Ubisoft Toronto

Last updated

Ubisoft Toronto Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
FoundedSeptember 2010;13 years ago (2010-09)
Founder
Headquarters
Toronto
,
Canada
Key people
Darryl Long (managing director)
Number of employees
600 (2017)
Parent Ubisoft
Website toronto.ubisoft.com

Ubisoft Toronto Inc. is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Toronto. The studio was established under Jade Raymond in September 2010. Games developed by Ubisoft Toronto include Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist , Far Cry 5 , Starlink: Battle for Atlas , Far Cry 6 , and Watch Dogs Legion .

Contents

History

Ubisoft announced in July 2009 that it was establishing a Toronto-based development studio. Yannis Mallat, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Ubisoft Montreal, was to become Ubisoft Toronto's CEO, while the government of Ontario was to invest CA$263 million over a course of 10 years to create up to 800 jobs. [1] [2] Unlike other Ubisoft studios, Ubisoft Toronto was immediately allowed to lead development of its games, whereas others start by only supporting larger studios like Ubisoft Montreal, though Ubisoft Toronto also served to support Montreal as part of its initial role as a sister studio. [3] [4] [5]

By September 2009, Jade Raymond was put in charge of establishing the studio. [2] Most of the studio's staff in its development phase, including Raymond, transferred to the new location from Ubisoft Montreal. [3] Key hires included producer Alexandre Parizeau and creative director Maxime Béland, who were brought on for the production of a new game in the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series, and were considered co-founders of the studio alongside Raymond. [6] [7] A second, smaller development team for an undisclosed project was headed up by Lesley Phord-Toy, and Rima Brek was put in charge of the studio's internal Technology Group. [6] [8] By May 2010, Ubisoft Toronto had received more than 2,000 job applications. [7]

Ubisoft Toronto's offices were established from a former General Electric building in the Junction Triangle neighborhood of Toronto. [5] [3] Ubisoft Toronto began operating in late 2009 and formally opened in September 2010. [9] [10]

By March 2012, Ubisoft Toronto had grown to 200 people, and to 300 by September 2013. [9] [10] By the latter, the studio had received 30,000 applications and given 1,800 job interviews. [10] In September 2012, Ubisoft Toronto received an internal performance capture studio. [11] The studio's debut project, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist , was released in August 2013 to critical success. [4] [10] Raymond left the studio and was succeeded as general manager by Parizeau. [12] By July 2015, Ubisoft Toronto was developing an original intellectual property (IP). [13] This game was later revealed to be Starlink: Battle for Atlas , an action-adventure game with optional toys-to-life integration. [14] The game was released in 2018 as the studio's first own IP. [15] As of July 2017, Ubisoft Toronto has 600 staff members. [16]

Near the end of June 2020 and into July 2020, a wave of accusations related to the MeToo movement swept through the video game industry, including several directed at some Ubisoft employees. Over one hundred employees of Ubisoft Toronto wrote to Parizeau in late June to report concerns related to sexual misconduct and the lack of action taken by management and human resources in response to their prior reports. Ubisoft announced it had investigated these reports, and in the case of Ubisoft Toronto, had requested studio co-founder Maxime Béland resign from the company. Speaking to Kotaku , some of these employees stated that there were still additional problems at the studio that went beyond Béland and they were still seeking signs of larger change from the studio and Ubisoft as a whole. [5] Parizeau left the company in February 2021 and was replaced by Istvan Tajnay, who had previously been the managing director for Ubisoft Berlin. [17]

In December 2021, it was announced that the studio was developing a remake of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (2002); reports on the project appeared earlier in October. [18] After 2 years, Tajnay left the company in July of 2023 and was replaced by Darryl Long, who had previously been the managing director for Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Singapore. [19]

In June 2024, it was announced that Ubisoft Toronto would assist Ubisoft Montreal in the development of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake. [20] Later that month, 33 employees were let go as part of a "targeted realignment to ensure it can deliver on its ambitious roadmap." [21]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)NotesRef.
2013 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist PlayStation 3, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360 — [4]
2014 Assassin's Creed Unity PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One Supportive development for Ubisoft Montreal [22]
Far Cry 4 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One [23]
2016 Far Cry Primal PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One [24]
Watch Dogs 2 [25]
2017 For Honor PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One [26]
2018 Far Cry 5 PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox OneDeveloped in collaboration with Ubisoft Montreal [27]
Starlink: Battle for Atlas Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One— [14]
2020 Watch Dogs: Legion PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Also developed the expansion pack Bloodline (2021) [28] [29]
2021 Far Cry 6 Also developed the expansion pack Lost Between Worlds (2022) [30] [31]
2022 Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Nintendo SwitchSupportive development for Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris [32]
2023 The Crew Motorfest PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/SSupportive development for Ubisoft Ivory Tower [33]
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/SSupportive development for Massive Entertainment [25]
2024 XDefiant Supportive development for Ubisoft San Francisco [34]
Star Wars Outlaws Supportive development for Massive Entertainment [35]
2026 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time —Supportive development for Ubisoft Montreal's remake of the 2003 video game of the same name [20]
— Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell —A remake of the 2002 video game of the same name [18]

Related Research Articles

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon", as he overcomes his adversaries. Levels are created using Unreal Engine and emphasize light and darkness as gameplay elements. The series has been positively received, and was once considered to be one of Ubisoft's flagship franchises. The series had sold 19 million units by 2008. No further installments have been released since 2013. A remake of the first game was announced in December 2021. Some of the game's characters are featured in XDefiant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubisoft</span> French video game company

Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include Assassin's Creed, Driver, Far Cry, Just Dance, Prince of Persia, Rabbids, Rayman, Tom Clancy's, and Watch Dogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gameloft</span> French video game publisher

Gameloft SE is a French video game publisher based in Paris, founded in December 1999 by Ubisoft co-founder Michel Guillemot. The company operates 18 development studios worldwide, and publishes games with a special focus on the mobile games market. Formerly a public company traded at the Paris Bourse, Gameloft was acquired by media conglomerate Vivendi in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jade Raymond</span> Canadian video game creator (born 1975)

Jade Raymond is a Canadian video game producer, best known for helping create the Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs franchises, as well as building Ubisoft Toronto and Motive Studio. In March 2021, Raymond announced the founding of a new independent development team called Haven Studios, which was later acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment in July 2022, making them a first-party developer for PlayStation Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethesda Game Studios</span> American video game developer

Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. It is best known for its action role-playing franchises, including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Starfield. Bethesda Game Studios was established in 2001 as the development unit of Bethesda Softworks, separating from publishing operations. Todd Howard serves as the studio's executive producer, leading it with managing director Ashley Cheng and studio director Angela Browder. As of November 2023, Bethesda Game Studios had 450 employees.

Far Cry is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, Far Cry, was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subsequently, Ubisoft obtained the rights to the franchise and the bulk of the development is handled by Ubisoft Montreal with assistance from other Ubisoft satellite studios. The following games in the series have used a Ubisoft-modified version of the CryEngine, the Dunia Engine, allowing for open world gameplay. In the present, the franchise consists of six mainline games, a standalone expansion, and several spin-offs; additionally, the first game, initially developed for Microsoft Windows, saw a number of ports to video game consoles, which changed several elements and are therefore considered standalone releases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubisoft Montreal</span> Canadian video game developer

Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubisoft Quebec</span> Canadian video game development company

Ubisoft Quebec is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Quebec City. The studio was established in June 2005 and is best known for its work in the Assassin's Creed franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Hocking</span> Canadian video game director and designer

Clint Hocking is a Canadian video game designer and director. He has primarily worked at the Canadian divisions of Ubisoft, where he developed three titles, and briefly worked at LucasArts, Valve, and Amazon Game Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PlayStation Studios</span> Group of video game developers owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment

PlayStation Studios is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Worldwide Studios in September 2005 and rebranded as PlayStation Studios in 2020.

<i>Tom Clancys Splinter Cell: Blacklist</i> 2013 video game

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a 2013 stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. The game is the sequel to Splinter Cell: Conviction and the seventh installment of the Splinter Cell series. Players control Sam Fisher, a highly trained operative working for the Fourth Echelon, in a mission to stop the Engineers, a group of terrorists which is trying to coerce the United States into recalling all of its troops stationed abroad. The gameplay is similar to its predecessors, with players tasked with completing objectives and defeating enemies. Blacklist marks the return of the asymmetrical multiplayer mode Spies vs. Mercs, which was introduced in Pandora Tomorrow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubisoft Film & Television</span> Film and television production company

Ubisoft Film & Television is a French-American film and television production company and a subsidiary of video game publisher Ubisoft based in Montreuil and Los Angeles. The company was founded on 2011, and is in charge of producing films and television shows based on Ubisoft franchises and inspired by Ubisoft's worlds and gaming culture.

Motive Studio is a Canadian video game developer and studio of Electronic Arts (EA) based in Montreal.

Alex Hutchinson is an Australian video game director and designer. He is best known for his work as the creative director for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 4. After a long stint at Ubisoft, he has since co-founded his own video game development company, Typhoon Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowdrop (game engine)</span> Proprietary game engine

Snowdrop is a proprietary game engine created by Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft for use on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, and Luna. It was revealed at E3 2013 with Tom Clancy's The Division, the first game using the engine. Snowdrop is one of the primary game engines used by Ubisoft along with Disrupt, Dunia, and Ubisoft Anvil.

<i>Starlink: Battle for Atlas</i> 2018 video game

Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 16, 2018, and for Microsoft Windows on April 30, 2019. The game also features optional toys-to-life elements. It received average to positive reviews, while not meeting sales expectations.

References

  1. ↑ Fahey, Mike (6 July 2009). "Ubisoft Toronto Brings 800 Jobs To Ontario". Kotaku . Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 Thorsen, Tor (1 September 2009). "Jade Raymond heading up Ubisoft Toronto". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 1 of 4". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 Dyer, Mitch (4 September 2013). "The Rise of Ubisoft Toronto: How a New Team Nailed its AAA Debut". IGN . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Gach, Ethan (6 July 2020). "Ubisoft Employees Have 'Grave Concerns' Over Toronto Studio's Misconduct Allegations". Kotaku . Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  6. 1 2 Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 2 of 4". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. 1 2 Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 3 of 4". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  8. ↑ Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 4 of 4". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  9. 1 2 Weber, Rachel (8 March 2017). "Jade's Empire: Building Ubisoft's Super-Studio". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Sinclair, Brendan (6 September 2013). "How to build a AAA studio". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  11. ↑ Goldfarb, Andrew (14 September 2012). "Ubisoft Opens New Performance Capture Studio". IGN . Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  12. ↑ Crecente, Brian (20 October 2014). "Ubisoft Toronto managing director Jade Raymond leaves company". Polygon . Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  13. ↑ Moser, Cassidee (14 July 2015). "Ubisoft Toronto is Working on a New AAA IP". IGN . Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  14. ↑ Dring, Christopher (12 June 2017). "Ubisoft Toronto: "We can bring life back to toys-to-life"". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Sapieha, Chad (6 July 2017). "Ubisoft Toronto's big bet: A new spin on toy-based video games with Starlink". Financial Post . Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  16. ↑ Batchelor, James (3 February 2021). "Ubisoft Toronto appoints new managing director". GamesIndustry.biz . Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  17. 1 2 Good, Owen S. (15 December 2021). "A Splinter Cell remake is in development at Ubisoft Toronto". Polygon . Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  18. ↑ https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ubisoft-appoints-veteran-managing-directors-for-toronto-and-montpellier-studios
  19. 1 2 Moon, Mariella (4 June 2024). "Ubisoft Toronto is helping out with the troubled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake". Engadget. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  20. ↑ Chalk, Andy (28 June 2024). "Less than a month after joining work on the Sands of Time remake, Ubisoft Toronto lays off 33 employees 'to ensure it can deliver on its ambitious roadmap'". PC Gamer. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  21. ↑ Ore, Jonathan (10 November 2014). "Assassin's Creed Unity video game an intriguing view of French Revolution". CBC News . Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  22. ↑ "Ubisoft Takes Players to new heights with Far Cry 4". Ubisoft Toronto. 15 May 2014. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  23. ↑ Mudhar, Raju (28 February 2016). "'Far Cry Primal' unleashes the beasts". Toronto Star . Archived from the original on 4 July 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  24. 1 2 "Our Games". Ubisoft Toronto. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  25. ↑ "Video: How vehicles replicate and collide in Watch Dogs 2 multiplayer". Game Developer . 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  26. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (26 May 2017). "Far Cry 5's First Trailer Reveals Release Date And American Doomsday Cult". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  27. ↑ Carter, Justin (31 March 2023). "How Watch Dogs: Legion changed Ubisoft's narrative design". Game Developer . Archived from the original on 16 December 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  28. ↑ Ruppert, Liana (16 July 2021). "Watch Dogs Legion: Bloodline Review — The Glorious Return Of Aiden Pearce And Wrench". Game Informer . Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  29. ↑ Fillari, Alessandro (12 July 2020). "Far Cry 6 Revealed, Here's Everything We Know About Ubisoft's Next Open-World Shooter". GameSpot . Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  30. ↑ "Celebrating the Launch of Far Cry 6: Lost Between Worlds". Ubisoft Toronto. 14 December 2022. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  31. ↑ "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Credits" (PDF). Ubisoft. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 June 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  32. ↑ "The Crew Motorfest". Ubisoft. Archived from the original on 30 June 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  33. ↑ "Playing Together, Creating Together: How Ubisoft's Canadian Studios Rocked XDefiant". Ubisoft Toronto. 22 May 2024. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  34. ↑ Dealessandri, Marie (12 June 2023). "Ubisoft Forward: Star Wars due in 2024, Avatar on December 7". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
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