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Ubisoft - All News

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Monday - April 25, 2022
Wednesday - January 13, 2021
Thursday - May 16, 2019
Tuesday - February 28, 2017
Friday - May 13, 2016
Sunday - January 24, 2016
Friday - January 15, 2016
Wednesday - May 13, 2015
Saturday - November 08, 2014
Friday - July 04, 2014
Tuesday - July 30, 2013
Sunday - March 17, 2013
Wednesday - October 24, 2012
Monday - November 14, 2011
Monday - August 16, 2010
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Tuesday - March 16, 2010
Thursday - July 16, 2009
Friday - July 10, 2009
Friday - December 12, 2008
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Box Art

Monday - April 25, 2022

Ubisoft - Might be Next Big Acquisition

by Silver, 10:53

Wccftech speculates that Ubisoft might be the next big acquisition for the likes of Microsoft, Sony, or Tencent.

A new report published by Bloomberg suggests that Ubisoft might be the next big publisher targeted for acquisition. According to Bloomberg's sources, several private equity firms such as Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. have been studying the Ubisoft business. That said, Ubisoft hasn't entered yet into any negotiations and it's not even assured that the major shareholder, chairman and CEO Yves Guillemot's family, would be interested in selling. On the other hand, according to Kotaku, the company has recently tidied up its books with the help of external auditing companies. It could be a sign that Ubisoft is preparing to sell.

[...]

Wednesday - January 13, 2021

Ubisoft - Develops Stars Wars Adventure

by Hiddenx, 16:48

Ubisoft will develop an open-world Stars Wars adventure with their studio Massive Entertainment:

Ubisoft Tweet

We are excited to announce we are working with

@LucasfilmGames

to develop a brand-new, story-driven, open world Star Wars adventure!

Thursday - May 16, 2019

Ubisoft - Three Unannounced Games

by Silver, 21:08

DSOGaming reports that Ubisoft has three unannounced games releasing before April 2020.

Ubisoft has shared a new slide for its FY19 Earnings in which the French company revealed that it has three unannounced games that will be revealed during its fiscal year 2020. What this basically means is that, alongside Ghost Recond Breakpoint, we should expect three new unannounced games to come out before April 2020.

[...]

Tuesday - February 28, 2017

Ubisoft - Avatar Game announced

by Hiddenx, 21:58

PCGamesN reports that Ubisoft is developing a game in the Avatar-universe - let's hope that it's an alien RPG like Blue Bytes's Albion:

Ubisoft announce new triple-A Avatar game developed with James Cameron and Lightstorm

Massive Entertainment, developers of The Division, are working with James Cameron’s film production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, to create a new game set in the Avatar universe.

loading...

 

The project is yet to be titled, and Ubisoft say that they currently aren’t even discussing specifics such as genre, but it is going to be a triple-A title that releases on both PC and console.

“It should be the ultimate experience, where you actually go to Pandora and where you can live an alternative life on the moon,” says Magnus Jansen, creative director at Massive. Presumably he’s talking figuratively here, unless the game is going to have one hell of a pre-order bonus…

[...]

Friday - May 13, 2016

Ubisoft - Five New Games By Next April

by Aubrielle, 14:28

Ubisoft is pulling out all the stops to release five games before next April.  It looks like the only RPG (?) in the mix might be the new South Park game. You better keep UPlay on your system.

The publisher definitely has release plans though, according to its 2016 earnings report. Among the investor-pleasing figures was an indication of its plans for the fiscal year of 2017, which ends on March 31. As reported by VG247, a slide was shown stating that Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2, For Honor and the new South Park game are all targeted to release during this fiscal year. It looks like Ubisoft will have a big E3 after all.

More.

Source: PC Gamer

Sunday - January 24, 2016

Ubisoft - We Care About the PC...Really

by Aubrielle, 01:25

In a conversation about the upcoming RPG-ish Tom Clancy game, The Division, Ubisoft Massive, the game's developer, says "PC is incredibly important to us."

Creative Director Magnus Jansén released the following statement to Rock, Paper, Shotgun in a lengthy interview on The Division:

PC is incredibly important to us. There are plenty of incentives to do a good PC version. Personally it’s important – a I play on PC whenever I can and I want the thing they play at home to be the best possible version. That is not to be underestimated as a driving force. Secondly, both of the studios, Massive and Red Storm started out on PC so it’s a matter of pride, or heritage and pedigree if you will. We feel kind of ashamed if we don’t do the PC version really well. It really is something that we care about.

We’re a very technical studio as well. Sweden is a very technical country – we’re good at infrastructure and design, and a lot of our staff come from the old demoscene as well. There’s a lot of that heritage in the Swedish dev community and that is true here at Massive as well. It comes very natural to us. The engine, Snowdrop, enables the artists to do all of that great UI work and makes it relatively easy to expose all of those options on PC.

Ubisoft Massive also shared a fact sheet highlighting the main PC features of The Division.

  • Flexible user interface: move, scale and adjust the opacity of the HUD.
  • Intuitive controls: navigate easily through the interface, inventory panels and map designed specifically to be used with a mouse or a controller.
  • Full mouse & keyboard support: opt for the high precision mouse and keyboard experience and switch to a controller in the middle of any encounter without interruption.
  • Text chat: team up with more agents of The Division by using the in-game text chat.
  • Optimized graphic settings & customised GPU effects: adjust a vast variety of technology treats, from realistic lighting, shading, snow particles, local reflection, fog volumetric scattering, depth of field and much more…
  • Multi-GPU support: unleash the graphic power of the best computer set ups for jaw-dropping graphics powered by Massive Entertainment’s game engine Snowdrop.
  • Multi-screen support: play with up to three screens for the most immersive and stunning experience of The Division.
  • Multi-resolutions: opt for 1080p or 4k and automatically adapt the resolution to fit multi-screen configurations with FOV correction.
  • Unlocked framerate: let the most powerful computer reach the highest framerate.
  • HBA0+: enjoy the most realistic shadowing, lighting algorithm and ambient occlusion.

There’s more, though. NVIDIA confirmed that The Division will also feature NVIDIA PCSS (Percentage Closer Soft Shadows); those are contact-hardening, realistic soft shadows that progressively soften as the distance from the casting object increases, further increasing realism.

There’s even support for certain LED keyboards. For example, the button mapped to your medkit will begin to flash when you’re low on health. You can also map a key for teammates, and that will flash too when they are in need of support.

...

Respected German website PCGamesHardware seems to agree. In a hands-on preview posted just yesterday, they said that the game on PC looks so much better than the console versions that it’s worlds apart, and there hasn’t been such a drastic difference in a very long time.

More information.

Friday - January 15, 2016

Ubisoft - Calls The Division an RPG

by Aubrielle, 10:24

Ubisoft is calling Tom Clancy's The Division "an RPG".

Credits to Couch for this and the links below.

loading...

More information.

Wednesday - May 13, 2015

Ubisoft - No More Releases for PS3 and Xbox 360

by Aries100, 21:06

Eurogamer brings news that Ubisoft no longer will release games for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Ubisoft will no longer release games for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, except for its casual rhythm series Just Dance. The company confirmed the move last night during a financial call with investors, and explained that it would focus on the current generation of consoles and PC from here on out. 

Saturday - November 08, 2014

Ubisoft - Removes Games From Steam

by Aries100, 23:28

Gamerheadlines brings news that Ubisoft now globally has removed upcoming titles from Steam. The games which has been pulled from Steam are Assassin’s Creed: Unity, The Crew, and Far Cry 4.

Upcoming Ubisoft games Assassin's Creed: Unity, Far Cry 4, and The Crew were taken down from Steam yesterday, and appeared today on Origin... Soon however the games were taken down across Steam's global network, and as of yet neither Valve or Ubisoft have made any sort of official statement regarding this decision.

Friday - July 04, 2014

Ubisoft - Resistance to DLC Fading

by Aries100, 15:13

Chris Early from Ubisoft has talked to Gamesindustry.biz tl at this years E3.
He thinks that gamers have become more interested in buying dlc for their games:

Last year, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag launched alongside a handful of "Time Saver" downloadable content packs. For $1 or $2, players could stock up on in-game resources, or reveal the locations of the game's many collectibles and activities without the need for actual exploration. That sort of perk would have been freely accessible through cheat codes in previous generations, and it's not hard to imagine the uproar charging for them would have caused in the early days of the last generation of systems.

Ubisoft, has according to Chris Early seen an increaese in people who buys and download games:

Ubisoft has also seen a significant uptick in the number of people downloading full games instead of buying boxed retail copies."I don't know whether it wasn't as easy before or wasn't as clearly messaged on previous generations, but there is definitely a lot more digital [demand], to the order of two to five times as much digital activity on some titles than there was on the same title on old-gen machines," Early said.  

 

 

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Tuesday - July 30, 2013

Ubisoft - Removes "Play-to-Win" Micro-transactions

by Couchpotato, 02:26

According to PCGamesN Ubisoft has removed  the "play-to-win" microtransactions from The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot.

Ubisoft's currently in-beta Free to Play dungeon crawler/builder The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot has had a change of heart in the way that it's going to handle its monetisation. Instead of allowing players to trick out their dungeon with paid items and monsters, they're going to shift their attention towards making cosmetic enhancements the order of the day, to avoid players just paying their way to the end-game.

In the news post on the game's website, the team states "many of you have said that [the monetisation system] has affected the game to the point of causing major harm". When so much of a free to play game’s design is dictated by the way it handles monetisation, it’s surprising and welcome to see Ubisoft make such an about turn on how they’re handling this.

The game came under fire most noticeably after Total Biscuit featured The Might Quest for Epic Loot on his Youtube channel, condemning the payment model.  It caused a 13 page discussion about the game’s payment model on the official forums. Ubisoft’s announcement was made just over a week since TB published the video.

Here is TotalBiscuit's video that started the change.

TotalBiscuit returns to The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, focusing on the newest updates implemented in the game and their consequences.

Sunday - March 17, 2013

Ubisoft - Might and Magic 10 Teased - to be Revealed @ PAX East

by Aries100, 20:34

Might and Magic X (10) seems to in development. A teaser site for the game has been set up by Ubisoft. Info on the game will be disclosed at PAX East which is March 22-March 24.

Thanks to Infinitron at Obsidian Entertainment's forums for spotting this.    And just like Infinitron, I too wonder this: who'll develop this game?

 

Source: Obsidian Entertainment

Wednesday - October 24, 2012

Ubisoft - Changing DRM for All Games

by Aries100, 16:40

In an editorial at 1UP, Chris Pereira, discusses how Ubisoft now changes their always on policy for new games.

A quote on this:

When asked if there were any regrets over how things had been handled previously, the closest we got to an apology was her stating, "We've listened to feedback, we will continue to listen to feedback, we will continue to make sure that we deliver great games and great services, and are now operating under this policy." Later in the interview it was reaffirmed that for games like Assassin's Creed III and beyond, there will be only a one-time activation with no limits on the number of computers a game can be installed on. This is, suffice it to say, great news.

A quote from the conclusion:

The same could be said about this entire situation. While it would have been preferable and more likely to garner respect had Ubisoft come right out and apologized and admitted it had been wrong with the way it handled PC gaming previously, a public declaration that it is trying to be better with release dates and is abandoning both always-on DRM and activation limits is surely the next best thing.

Original interview with Stephanie Perotti and Michael Burk made by Rock Paper Shotgun.

Source: 1Up

Monday - November 14, 2011

Ubisoft - Drops Always On DRM for Assasin's Creed: Revelations

by Aries100, 22:16

Gamespy brings news that Ubisoft has decided to drop the always on DRM for this game.
RPS was the first to break the story. Here's the relevant quote:

Ubisoft have just confirmed for me that the game will not be coming with their hideous “always-on” DRM – a sign that perhaps, since it’s absent from such a big title, that they’re finally recognising it shouldn’t be anywhere near any of their products. Instead you’ll need to be online the very first time you play the game for an activation, and then it’s yours to play offline at your leisure.

Source: GameSpy

Monday - August 16, 2010

Ubisoft - HoMM 6?

by Dhruin, 21:12

Czech site Tiscali Games (via Blues) has revealed what looks like the imminent announcement of Heroes of Might & Magic 6.  They have two screens and a brief teaser, plus Ubisoft has a teaser page here.  Word is the announcement will be made at GamesCom in a couple of days.

Source: Blues News

Friday - April 16, 2010

Ubisoft - HoMM MMO Announced

by Dhruin, 11:00

Well, we've seen plenty of signs but the official announcement is here - and it's official, a Heroes of Might & Magic MMO:

TQ Digital confirm closed beta for epic fantasy-themed turn-based MMORPG, Heroes of Might and Magic Online


Hull, UK / Chinese-based online games developer, TQ Digital confirm closed beta for visually striking, turn-based, fantasy-themed MMORPG, Heroes of Might and Magic Online to start in early May 2010.

Licensed by Ubisoft and developed by established China-based online games developer, TQ Digital, Heroes of Might and Magic Online (HoMM Online) weaves all the classic gameplay elements from a previous iteration of the franchise, Heroes of Might and Magic III, with the stunning updated graphics of Heroes of Might and Magic V, into a 2.5D turn-based massively multiplayer version worthy of its place in the esteemed Heroes of Might and Magic dynasty. The closed beta will commence in early May 2010.

Chose from a variety of 8 unique factions with two additions – Conflux and Empire, still in development by TQ Digital - develop elaborate castles that dominate the skyline of bustling metropolis, Harmondale – epicenter of trade in the sweeping Antagarichean continent - plunder resources in exhilarating missions and fortify your armies against the inevitable wars of domination that lie ahead as you carve out your own legacy like the legions of plucky adventurers before you.

Activity within HoMM Online is played out in a mouth-watering, gorgeous 2.5D fantasy world with randomly generated combat maps. The combat maps have been designed with strategic gameplay in mind, so players will be encouraged to think studiously about unit formations and tactics, although every faction has their own spheres of influence with neutral zones up for grabs.

HoMM Online differentiates itself from the other MMORPG's in the marketplace by offering in excess of hundreds of unique campaigns, each with epic storylines and goals including 10 chapters of battlefield missions, all guaranteed to keep the gameplay refreshing. Quell a rebellion, visit ancient runs or slay a heinous dragon either solo or with friends to unlock treasure boxes spilling over with mysterious goodies.

Form guilds, gather resources, and prove your valiant leadership in the bloody-thirsty Challenging Arena. TQ Digital will be hosting a slew of PK events: Team PK and Extreme PK are only the tip of the iceberg. These PK events will provide invaluable opportunities to gain priceless honor points and increase faction reputation.

HoMM Online invites players to develop towns of different races with its unique Town Prestige System, an unprecedented feature to the MMORPG genre. Expand outside the borders of the trade capital, Harmondale with the official paperwork and corresponding reputation level and faction. Be careful though: while these castles will provide a steady source of income, they are open to attack and even buyouts from opportunistic rivals.

Experience magic based on an innovative in-game star system. Cast a new spell to increase your proficiency or perfect spells through a dynamic online training center. Once proficiency for a spell reaches the cap, then you may learn the higher star version of that spell. The more stars a spell has, the greater its power and area of effect.

Summary of HoMM Online game features:
• First Persistent World Turn-Based Strategy MMO
• 8 towns, 16 classes and 56 creatures
• Hundreds of campaigns with epic storylines
• Unique Anima and Dragon Scale Forge System
• Glorious Guild Building & Exciting Guild Wars
• Challenging Arena and PK Tournaments
• Heroes can build towns of different factions

Register for the closed beta, which is scheduled to commence early May 2010, today: https://account.91.com/common/signup.aspx and write your own legacy within the expansive horizons of Antagarichean, and the rich story-driven adventures promised by HoMM Online.

Tuesday - March 16, 2010

Ubisoft - More RPG Rumours

by Dhruin, 21:28

A site called The Lost Gamer has noticed the LinkedIn profile for one Zhou Min, whose profile indicates work as a Lead Level Designer for an Ubisoft console RPG.  That's all we have to go on but I would suggest it's probably the (HoMM?) project being developed in China that we picked up on last year.

Thursday - July 16, 2009

Ubisoft - New HoMM Rumours?

by Dhruin, 12:39

Remember the newsbit we ran a few days back about an Ubisoft ad for RPG developers in Shanghai?  The Big Download says Xbox360Achievements.org noticed that same ad mentioned Heroes of Might & Magic, which has since been removed - interesting since we saw it five days before their news and it didn't say HoMM back then.  Still, as we pointed out at the time, Ubisoft does have the M&M IP...

Friday - July 10, 2009

Ubisoft - Looking for RPG Developers

by Dhruin, 23:11

I noticed a job ad on Gamasutra for a lead designer for a new Ubisoft RPG project, based at Ubisoft Shanghai.  That's about all we have - alhough the cynical might recall Ubisoft has the Might & Magic rights.  We'll probably have to wait a while to find out:

Ubisoft Entertainment Shanghai is looking for an experienced and talented Lead Game Designer to develop a brand new fantasy RPG title for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac.

If you’re dedicated to making innovative high quality games and have already collaborated to design complex systems for strategy games you could be the perfect candidate!

Friday - December 12, 2008

Ubisoft - Responds to Piracy with DRM Free Title

by Magerette, 19:00

blatantninja writes in to point out a recent article  on the piracy issue at tech website Ars Technica detailing Ubisoft's decision not to include copy-protection on its next PC entry in the well-known  Prince of Persia series:

Let me fill you in on something we've learned in the past year: PC gamers do not like DRM. EA was reminded of this the hard way, and every PC release that includes SecuROM inspires legions of gamers to claim that they'll refuse to buy the game because of the program's inclusion. Ubisoft has heard you, and the retail, boxed version of Prince of Persia on the PC has absolutely no copy protection. It's doubtful the company is doing this out of the goodness of its heart, however. 

"You're right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games," Community Manager UbiRazz wrote on the official forum. "A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we'll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine." He goes on to note that only retail copies are DRM-less, since the Steam-bought version will, of course, [have] to be tied to Steam's authentication system. 

Ubisoft has already had its eye blackened a few times recently when it comes to DRM and piracy. Assassin's Creed suffered from a shoddy PC port, and the game constantly tried to authenticate online, causing problems for players who bought the game... Gamers often had to shut off their Internet connection to play the game. 

In another case, a patch for Rainbow Six Vegas 2 broke the game for some people; the game asked for the CD to be placed in the drive, and of course players who purchased the game online had no disc...

The conclusion speculates:

So what will happen with Prince of Persia? The game will be pirated. The game would have been pirated no matter what DRM was placed in the game, naturally, but by removing DRM and waiting for the title to hit the torrents, Ubisoft has given itself an out whenever they're taken to task over DRM in the future. "We tried removing it, and we lost money!" will be an easy answer from now on...

Wednesday - April 02, 2008

Ubisoft - 40 Additional Titles Coming to Steam

by Magerette, 18:15

Ubisoft is preparing to bring at least 40 more of its titles to digital distribution via Valve's Steam network. Assassin's Creed is the headliner, with titles from their Might and Magic  and Tom Clancy franchises also listed. You can read the details here on Gamasutra, including this information:

Ubisoft says that in addition to Assassin's Creed and its Tom Clancy franchise, the new expanded deal would bring additional games from the Heroes of Might & Magic, IL-2 Sturmovik and Far Cry franchises, and would be offering collection packs of many of the releases in coming weeks.

Said Valve business development director Jason Holtman, "Ubisoft will be delivering the largest library of titles available from any single publisher or developer to Steam..."

Source: Gamasutra

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