Speaking at GDC, Olivier de Rotalier, managing director for
Ubisoft's Singapore and Southeast Asia, revealed the company's intention
to establish a new development studio in the Philippines. As part of
the announcement he shared some details about the current state of the
Singapore studio.
"We've been very happy to be
involved in many titles," he said. "We've built two main expertise in
Singapore: one in AAA games, the other in PC online with
Ghost Recon: Phantoms.
"We've
built 10 AAA games in seven years," he continued. "And now our studio
is leading one of the biggest Ubisoft projects on console and
PC."
It
is unclear whether the game in question is part of an existing
franchise, or if it is a new property developed by the Singapore studio.
GameSpot has asked Ubisoft for clarification.
Ubisoft's
new studio in the Philippines marks an expansion in the Southeast Asian
territory which, according to Rotalier is "a fast-growing market in the
gaming industry" and has a "young and growing population that is very
connected and creative."
Ubisoft is moving
experienced Filipino developers from its Singapore studio to the new
Philippines studio to give it a strong foundation to build on.
"We
have, in Singapore, a team with people from the Philippines who have
grown in expertise with us. We've built a solid work relationship and
trust with them, and that's an important core for us to start a new
studio.
"Some of them will transfer to the Philippines to
bring the Ubisoft knowhow, methodology, and knowledge to the studio ...
Leveraging the team in Singapore to train and groom the people in the
[Philippines] is a key part of what we're doing.
"[The
studio manager, Chip Go] is already someone that worked in Singapore and
will bring his knowledge of the group, company, and process. We want to
expose [the developers] to our major AAA franchise ... that'll be the
best way to expose them to the best standards of the industry and the
best people to learn from. Also, [they can work] on the best technology
that we have."
According to Rotalier, Ubisoft is planning
to have 50 developers at the Philippines studio by the end of 2016, and
then grow to a total of 200 people.
An
Ubisoft blog post added: "This year, we are stepping back and
re-examining the Assassin's Creed franchise ... Since the release of
Assassin's Creed Unity,
we’ve learned a lot based on your feedback. We've also updated our
development processes and recommitted to making Assassin's Creed a
premier open-world franchise.
"We're taking this year to
evolve the game mechanics and to make sure we're delivering on the
promise of Assassin's Creed offering unique and memorable gameplay
experiences that make history everyone's playground."
RoCkEt X has made a video showing you the new capital and fighter mechanics that are live on SiSi! Enjoy!
