What are Ubisoft working on - A look at their studios
After a pretty quiet 2022, at least compared to what they have done in the past, Ubisoft was poised to have a really big 2023 and then the bad news hit, Skull and Bones would be delayed again and three more titles would be cancelled, joining the four from last year.
With all that bad news, you might think there is not a lot going on for the studio any more, but you would be wrong, there is still a lot to look forward too. So let us take a look and see what we can work out.
Ubisoft Abu Dhabi
Series known to them: Growtopia, CSI series
Since 2012, this studio has been supporting the release of Growtopia. 2022 saw the studio keep the content coming for this game, which now has over 35 million registered players. Once again in 2022 the studio and game supported the local Operation Smile in the UAE. The big news from the studio was the release of Clash of Beasts onto mobile devices last year, bringing strategy to mobile, that combines with 3d fantasy. With both games getting updates throughout the year, you can expect that to be the trend in 2023.
Ubisoft Annecy
Series known to them: Steep, Riders Republic
With Riders Republic having a strong launch, 2022 saw the team at the Annecy studio where its developed, keeping things fresh with new seasons of content. With content that added in more competitions, more tricks and swag and maybe some UFOs, the game just keeps growing. So far the plan for 2023 is more seasons of content and other updates, but there has been no formal roadmap released for that yet.
Ubisoft Barcelona
Series known to them: Your Shape, Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered
2023 will mark this studios 25th anniversary, which is a milestone worthy of celebration. The studio is one of the groups that supports Rainbow Six Siege and they spent a lot of 2022 working on that and will continue to do so this year. The studio has also been assigned to assist with the development of Beyond Good and Evil 2, but more on that later.
Sadly, the studio is noted to be working on several AAA titles, but with the recent cancellation of some, we don’t know if these are impacted, they still have a job listing up for an unannounced game though. If so, then Rainbow Six content is likely all we shall see from them, else expect to hear more from them in 2023.
Ubisoft Barcelona Mobile
Series known to them: Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians
Working on mobile games, things are usually pretty quiet, until they are not. Previously the studio was known to support Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians, but that game does not seem to exist anymore. 2022 had the studio release updates for their 2018 mobile game Hungry Dragon, but that is really it. If the studio has something else in the works, which given a job listing seems to indicate is possible, we might hear something more from them this year.
Ubisoft Belgrade
Series known to them: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
After doing a lot of support work on titles like the Ghost Recon series, the Belgrade studio helped with another Tom Clancy series, Rainbow Six, along with support for Riders Republic. Sadly, the studio is helping with content for Skull & Bones but its delay is not the thing that hurts them. The Belgrade studio were assigned the task of porting select Ubisoft titles to Stadia, but with it shutting down, something that happens this week, their work schedule is wide open. Given they tend to assist other developers with other titles, we might see their names in the credits for games this year.
Ubisoft Berlin
Series known to them: Support studio
The Berlin branch is a co-dev studio, meaning they are always assisting other with titles, one of the more recently shipped was Far Cry 6. 2022 saw the studio keep their Indie Camp going, where they help out small studios in various ways, one such title was Dorfromantik, so expect to see that come back.
Sadly the studio has been helping out with development on Skull & Bones, so there is no telling how the latest delay has impacted them. The studio is also rumoured to be the folks bringing Anno 1800 to consoles, which was announced last year, but since then there has been radio silence on that front.
Ubisoft Bordeaux
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Ubisoft Connect
The Bordeaux studios is one of the largest of the European offices, with more than 400 staff working there. In the past they have been responsible for DLC for a few Assassin’s Creed games, but in 2022 they got the chance to take the spotlight, revealed as the lead studio for Assassin’s Creed Mirage. If you are after new games that they released in 2022, then check out the mobile battle royale title Wild Arena Survivors, which got consistent updates through the year and now 2023.
For those after Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the game is expected to release in 2023, but the studio is still looking to hire for it, from gameplay programmers to animators and designers. The studio is also helping to develop Beyond Good and Evil 2, but their level of input there is unknown. The studio is also known for their tech and R&D work, which makes their management of Ubisoft Connect not that surprising. If all that was not enough, they are currently building an all-new building that will combine their two locations into one mega location in 2024.
Ubisoft Bucharest
Series known to them: Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. series
Back in 2021, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Frontline was announced and the reception was, we shall say less than welcoming. The studio had planned an alpha test at the end of the year, but it was cancelled amid the reaction. In 2022 a closed beta test was revealed for the game, but as is always the case, footage leaked and the reaction was less than favourable once more. Then in July of last year, Ubisoft opted to cancel the shooter, which might have left the studio in trouble.
I mentioned before the Bordeaux is one of the largest offices in Europe, it is not the largest though as Bucharest has over 800 staff, more than double. Right now the studio is actively support The Division 2, working on content and modes for it, but the force is with them. Given that they know the Snowdrop engine and support Massive Entertainment, they are also assisting with the Star Wars game being made at Ubisoft. Both games are hiring in the studio, but they are also looking for generalists, so we will see their name this year, just to be determined on what.
Ubisoft Chengdu
Series known to them: Immortals Fenyx Rising DLC, Uno
Chengdu is an interesting studio, they have been involved with many big name titles over the years, Far Cry 6, Assassin’s Creed Origins and more. But they have only been the lead studio on two titles, Uno and Rabbids: Party of Legends, which was announced and released here last year. While it was made a number of years ago, getting to see it brought out of China was a great deal for them, but the studio didn’t stop there as they also helped develop Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope last year.
As they tend to be placed into supporting roles they don’t have much revealed publicly. One thing we know that they are working on is the Assassin’s Creed Infinity portal, but as details on that are light, we will have to wait and see if it comes out this year. There is a fair chance we will hear from this group in some form this year, they are another studio working on Skull & Bones in some form, but with over 400 staff onsite, there is a lot of people to work on a lot of things.
Ubisoft Da Nang
Series known to them: Ubisoft Nano
2022 was a good year for Da Nang, as they celebrated 2 years, yep the studio opened its door in the middle of 2020. Since then they have made 23 games and released them into Ubisoft Nano, along with platforms like Kindle, Facebook and more. Across all their games they have seen some 16 million players enjoy them, on a range of devices and it seems that is only the beginning.
The studio is aiming for 50 million players and one of the ways they are going after that number, they are working with Thales, an in-flight entertainment company, to bring some of the games they make to planes. As a primarily mobile focused studio, we tend not to hear from them all that often, but they do get a lot of games out and with Nano only growing, that is a good thing.
Ubisoft Düsseldorf
Series known to them: The Settler series, Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time
2022 was meant to be a big year for the Düsseldorf studio, as The Settlers: New Allies was due to release, but just weeks before the release date, the game was delayed and the studio revealed its new date in November of last year. That date is February 17th, at least at the time of writing and with that the studio will be focused on that until its out.
Even though this new game is on its way the studio is not slowing down, as they have The Settlers Online still going, they are also assisting with content for Rainbow Six Siege and are assisting Massive Entertainment with both Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars. With all they have going on, we should see this name a few times throughout 2023.
Ubisoft Halifax
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed Rebellion
Back in 2018, the Halifax studio for Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Rebellion, a mobile game that lets you play as Ezio, Aguilar, Shao Jun, and many different Assassins simultaneously. Since then the game has gotten updates pretty consistently.
The game hit a four year milestone in December of 2022, so it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. The studio is hiring, but none of the roles indicate what they are for. While they are the leads on Rebellion, they do actually support mobile game development for other studios as well, embracing the Ubisoft shared workforce ethos. As such, we might see their names this year, but more than likely they are just going to be working on more content for Rebellion.
Ubisoft Ivory Tower
Series known to them: The Crew series
The Crew 2 has been racing along since 2018 and in 2022, Ivory Tower released a few seasons and many updates to the game, to keep the game going.
2023 is likely to keep the same trend going as the second season of year 7 is about to launch, but there could be more on the way. The studio is looking to hire some folks, most of which are listed against “New Project”, but as with other studios in this list, we have no idea if this new game is one of the recently cancelled titles, so we just have to wait and see.
Ubisoft Kyiv
Series known to them: Various series
While there is no denying 2022 would have been a terrible time for the game makers at the Kyiv studio, it seems that not even an invasion can keep them down as they are still hard at work on a number of projects. They are considered to be a support studio, so they help out other studios with a variety of projects. 2022 saw them bring the previously China exclusive Rabbids: Party of Legends to the West and other consoles.
The studio is one of the ones helping to bring Assassin’s Creed Mirage to gamers in 2023, they are also working with Green Panda Games, a Ubisoft studio that focuses on mobile titles. The group are also supporting Rainbow Six Siege and potentially an unannounced title, though that later one may no longer be around. Let us hope that 2023 is a much better year for the studio and the people working there.
Ubisoft Leamington
Series known to them: Support studio
A sister studio to Ubisoft Reflections, the Leamington studios supports them in whatever project they are working on. The studio has also provided to a number of Ubisoft games over the years including The Division and Starlink. While they didn’t release or have much to do with any games in 2022, things might be changing for this year.
Currently the studio is looking to fill a large number of roles from gameplay programmers to narrative designer and just about every other position you can think of. Many of the roles being sought to fill are connected to a new IP, but there is no word on what that might be, though some list a AAA Open World, as part of their description. With the recent cancellation of three games, its possible that this game may not go ahead, we just have to wait and see now.
Ubisoft Mainz
Series known to them: Anno series
2022 saw Mainz, formally known as Blue Byte, release the Season 4 Pass for Anno 1800 in March, which culminated in a release of the Grand Finale in December. In 2023 they are likely to keep that series going with more content, with new updates already arriving.
As for the rest of the year, the studio is actively assisting Rainbow Six Siege content and hiring for it, as well as working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 and hiring for that. While seeing content for the former is quite likely, seeing anything for the latter is not, though happy to be proven wrong.
Ubisoft Milan
Series known to them: Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
While Milan has supported other studios with their games, like Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon, it is unlikely that they will be doing much in 2023, outside of the expansions for Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. The game released last year and was an improvement across the board, it was also a lot of fun.
The roadmap for the game has the first expansion in early 2023, the second around the middle of the year and the Rayman offering at the end of the year. Details on the later two are non-existent, but the first has some information. We just now need to wait for the dates and if the teases are anything to go by, the first shouldn’t be to far away.
Ubisoft Montpellier
Series known to them: Beyond Good & Evil series, Rayman series, ZombiU
Not having released an original game for sometime, though they have helped out other studios, Montpellier is all in right now on Beyond Good & Evil 2. The studio is hard at work on the game, but they are hiring for a number of positions. Sadly with Ubisoft delaying games now, to launch them in the best shape they can, until this game is 100% good to go, I don’t think we will be seeing it until that time.
Ubisoft Montreal
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed series, Far Cry series, For Honor
2022 was an odd year for the Montreal studio, they released early on Extraction, the Rainbow Six Siege spin-off game and while they supported it, it never found the same player base as the main game. They also finally launched Roller Champions, which doesn’t seem to have connected with players. They also oversaw development of the Rainbow Six Siege game for mobile, which is something. The studio also managed to celebrate its 25th anniversary in that time, which is a big milestone and they helped out more indie developers with the Ubisoft RADAR program. While Hyper Scape never left its beta state and never released down here at all, in April of 2022 the game was killed off.
As for 2023, there is a lot the studio is known to be working on, but as far as new titles, well that is a much smaller list. This is the lead location for development on Rainbow Six Siege, so expect them to be working on that, in addition to For Honor. The studio is also working on the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, having been handed control back last year, plus there are a slew of Assassin’s Creed games being developed, with this office being the center of things. The problem is that the most recent large-scale game from them, was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, all the other titles were either spin-offs or small scale projects. Given the recent wave of cancellations from Ubisoft management and the ones last year, as the biggest studio in the company, there is no way they have been let off the hook, so we just have to wait now to see what they are up to next.
Ubisoft Mumbai
Series known to them: Monopoly Madness
While mostly a support studio/sister location for the Pune team, 2022 was not the best year for the Mumbai group as the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake was taken from them and handed back to Montreal. Given they tend to do some QA work here as well, it will likely come back again, just not in the form they had it in.
Ubisoft Nadeo
Series known to them: Trackmania series
2020 saw the release of Trackmania, the latest title in the studios series and in 2022 they kept the game updated with waves of content. There is new content already out for the game this year and the game coming to consoles in the early months of the year.
What other plans they have for 2023 are a mystery, they are actively hiring for a number of roles, but see cancelled games above. They are also hiring for supporting projects for other studios, but again see above. With all that said, Trackmania is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
Ubisoft Odesa
Series known to them: Quality Control and Support studio
A much smaller team than we have seen from Ubisoft, they support other studios in the Ukraine region and provide quality assurance where needed, as such they don’t have any games in development.
Ubisoft Osaka
Series known to them: Petz series
Last year saw the release of Rocksmith+ a title lead by another studio, but supported by Osaka. The problem is that the Osaka team tends to be given support assignments, such as South Park, Just Dance and more.
The studio is still helping with Rocksmith+, but the next title to release will be XDefiant, a new arena based FPS for most consoles. The game was announced as being connected to the Tom Clancy world, that has since been removed, though the trailer below still shows that. Apart from those two games, we know the studio is hiring a lot, but beyond that who knows.
Ubisoft Paris
Series known to them: Just Dance series, Tom Clancy Ghost Recon series
Just Dance 2023 released last year, with barely a whisper for it and the studio is likely trying to understand why. After doing only Just Dance for a number of years, the studio was given the job of being the co-developer on Mario+Rabbids, along side Milan.
As for their 2023 plans, the studio is hiring from Producers to artists and beyond, but what for is unknown. Some of the roles are listed for ‘unannounced title’ but with the cancellations, who knows what the state of them are. The studio was also the developer for both the 2017 and 2019 Ghost Recon titles, so it is possible we might see something from them in that series this year.
Ubisoft Paris Mobile
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed Pirates, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot
The studio is reported to be working on Beyond Good & Evil 2, but there isn’t anything else about them online. They are attempting to fill a number of positions, but for what title is unknown, so for now we wait.
Ubisoft Philippines
Series known to them: Support studio
Better known as a support studio to the Singapore office, the Philippines team has been around for 7 years now and in that time, they have not released their own title. Given their support nature, they are unlikely to be the lead on a game, anytime soon.
Ubisoft Pune
Series known to them: Monopoly Madness, Support studio
With the constant delays, The Prince of Persia Sands of Time Remake was removed from the hands of the Pune studio in 2022 and given back to the original studio Montreal. There was some good news last year, the studio did help out with the development of Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, so silver lining and all that.
With the removal of PoP though the studio seems to have been taken back to being a support studio for other titles, which lines up with their job listings, vehicle artists, dancing level designers, programmers and more. If anyone can find a game that combines them though, let me know, else we are likely to hear nothing from them this year.
Ubisoft Quebec
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Immortals Fenyx Rising
After releasing Immortals: Fenyx Rising in 2020, the studio has pivoted back to Assassin’s Creed. With there being four major Assassin’s Creed projects in the works, Mirage, Infinity and Codenames Red, Jade and Hexe the studio is quite busy.
While Mirage is being lead by Bordeaux, Quebec is assisting where they can, but also hiring for Codename Red. The studio is hiring and most of the jobs seem to have a connection to those titles above, but what they turn out to be is unknown. If you were someone who loves a good conspiracy theory, the studio tweeted out a Happy New Year message and then used Fenyx in the art, does that mean its time for a sequel? It will be 3 years in 2023 since the game released, so here is hoping.
Ubisoft RedLynx
Series known to them: Trials series
This is becoming a trend, but 2022 saw the Finish branch of Ubisoft devoted to helping out other studios, for new titles and live service games like Rainbow Six Siege. It has been a few years since the last Trials game released, so we should see more on that series this year.
The other trend is that they were working on - unannounced games, including some AAA titles, the status of them remains a mystery for now. Beyond that they are committed to boosting the content in the games they service, but beyond that things are mysterious for this group.
Ubisoft Reflections
Series known to them: Driver series, Grow Up, Atomega
While they were known for the Driver series for many years, recently they have become a support team for other developers and while they have had a few interesting releases with Grow Up and Grow Home, they haven’t had their own big game in years.
Sadly, as they have been classified as a support team by Ubisoft, that is not likely to change anytime soon.
Ubisoft Saguenay
Series known to them: Support studio
These guys are a support studio, that help create the tools to allow for online play and components for Ubisoft titles, they don’t actively make games.
Ubisoft San Francisco
Series known to them: Rocksmith series, South Park: The Fractured But Whole
After getting a delay in early 2022, Rocksmith+ finally released last year, as an early access game on PC. With the studio working on that, you might think its enough but they are also working on XDefiant. If you notice the work aligns perfectly with the Osaka studio, as they tend to work together on things.
With both games still in development, all their focus should be on those and given that out of the 50+ roles they are looking to fill 75% of them are for XDefiant, that seems to be the case. With those games being the focus, don’t expect much else from the studio in 2023.
Ubisoft Shanghai
Series known to them: Just Dance China
While the studio has done original games in the past, see Just Dance China, lately they seem to be working more as a support studio. They are assisting with content for The Division 2, but they are also working on the two big titles from Massive Entertainment, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars.
They are hiring for all those games above, well except Just Dance, so until we see more on those games, don’t expect much else from this studio.
Ubisoft Singapore
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Skull & Bones… after years of delays and delays, they finally dated the game in 2022 for a November release, then weeks after it was dated, they delayed it. Just the other day they delayed it again, to a now unknown date.
Given that the studio is meant to be polishing this up, until that ships, don’t expect anything else from them.
Ubisoft Sofia
Series known to them: Assassin’s Creed Liberation, Assassin’s Creed Rogue
2022 was a good year for the Sofia location as they ported the Ezio Trilogy to Switch, but since then the studio has gone dark. They are still working on things, we just have no idea what they are. Given their connection to the Assassin’s Creed series, perhaps one of the new titles in a lead or assisting role.
As they have done a lot over the years, we really can’t say one way or the other, which series the studio will be working on next, but I can’t wait to find out.
Ubisoft Stockholm
Series known to them: Nothing yet
The studio has been around for 5 years now and was founded by former Battlefield lead Patrick Bach. While they were known to be working on a new IP, the cancellations may have impacted that. The main focus for the studio though is Scalar, a system that takes traditional game engines and puts them in the cloud. GamesIndustry has a great story on what Scalar is, if you are interested.
Given their work on Scalar and possibly a new game, we might hear more from the studio in 2023, just no idea when.
Ubisoft Toronto
Series known to them: Starlink: Battle for Atlas, Far Cry 6, Watch_Dogs: Legion
After supporting other titles for a few years, we know that the Toronto branch is now all in on Splinter Cell, the remake and last year we got some new art for it.
Beyond Splinter Cell though, the studio is looking to hire a large number of roles for a title known as Far Cry Project, what that is though, is unknown. Most of their current listings connect to one of the two projects, so it is safe to say they are going to be busy, one can only hope we will see Splinter Cell this year.
The studios below are all owned by Ubisoft but have kept their own names and not been given the Ubisoft branding.
1492 Studio
Series known to them: Is It Love?
As the creators of a single series of episodic games, 1492 Studio is not a massive name in gaming, but folks love the game. They are continually releasing updates for their Is It Love? series, of which there are now 15 of, including Drogo - Vampire, Nicolae - Fantasy and Matt - Bad Boy.
Given that support is ongoing, don’t expect much from them this year.
Blue Mammoth Games
Series known to them: Brawlhalla
The studio is still creating content for Brawlhalla and in 2022 they added GI Joe, Assassin’s Creed, Castlevania and Avatar: The Last Airbender to the game, along with countless events and modes.
Given they tend to release anywhere from 2 to 4 crossover packs a year, expect more in 2023, just no idea what brands will they be. We have had Street Fighter, Hellboy, Ben 10 and Kung Fu Panda, so whatever is next is unlikely anything you could predict.
Future Games of London
Series known to them: Hungry Shark
While gamers may know the Hungry Shark name, it did release a few years back on most platforms, the series has actually been going since 2010 when the first game hit mobile phones. The series just released Hungry Shark Arena via Ubisoft Nano back in 2020, but the last game developed by this team was way back in 2017.
The studio is still supporting their Hungry Shark series and that is unlikely to change.
Green Panda Games
Series known to them: Various mobile games
Normally as a mobile developer, I would say something like, we won’t hear anything until the game launches, but for this developer it is not true. The studio is actively hiring from game designers to data roles, of course we don’t know what for, but it is a change from the usual behaviour of a mobile developer.
Ketchapp
Series known to them: Various mobile games
This is the company that took the 2048 game from GitHub and turned it into a mobile game, launching their success along with it, while they do develop games, they are more well known for assisting in the publishing space for titles made by others.
Given they assist other developers in getting their games out, we won’t hear much from them until any of those games are released.
Kolibri Games
Series known to them: Idle Tycoon series
After moving studios in 2021, the studio could have had a cruisy 2022, but they were back at it almost right away, with the release of Idle Taxi Tycoon. The studio was also looking to fill a lot of positions last year, but no word on for what game.
Given over the past few years they did release 3 or 4 games a year, excluding 2022, they could be spinning up another entry in their Idle series, but more than likely it is for support of their many games.
Massive Entertainment
Series known to them: Tom Clancy’s The Division series
After a quiet few years, if you exclude all the content and update for The Division 2, 2023 could be the year for Massive Entertainment. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was due to release last year, at least if you believed the rumours, but it was instead revealed to be coming in 2023. Given that two movies so far have made $4.8 Billion dollars, Ubisoft will surely want to release their game to get even a sliver of that.
The studio is also hard at work on their open world Star Wars title. Both titles are being lead out of this studio, but supported by many others and all of them are actively hiring for them. While 2023 should give us the release of the Avatar game, it will only give us a first look at Star Wars.
Owlient
Series known to them: Howrse, Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad
With Ubisoft killing Howrse back in 2021, there is nothing on what the studio is working on next. They have a number of roles being advertised, but that is it, everything else is unknown. Even their social channels are dead, so I would not consider them to be doing much of anything new, likely just supporting the other Parisian mobile studios that Ubisoft has.
Red Storm Entertainment
Series known to them: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Red Storm Entertainment used to be the home of the Tom Clancy series, but as they have all been taken by other studios, they now seem to dedicate their time to other properties, like Star Trek: Bridge Crew, the VR game. That has been out for a while now and the studio is working on Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland, the free-to-play title set within the world of The Division.
They are also helping out with The Division Resurgence, the mobile game that is launching sometime this year. With Heartland being set to release in 2023, we should start to hear more on it throughout the year, with the promise of a beta happening as well.
Phew.. that is a lot of studios, but there you go, what we know about their work, what we suspect and a few guess. How wrong or right were we, only time will tell. But let us know in the comments about what you think Ubisoft are up to.
