Ubisoft has been on quite the upswing on the business side of things in recent months. They have acquired Brawlhalla developer Blue Mammoth Games, freed themselves from a Vivendi takeover, and even partnered with Tencent in order to expand into China. They continued this positive trend today by announcing that they have formed two new studios. One is located in Mumbai, India and the other is in Odesa, Ukraine.
As is to be expected, these new studios will collaborate with the others to bolster Ubisoft’s AAA game development. Ubisoft Odesa, which will assist other studios in working on the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon franchise, is apparently already open for business and looking to hire 60 people over the next two years. This studio will be run by Adrian Serbanescu, Studio Manager of Ubisoft Kiev. Sébastien Delen, Managing Director for Eastern European Hub Studios at Ubisoft, had the following to say about expanding to Odesa:
“Ubisoft first came to Kiev 10 years ago and since then the team grew and took on challenging projects, but alongside Kiev, we have always been interested in Odesa and thus the perfect occasion for us to show this was by opening an office there. We are really glad to see the industry evolving in Ukraine and to see so many people who are passionate about game development.”
Meanwhile, Ubisoft Mumbai will begin to operate in June and will report to Jean-Philippe Pieuchot, Managing Director of Ubisoft Pune. That studio is planning to expand fast to over 100 people within two years, and are partnering with the Indian Institute of Technology and Intuit Lab in order to do so.
Christine Burgess-Quémard, Executive Director of Ubisoft’s Worldwide Studios, also commented on the creation of Ubisoft Odesa and Mumbai:
“This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ubisoft’s presence in India and in Ukraine. Our commitment to both countries is now strengthened by these expansions to Mumbai and Odesa. I am proud to see how our production presence is growing, and strongly believe that it is by investing and expanding our knowledge and expertise internally that we will be able to keep delivering the high quality entertainment experiences of the future.”
DualShockers will be sure to let you know when new titles made in collaboration with these two new studios are announced.