It hasn’t been all clear skies for Ubisoft over the past few years, but a brand new era for some of its biggest games begins today. Ubisoft has become a giant in the gaming space thanks to franchises and games like Assassin’s Creed, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Star Wars Outlaws, The Division, and Rainbow Six, and now three of those franchises have been spun off into something completely new.
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Today, Ubisoft revealed that Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry have now all been moved under a new business entity known as Vantage Studios, and that entity also includes a 25% stake from Tencent. The new name was shared today internally (via IGN), and it was actually decided by a vote by the team’s 2,300 employees.
Ubisoft is calling Vantage Studios the first “Creative House”, and it’s been said by studio employees that the newly formed entity will have complete creative and business control over these three franchises. With the exception of Far Cry, the other franchises are consistently producing new content, so it likely won’t be too long until we see some ripple effects from this new change, even if it’s from a more business and organizational level.
The Purpose
At the time of the initial announcement earlier this year, Ubisoft highlighted the $1.25 billion investment from Tencent that came with the deal, stating that the “greater investment would boost creative capacities” and would “drive further increases in quality of narrative solo experiences, expand multiplayer offerings with increased frequency of content release, introduce free-to-play touchpoint, and integrate more social features.”
The new subsidiary includes a host of teams working on Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry, including Montreal, Quebec, Sofia, Barcelona, Sherbrooke, and Saguenay. It would also include Ubisoft’s back catalog and new games under development or games that are going to be developed. That would also leave Ubisoft proper to “focus” on developing its other franchises like Ghost Recon and The Division.
“We are committed to building a sharper, more focused organization – one where talented teams will take our brands to the next level, accelerate the growth of emerging franchises, and lead innovation in next generation technologies and services, all with the goal of delivering enriching, memorable games that exceed players’ expectations, and create superior value for our shareholders and other stakeholders,” read the initial announcement.
At the moment, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is the marquee release for that franchise, though Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is also getting post-release content. Rainbow Six continues to get new updates, but little is known about what’s next for Far Cry. If Far Cry is getting a spotlight as part of this new entity, one would imagine there are some significant plans for it moving forward. There’s also the rumored Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake, but not much is known about any sort of release date or how far along that project actually is.
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