The Ubisoft subsidiary handling many of the publisher’s biggest properties, including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, finally has a name. Part-funded by Tencent, the venture is part of a re-structuring of the overall company in the hopes of revitalizing its franchises after a period of weaker sales.
Vantage Studios is the moniker for this new Ubisoft-Tencent conglomerate, an umbrella company covering several different internal studios, with a combined total of 2,300 employees. Teams in Montreal Quebec, Sofia, Barcelona, Sherbrooke, Saguenay and beyond will develop upcoming games through the Vantage label, with an emphasis on individual decision-making to help breed more creative and marketable releases
According to a report from Eurogamer, this’ll allow each particular team to alter course based on what’s going on in the industry and their prospective audience. The outlet also reports operations have now kicked off at Vantage, though to what extent is unspecified.
Ubisoft and Tencent revealed they were joining forces in March of this year, with reports of a deal circulating from January. Tencent has made a €1.16 billion investment in Vantage Studios, taking a 25% stake, though remaining in an advisory role in the outfit’s comings and goings.
Officially, Charlie Guillemot and Christophe Derennes are co-CEOs of Vantage, the former being son of Ubisoft co-founder and sitting CEO, Yves Guillemot. They’ll oversee all creative leadership, emphasizing the needs of each particular project – at least in theory.
Where this puts other teams Ubisoft’s stable, such as Massive Entertainment and Red Storm Entertainment, remains to be seen. While recent Assassin’s Creed entries have sold well for the games giant, the likes of Star Wars Outlaws and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown underperformed, raising concerns over the company’s future. Vantage Studios is part of a strategy to alter course – we’ll see how it plays out.