Developer Analysis
Number One: Ubisoft
Number One: Ubisoft
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[continued from the Front Page]of NES and Super NES titles before finally hitting their claim to fame in 1995. Ubisoft was popularized by a man. Or a thing. Well, a sort of half-man (he's got no arms or legs, you see). Of course, we're talking about Rayman. The gorgeous environments and smooth, well developed side-scrolling gameplay of Rayman won over audiences around the world. The game spawned two collector's editions and ports on the Gameboy platform.
Ubisoft made a number of smart business decisions throughout the remainder of the 90's. They worked hard to expand their development houses, opening new locations in Montreal and Shanghai. In 1996 Ubisoft became a publicly traded company and switched their name to Ubisoft Entertainment. At the end of the 1990's, Ubisoft had made a name for themselves with sequels to Rayman and mega popular point and click adventure series Myst. They were ready for the new millennium with all pistons firing.
The new millennium arrived, and Ubisoft kicked it off with the acquisition of Red Storm Entertainment. Over the years this would prove to be one of the smartest decisions Ubisoft ever made (and thank god they did it, otherwise EA might have gotten a hold of them). Red Storm, for those who do not know, was the studio started by spy fiction genius Tom Clancy. Originally developer of the mega-popular Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series, funding from Ubisoft turned the Tom Clancy franchise into a powerhouse in the video gaming industry.
Over the last few years Ubisoft has created (or revived) a number of successful franchises, including Prince of Persia, Far Cry and Brothers in Arms. They created the final *regular* Myst game in 2005, and handled PC versions of games like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Devil May Cry. Ubisoft's numerous successes have made it the #3 publisher in Europe and #7 in North America. Today, Ubisoft constantly pumps out high quality titles in all its franchises and manages to remain one of the most profitable companies in the industry.
On a final note, in late 2004 EA purchased a 20% share in Ubisoft. Although Ubisoft has called this a hostile takeover, there has been little more than whispers of the move in the last two years. Many gamers (myself included) worry about what would happen to Ubisoft were EA to take control of their studios and apply their worlds apart business strategy. This is especially worrisome, considering EA's nasty habit of taking brilliant development studios like DICE (Battlefield Franchise) and Westwood (Command and Conquer Franchise) and disbanding them. It is a frightening notion indeed to imagine such a creative and quality concerned company such as Ubisoft being tossed into the EA melting pot.
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