Unity, and Valhalla, and developed the downloadable expansions Dead Kings for Unity and Jack the Ripper for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. ^{[citation needed]}

Montreal

Ubisoft Montreal, which opened on 25 April 1997, is Ubisoft's oldest studio. It operated as the company's flagship was a lead developer of the main Assassin's Creed titles since the saga's inception, with the exception of Rogue, Syndicate, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, and Mirage, though they still assisted with both Rogue and Mirage. ^{[citation needed]} They also developed Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines and Assassin's Creed II: Discovery in conjunction with Griptonite Games. ^{[citation needed]}

Paris

Ubisoft Paris developed the smartphone/tablet game Assassin's Creed: Pirates. ^{[citation needed]}

Philippines

Ubisoft Philippines contributed to Assassin's Creed: Origins and Odyssey. They co-developed Assassin's Creed III Remastered and handled the Nintendo Switch port. ^{[citation needed]} Their contributions to Valhalla included creating the region of Snotinghamscire, the naval and raid animations, and designing many of the axes and shields. They also contributed to Mirage. ^{[citation needed]}

Quebec

Ubisoft Quebec, which opened on 2 June 2005, has contributed to Brotherhood, Revelations, Assassin's Creed III, Black Flag, ^{[citation needed]} Unity, Rogue, and Valhalla. They also developed the Assassin's Creed III downloadable three-part expansion The Tyranny of King Washington. A 15-member team developed Black Flag for Wii U and contributed to its downloadable expansion Freedom Cry. Since 2015, the studio has been the lead developer on several games in the series, namely, Syndicate, Odyssey, and Assassin's Creed: Shadows. ^[citation needed]

Shanghai

Ubisoft Shanghai contributed to Unity and Valhalla.

Singapore

Ubisoft Singapore contributed to Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, Revelations, III, Black Flag, ^{[citation needed]} Unity, Rogue, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey, ^{[citation needed]} and Valhalla. They developed missions such as the platforming and naval missions in the series.

Sofia

Ubisoft Sofia was the lead developer on Liberation ^{[citation needed]} and Rogue, and also contributed to Black Flag, Origins, Odyssey, ^{[citation needed]} and Valhalla.

Toronto

Ubisoft Toronto, which opened on 6 July 2009, was initially led by CEO Yannis Mallat, who had moved from the Montreal studio. That September, Mallat was replaced by Jade Raymond, who was Producer of the series' first entry Assassin's Creed and Executive Producer of Assassin's Creed II. In 2014, the studio contributed to Unity. With its founding press release stating that it intended to have 800 staff by 2019, it came very close to matching that goal, having hired more than 700 people by May 2018.

Ubisoft Massive

Ubisoft Massive contributed to Revelations.

Ubisoft Film & Television

Ubisoft Film & Television, previously known as Ubisoft Motion Pictures, was founded on 2 May 2011. It produced the Assassin's Creed film and is set to produce the upcoming Netflix series.

Ubisoft Publishing

Ubisoft Publishing is the company that has published Assassin's Creed: Heresy and Assassin's Creed: The Essential Guide.

External links

• Ubisoft's website