Ubisoft Entertainment SA (formerly Ubi Soft ) is a game developer and publisher in France. Ubisoft’s headquarters are located in Montreuil sur Bois. With offices in over 20 countries, Ubisoft is one of the largest game publishers in the world.
STORY
In 1986 the company was founded by the five Guillemot brothers. In the beginning, the games were distributed in France by Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line and MicroProse. The first published game was in 1986 Zombi . At the end of the 1980s they expanded into the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.
In the early 1990s they began to set up their own internal programming studios, which led to the founding of the studios in Montreuil, Île-de-France in 1994. In this studio Michel Ancel developed the later Ubisoft mascot Rayman. In 1996, Ubisoft went public and continued its global expansion with new branches, including Shanghai and Montreal.
In 2001 she acquired the German development studio Blue Byte, which for the settlers is known series, the following year was Red Storm Entertainment, a for his franchise Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six well-known developer, acquired.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft strengthened its commitment to the on-line market, but this trend has now subsided.
On December 20, 2004, Electronic Arts acquired 19.9% of Ubisoft’s stock. Yves Guillemot, the company’s founder, sees this action as an attempt at a hostile takeover. Although the French government has offered their help, Guillemot sees the takeover as unstoppable, but only wants to sell it at a good offer.
In 2005, Microids Canada was bought by Ubisoft with all its employees. They developed among others Still Life .
For 19 million euros Ubisoft Atari bought the rights to the hit video game series Driver from. Even the Driver -Entwicklerstudio Reflections Interactive in the UK Newcastle upon Tyne is now a part, with all employees to Ubisoft. [2]
On 11 April 2007 it was announced that Ubisoft German publisher Sunflowers and thus the rights to the Anno would take -Spieleserie and the 30% interest in the developer Related Designs. The acquisition was completed in the first quarter of the financial year 2007/08. [3]
In 2008, Ubisoft was represented in 28 countries, including 17 in developing countries. In the 2007/08 financial year, Ubisoft recorded revenue of 928 million euros and employed approximately 5,450 employees, of which approximately 4,500 were in production. [4] Since 2004 wearing Yves Guillemot the post of CEO. Developer studios are located in Montreal, Barcelona, Shanghai, North Carolina, Düsseldorf, Sofia, Bucharest (Ubisoft Romania), Casablanca, Milan and São Paulo.
On 5 October 2009, it was announced that Ubisoft French developer Nadeo, which mainly by the racing game series Trackmania and Virtual Skipper is known buys.
On January 10, 2010 Measures for the protection of his games were known by GameSpy Ubisoft, [5] at the same time a list of answers to the most important questions about the new online service platform was released. [6] The by Yves Guillemot announced already in 2009. The method is so on a permanent broadband online connection (at least (A) DSL) and will apply from 2010 for each new game on the PC. At the same time, the player must register with Ubisoft free of charge and bind his game to the account with which he also has access to the forum as well as to the Uplay network. If the connection is interrupted, the game pauses.
In return, the player does not need a DVD to play, can access his game online at any time, and can install his game as often as he wants. Critics, however, doubt the system and make Ubisoft exaggerated hardness. [7] An user with unstable Internet connections and residents in rural areas without broadband connection is not intended. Playing without internet connection has become completely impossible. Furthermore, one doubts whether only the protection against copiers is the main reason. The game magazine GameStar, for example, in one of its columns, accuses the company of capturing customers, collecting data and preventing used sales with the digital rights management system. [8] happens as Saving the data on the Game Anno 1404 the Web service from Amazon. The first games with the new copy, according to figures from Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed 2 [9] , The Settlers 7 and Silent Hunter 5 [10] .
In early March 2010 it was reported that crackers have succeeded in cracking the new DRM protection in a few hours. At the same time, it was announced that many customers would like to wait for the DRM-free version of the games. [11] Already in the first days after the release of Windows versions of Assassin’s Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 have the DRM server, according to Ubisoft attacked service attacks by denial of.According to Ubisofts, this resulted in only isolated disruptions. [12] The release SKID ROW Group has been able to eliminate the copy protection.[13] The gaming magazine GameStar commented in another column Ubisoft disservice the consequences with the comment Lange has been spoken by players no longer so much about piracy – in a positive way. […] As a result, the hitherto rigorous system of protection against robbery has proved to be a wind in the sails of robbery. The French are thus giving the entire industry a bear service. [14]
In 2011, Ubisoft came in America because of the game Call of Juarez: The Cartel in the criticism. The game is the subject of the ongoing drug war in Mexico. [15] In July 2011, it was announced that Ubisoft has acquired the company Owlient to expand its portfolio in the area of free-to-play games.[16] in mid-2011, employees of the Paris Ubisoft Office delivered a slugfest with BNP Paribas, which was held in the form of figures of sticky notes.[17] The presentation of figures such as Homer Simpson, Super Mario or objects from Ubisoft games spread across the city and won abroad in popularity. Ubisoft has portrayed one of the largest Post-It graphics on several floors of its corporate headquarters.
CRITICISM
In the past, Ubisoft has repeatedly criticized the need to force users to create a permanent online connection, which has been used to implement the strict copy protection technology. In September 2012, however, the company announced its intention to discontinue this process in the future.Games like Assassin’s Creed III require only one-time online connection to activate. Activation limits as in Anno 2070 do not exist. However, the games need to use all content fully, an internet connection. [18]
Furthermore, in January 2015, games purchased through certain third-party vendors (Ebay distributors, G2Play and G2A) were first deleted from the Ubisoft game accounts of the Uplay system without stating reasons. According to press reports, these were activation keys, which were originally created by means of credit card fraud. Affected players were suggested to have the money for the lost games repaid by their dealers. [19]
Likewise, Ubisoft is often accused of providing a large number of games, which had previously been much more color intensive, more detailed or high resolution in trailers, just before release with a strong downgrade. One of the first affected games is Watch_Dogs, which was very critical of the release. Currently is in the scene on the graphics downgrade in Tom Clancy’s The Division discussed strong since The Division was represented much more intensively in the marketing when it is in the final version. [20]