Ubisoft Announces Studio Focused on Online Services

The studio will create 125 jobs.

By Matt Davidson

Ubisoft have announced the creation of a new studio — Ubisoft Saguenay — in early 2018.

The company announced the new Quebec-based studio at a press conference which was livestreamed on YouTube (skip to the 27:00 mark, but be warned the conference is in French). For non-Francophones, Ubisoft helpfully simultaneously released a statement, hosted on the Ubisoft Montreal website.

The news follows the announcement earlier this month of yet another new Ubisoft studio, Ubisoft Stockholm, which will be working with Massive Entertainment on its new Avatar title.

The focus of the new Saguenay studio is on "online services and technologies." Ubisoft considers these to be major drivers in the growth of the video game industry and intends to use Saguenay to build expertise around online functionality. It's not just an academic investment. It looks as though Saguenay will be involved in creating games in some form or other.

Job listings on the official Saguenay site (again, this is all in French) currently advertise positions for online engineers, software engineers, level designers and level artists, specifically looking for designers with AAA experience. There have been no announcements as of yet on whether the studio will be working on games currently in development or new titles; with the studio itself not opening officially until next year it's unlikely we'll hear anything before then.

Ubisoft Saguenay is expected to create 125 jobs over the next five years. In addition to this new studio, Ubisoft have announced their intention to open a fifth studio in the region (in addition to Saguenay and the already-opened Montreal, Quebec and Toronto), as well as a further 1000 jobs — the 125 in Saguenay, and an additional 875 for expansions to Quebec and Montreal, and the unannounced fifth studio.

Ubisoft's next major game, Assassin's Creed: Origins (developed by Ubisoft Montreal) arrives on PC, PS4 and Xbox One Friday, October 27.

Matt Davidson is a freelance writer for IGN who hopes this is in preparation for the long-awaited Assassin's Creed/Rabbids crossover. Follow him on Twitter, if you like.

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