Ubisoft



Ubisoft Entertainment (Euronext: UBI) is a French computer and video game publisher and developer with headquarters in Montreuil-sous-Bois, France. The company has facilities in over 20 countries, with studios in Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Bucharest, Romania; Barcelona, Spain; Shanghai, Chengdu, China; Singapore; North Carolina, USA; Düsseldorf, Germany; Sofia, Bulgaria; Casablanca, Morocco; Sydney, Australia; Milan, Italy; Pune, India and São Paulo, Brazil, Libya amongst other locations.

As of 2004, it was the third-largest independent video game publisher in Europe, and the seventh largest in the United States. In 2008, Ubisoft ranked 21st on the list of largest software companies in the world. Ubisoft's revenue for 2002-2003 was €453 million; for fiscal year 2003-2004, this grew to €508 million. As of 2005, Ubisoft employed more than 3,500 people, of which over 1,700 are classed as working in production. The company's largest development studio is Ubisoft Montreal, which in 2004 employed approximately 1,600 people. Yves Guillemot, a founding brother, was the chairman and CEO.

The correct pronunciation of the company name is you-be-soft, though it is also commonly mispronounced oo-be-soft.

History
The five brothers of the Guillemot family founded Ubisoft as a computer game publisher in 1986 in France (Brittany). Yves Guillemot soon made deals with Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line, and MicroProse to distribute their games in France. By the end of the decade, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

In the early 1990s, Ubisoft initiated its in-house game development program which led to the 1994 opening of a studio in Montreuil, France, which later became their headquarters. Ubisoft became a publicly traded company in 1996 and continued to expand to offices around the globe, opening locations in Shanghai and Montreal.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft committed itself to online games by getting behind Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, The Matrix Online, and the European and Chinese operation of EverQuest. The publisher established ubi.com as its online division. However, in February 2004, Ubisoft cancelled the online portion of Uru and backed out of the publishing deal on The Matrix Online. Nevertheless, a mere week later, the company announced its acquisition of Wolfpack Studios, developer of Shadowbane.

In December 2004, a rival game corporation Electronic Arts purchased a 19.9% stake in the firm, an action Ubisoft referred to as "hostile" on EA's part.

In March 2005, Ubisoft acquired part of MC2-Microïds (Microïds Canada) and integrated it into their Ubisoft Montreal.

In July 2006 Ubisoft also bought the Driver franchise from Atari for a sum of €19 million (USD$24 million) in cash for the franchise, technology rights, and most asset. Additionally, though Ubisoft is not acquiring the studio outright, the members of Driver developer Reflections Interactive became employees of Ubisoft. As a result, Reflections Interactive was subsequently renamed Ubisoft Reflections.

On 11 April 2007, Ubisoft announced that it had acquired German game developer Sunflowers, followed by an acquisition of Japanese developer Digital Kids that November.

Ubisoft is also responsible for publishing famous franchises produced by other important studios for some specific platforms, such as Resident Evil 4 for PC, which is a Capcom production, and Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon for PlayStation 2 and Harvest Moon Online, which are Marvelous Interactive productions.

On November 10, 2008, Ubisoft acquired Massive Entertainment.

Studios
As one of the largest video game companies in the world, Ubisoft has several divisions and offices throughout the world. While some were founded by Ubisoft, others have been acquired over time. These include: Massive Entertainment, Wolfpack Studios, Ubisoft Reflections (formerly Reflections), Microïds, Related Designs Software, Sunflowers Interactive Entertainment Software, Sinister Games, Red Storm Entertainment, and Blue Byte Software.

Montreal
Ubisoft's flagship studio.

Australia
Ubisoft Australia also distributes Square Enix's games, due to Square Enix not having an Australian presence[citation needed].

Romania
Ubisoft Romania is the headquarters of the Eastern Europe developing studios, with over 400 people, a number that is increasing. The Bucharest studio is known for games such as Blazing Angels, Silent Hunter, and the more recent Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

Singapore
In August 2008, Ubisoft's 18th studio was opened in Singapore. Ubisoft cited the Singapore government's demonstrated interest and support for the video game industry, together with other factors such as the quality of Singapore's universities and training institutions, as reasons for opening a studio there. Ubisoft Singapore is focused on developing their own game titles.[7]

India
Ubisoft has also announced plans for expansion into India after many years of ignoring the market. The publisher has bought out the Pune Gameloft studio, which will focus on porting games to the current generation of handhelds.[8] In Times Animage 2009 held at Pune it was disclosed by Ubisoft officials that the Pune Studio was developing its own games on DS, Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.