Ubisoft's family just got a little bit bigger. The French publisher announced that it's opening a new studio in Sweden's capital city. Ubisoft Stockholm joins the ranks of Ubisoft subsidiaries, and it's being led by one of the most experienced people in Swedish game development.
Seemingly headhunted by Ubisoft, former EA DICE general manager Patrick Bach has signed on to serve as Stockholm's studio manager. Bach left EA last November after working at DICE for nearly 15 years. Battlefield 1 was the final game Bach worked on before his departure.
The new studio appears to be positioned to serve a supporting role, at least at first. A press release sent by Ubisoft mentions that Ubisoft Stockholm will collaborate with Massive Entertainment (which is also located in Sweden). Its debut project will be to assist in the upcoming Avatar game that was revealed in February.
This push seems to be a part of a broader effort for Ubisoft to expand its presence in Swedish game development. Ubisoft aims to employ around 100 people in Stockholm within two years. It's also looking to hire 200 more people at Massive over the same two year period. Massive is currently around 400 employees.
But, it's also fair to say that Ubisoft has tried for decades now to expand its presence nearly everywhere. According to this list, Ubisoft Stockholm will be the 34th subsidiary -- all of them wholly owned. Ubisoft's production model necessitates that several studios play a part in nearly every game that's released. Now there's one more to help contribute.
via destructoid http://ift.tt/2wFILIW