Ubisoft opens new studios in India and Ukraine

[Deleted member 8196]

The company is opening a new outfit in Mumbai, India, to join its existing development house in Pune.

The Mumbai division will report to Pune studio MD Jean-Philippe Pieuchot. The new outfit will work with Pune on supporting major Ubisoft franchises including South Park, Just Dance, Far Cry, Trials Frontier and Steep.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Pieuchot said that the firm was interested in a Mumbai outfit due to its unique talent pool and large population - it is the fourth largest city in the world.

The studio is due to open in June and will be home to 100 employees, joining the 750 that work in Pune.

"Mumbai will focus on AA development, and leverage our expertise in live operations and games as a service,

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Meanwhile, Ubisoft has also opened a second studio in the Ukraine based in Odesa. It will boost the firm's efforts in Eastern Europe, with 10 employees currently and a further 60 to be hired. Adrian Serbanescu, Studio Manager of the Kiev studio, will manage the new Odesa office. The company will focus on the Ghost Recon series.

"Ubisoft first came to Kiev 10 years ago and since then the team grew and took on challenging projects, but alongside Kiev, we have always been interested in Odesa and thus the perfect occasion for us to show this was by opening an office there," said Sebastian Delan, Managing Director for Ubisoft's Eastern European Hub. "We are really glad to see the industry evolving in Ukraine and to see so many people who are passionate about game development."

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Ubisoft now has nearly 20 studios across the globe.
Gi.biz

 

[ASleepingMonkey]

They must be feeling quite spendy with this and the $2 billion payout to Vivendi (granted they're not doing that exclusively out of their own pocket from my understanding)

 

[Kolx]

Ubisoft soon to employ every human being on earth.

 

[ElephantShell]

A game studio in India eh? Can't say I've heard of too many of those. It's always good when game development pops up in unconventional places.

 

[SmokingBun]

I have my resume ready!!
See you guys at E3 2025 when UBISOFT India presents Assassin's Creed: VEDAS directed by me!

But seriously, will see if they require any Big Data analysts
Hopefully this inspires the dodo's of my nation to have smaller indie start-ups

 

[Deleted member 8196]

A game studio in India eh? Can't say I've heard of too many of those. It's always good when game development pops up in unconventional places.

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They already have one big studio in India https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/studio/pune.aspx

 

[ElephantShell]

They already have one big studio in India https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/studio/pune.aspx

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That's a Ubisoft studio I've never even heard of and apparently they have 600 employees. Sometimes I lose sight of the scale of the major devs and pubs.

 

[dex3108]

Mean while at EA...

 

[Deleted member 3815]

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO India!!!

 

[prison_architect]

Assassin's Creed in Chernobyl. Hm....

 

[SmokingBun]

Assassin's Creed in Chernobyl. Hm....

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But in India you can stealth behind cows!

 

[tilomite]

I think it's great to expand to industry and get some new ideas into game development. I hope this leads to some new IPs.

 

[RBH]

Had no clue about their existing studio in Pune.

That's neat

 

[Ahasverus]

Ubisoft soon to employ every human being on earth.

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I wish I could work for tem.

Ubisoft Colombia when.

Ubi plz.

 

[Fiery Phoenix]

Labor is rather cheap in those countries so this makes perfect sense from a $$$ perspective.

 

[Bony Manifesto]

I think you guys are getting the wrong idea about this. This isn't about having new games from different cultures and voices, it's about outsourcing a bunch of the grunt work involved in making modern games to studios in countries where the costs of doing business are a fraction of what they are in the US or Western Europe.

 

[Deleted member 11093]

I wish I could work for tem.

Ubisoft Colombia when.

Ubi plz.

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i thought you already did

 

[Rychu]

Labor is rather cheap in those countries so this makes perfect sense from a $$$ perspective.

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I think you guys are getting the wrong idea about this. This isn't about having new games from different cultures and voices, it's about outsourcing a bunch of the grunt work involved in making modern games to studios in countries where the costs of doing business are a fraction of what they are in the US or Western Europe.

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Regardless of the reason, the job situation in India is so bad that companies are creating "fake jobs" (scam companies) with people unaware of what they are signing up for until after the fact. I read an article about it recently.

India could use more real jobs. It's a positive thing.

 

[Sou Da]

i thought you already did

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Hot damn.

 

[Tunesmith]

Mean while at EA...

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??

EA has a studio in India.

 

[Icekilla]

Another 10 000 people to say thanks too in a 1 hour long credit scene that you can't skip.

 

[Broken Joystick]

Another 10 000 people to say thanks too in a 1 hour long credit scene that you can't skip.

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If I've just spent 100+ hours in a game I'm more than happy to spend 1% of that appreciating the people who made it.

 

[Fiery Phoenix]

Regardless of the reason, the job situation in India is so bad that companies are creating "fake jobs" (scam companies) with people unaware of what they are signing up for until after the fact. I read an article about it recently.

India could use more real jobs. It's a positive thing.

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You're right, of course. I also doubt either of those studios will actually develop its own games; they are most likely support studios.

 

[Ahasverus]

i thought you already did

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The market research department of Ubisoft is absolutely incredible. Everytime a new game of them are announced peopple are like "who's gonna buy that?" and then it takes the charts by storm. I'm still baffled at how For Honor or Wildlands were some of the biggest sellers of the year.

Those guys are magicians.

 

[dex3108]

??

EA has a studio in India.

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EA is closing studios left and right, Ubisoft is opening them :D

 

[Deleted member 3815]

But in India you can stealth behind cows!

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And you can do Bollywood musical as a side mission;

Serous talk though, I am still waiting for a game to do that.

 

[Deleted member 5535]

EA is closing studios left and right, Ubisoft is opening them :D

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Take Two and Activision closed much more than EA.

 

[SmokingBun]

And you can do Bollywood musical as a side mission;

Serous talk though, I am still waiting for a game to do that.

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Saints Row IV was going to do this
Such a loss

Although, I find mainstream Bollywood embarrassing and dunno why you Americans like it so much
Our indie cinema by comparison is top class. The musical stuff is old fashioned now and they are trying to make more mature stuff
DANGAL is a good recent one, based on the Indian Olympic wrestling league

 

[Deleted member 3815]

dunno why you Americans like it so much

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Well this is awkward but I am not American, I am Scottish and to make this awkward moment even more awkward...my family are actually from India. ;p

But yeah I outgrew Bollywood around 2012 when they started copying Hollywood movies, though I do look back fondly on the older movies from the late 80s early 90s.

 

[Dracon]

I wonder how is the comparison of the salaries between all those studios and countries.