Vantage Studios: Ubisoft outsources "Assassin's Creed" and "Far Cry"

Ubisoft's biggest game brands are now managed by a subsidiary. This “creative house,” as Ubisoft calls it in an announcement, is called Vantage Studios and is responsible for “Assassin's Creed,” “Far Cry,” and “Rainbow Six.” The team is led by Charlie Guillemot, the son of Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot, and Christophe Derennes.

Ubisoft announced the outsourcing of its most important long-running titles in March. The move is part of a reorganization that goes hand in hand with fresh investment from Tencent. The Chinese tech group Tencent is investing 1.16 billion euros in the new business unit, which corresponds to a good 25 percent of the valuation of 4 billion euros.

More dialogue between developers and players

According to Ubisoft, Vantage Studios will further develop the three main brands—primarily through the development of new games and better exchange of services and technical resources. The new organizational structure should give developers more “hands-on control” over the games they are working on, Ubisoft promises in a press release.

Whether and how the new structure will have a noticeable effect on players remains to be seen. Ubisoft has at least not publicly held out the prospect of a major change in strategy for the development of future games from the three core brands. Overall, however, the new structure should create “stronger and deeper connections between developers and players.” Player feedback should be incorporated into games more quickly. It is not clear from the announcement whether Tencent will have a greater influence on game development. In the future, Ubisoft wants to create additional “creative houses” to manage its remaining game brands.

Anyone who wants to play previously published Ubisoft titles now has a new option: The Ubisoft+ subscription will be integrated into Microsoft's Game Pass games subscription—for an additional charge in several subscription levels.

(dahe)