Ubisoft is shifting around some of its portfolio to help with the development and planning of some of its biggest franchises. In a post on the Massive Entertainment website, the announcement was made alongside what it all entails.
In the announcement, Creative House 2, which was being led by Christopher Hartmann will now effectively be known as Massive Entertainment. If Massive Entertainment sounds familiar to you it should as that is the name of the studio that has been developing The Division under Ubisoft for nearly 20 years now.
The move brings many Tom Clancy games (Ghost Recon, The Division, Splinter Cell) as well as the upcoming new IP March Of Giants under one umbrella. Massive Entertainment will be made up of Ubisoft Studios in Toronto, Montreal, Paris and Sweden. This will allow the studios to work seamlessly together across the these franchises as well as potentially new IPs. Interestingly the one Tom Clancy franchise not included is Rainbow Six.
“Massive Entertainment has always been defined by passion, ambition and incredible talent, and our focus now is on what comes next,” said Christoph Hartmann, General Manager of Massive Entertainment. “Bringing our teams together under one identity gives us the opportunity to combine the creative energy and expertise across Montréal, Paris, Sweden and Toronto to shape the next generation of these iconic franchises, create new games and IPs, and push our craft and technology forward.”
Having just been to the Montreal studio to get a first hand look at March of Giants, which we will be having our preview published tomorrow, it will be exciting to see what these studios can create together. Hartmann and his team had been working on March of Giants with Amazon before Ubisoft stepped in and purchased the IP and studio.
Still Unified Under Ubisoft
It should be noted that this doesn’t change anything in terms of who owns and operates these studios. Ubisoft is still the publisher and owner, Massive Entertainment is just the new umbrella these studios fall under. It’s not a perfect comparison, but think of how Bethesda runs as it’s own entity but still under the Xbox portfolio.
This move comes after last years decision by Ubisoft to create a new subsidy with Tencent for its biggest franchises including Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. These moves will hopefully help stabilize Ubisoft from a financial standpoint as the publisher had been struggling of late.
Earlier this year Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced launched to rave reviews including our own, and appear to have done will commercially so hopefully this is another step in their turnaround.
