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Ubisoft investing $28 million more in Quebec, adding 100 new jobs
Ubisoft is expanding its operations in Quebec with an investment of $28 million CAD ($25,266,816.09 USD) over the next three years. The goal is to fill 100 new positions focusing on AAA next-generation development at Ubisoft's Quebec City studio. The government will assist Ubisoft Quebec City's growth with $10,000 as part of the ESSOR program – the same program that also helped WB Games to set up shop within Canada's largest province. WB Games Montreal shipped its first AAA game last year, Batman: Arkham Origins. The Quebec City studio was formed in 2005 and has worked on entries in the Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia and Might and Magic series. Back in September, Ubisoft announced it would invest $362 million in Quebec over the next seven years, in the hopes of creating 500 new positions.
Ubisoft Quebec City taps François Pelland as executive director
Ubisoft Quebec City has announced the appointment of new executive director of development Francois Pelland, who was most recently senior producer on Assassin's Creed 3 at Ubisoft Montreal. Pelland will "ensure the leadership of the innovation and creativity hub of Ubisoft Quebec" while "successfully delivering the ambitious projects being developed at the studio." "I'm very proud to have accepted the position of Executive Director of Development at Ubisoft Quebec," says Pelland in the press release. "For me, it's a unique opportunity to be part of this rapidly growing studio and to provide my support for the studio's ambitious projects in the years to come." Pelland has over 16 years of experience in video games, the lion's share of which were spent at EA and Ubisoft. Pelland founded EA Montreal and his work can be seen in the Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Army of Two series.
Building a Revolution: The four teams behind Assassin's Creed 3
Ubisoft Montreal is kind of a big deal. Since being established in 1997, the company's first North American studio has been home to some of the biggest franchises in Ubisoft's entire portfolio: Splinter Cell, multiple Prince of Persia reboots, and Assassin's Creed.Ever since Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed 2 introduced Ezio Auditore in 2009, the number of studios working on the franchise alone has increased dramatically. For 2010's Brotherhood, four additional studios signed on for support: Singapore, Bucharest, Québec City, and Annecy. For 2011's Revelations, yet another was added (Ubisoft Massive), putting the total at six.For this year's Assassin's Creed 3, the army of studios has been restructured to four: Montreal, Annecy, Quebéc City, and Singapore."Annecy is still doing an evolution of the multiplayer," Creative director Alex Hutchinson explained to Joystiq. As we already know, Ubisoft Annecy is working on some form of -- potentially co-op -- multiplayer."There're a few things that are being done in the Québec studio. So there's an evolution there," he said. Despite prodding, he wouldn't reveal what specifically that tease meant. "We cannot talk about specifically what they are working on." The Québec studio assisted with level design (among other things) in the past two Assassin's Creed titles.Even though an army is attached to Assassin's Creed 3, it's Montreal that has been focused on the project for the past two and a half years. "80 percent of our team have come through from AC1, AC2. A lot of them didn't do ACB or ACR 'cause they were working on AC3," Hutchinson said. "The turnover has actually been scarily low for a franchise that's been going for seven years. You still have the same lead writer who wrote the first words on AC1, you have the same guy doing the navigation that did AC1.""At its core," Hutchinson said, "it is a Ubisoft Montreal game." He told us, "The thing with other studios is that they have different skill sets. At the end of the day, it's what makes it sometimes harder to manage the game, but it also makes the game richer." It's a formula that, thus far, has worked astonishingly well for Ubisoft. We'll find out if the company strikes gold once more this October when Assassin's Creed 3 launches.
Assassin's Creed 3: Rebuilding a series during the birth of a nation
Back in late 2009, creative director Alex Hutchinson and a handful of others started drawing up plans for what would become Assassin's Creed 3. In those two years, the team rethought core elements of the series: cities, combat, and the franchise's signature "free running" mechanic. Even the engine, Anvil, was examined and updated (now dubbed "AnvilNext").But before all of that, Hutchinson needed a setting and a character. He wouldn't tell us why or how he settled on the American Revolution (nor would he say what other ideas came up), but he did explain why he believes it'll be a success. "We really believe this is the strongest setting so far in an AC game. Why? Because we think it's the most relevant setting," he said during a group presentation. "This is the birth of the nation. But even for other countries, especially in Europe, it's a key historical event."By the way, for all his U.S pride, Hutchinson is an Aussie and he lives in Canada. We assume he's spent a lot of time watching Independence Day.%Gallery-151408%
First suspiciously nice screens of Wii Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands released
click to PoP into the gallery Want to see what Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands will look like on Wii? You're going to have to wait a while longer. In the meantime, you can enjoy some ridiculously high-res screenshots that Ubisoft says are the Wii version. We like their optimism. In addition to these outrageous screens, Ubi released some new info about the game, which sounds both believable and neat. The levels will have alternate paths, some of which require acrobatics and crazy sand powers to access. The press release specifies 15 hours of gameplay in addition to unlockables, secret paths, and such. The actual Wii version, which we're guessing will display in actual Wii resolution, will be out May 18. %Gallery-85713%
