A

ashecitism

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #1

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...expands-in-eastern-europe-with-serbian-studio

Ubisoft has announced that it's bolstering its presence in Eastern Europe by opening a production studio in Belgrade, Serbia. The 15-person team has already been collaborating on the PC version of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands, and the French publisher noted that it intends to expand to about 40 team members in 2017.

Serbia marks the fourth production studio for Ubisoft in Eastern Europe, joining locations in Bucharest, Sofia and Kiev, and it brings Ubisoft's employee count in the region up to 2,000.

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Ubisoft boasted that it's been a "pioneer in the region, setting up one of the first development studios in Bucharest, Romania, 25 years ago, followed by Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2006 and Kiev, Ukraine, in 2008." The team in Belgrade will collaborate with the other studios in Eastern Europe and will ultimately collaborate with other experienced Ubisoft studios on high profile IP going forward.

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R

Rondras

Banned

• Nov 17, 2016

• #2

I'm from there and it's basically because all ex-yugoslavia is a cheap zone now and also in serbia are some good mathematicians(who maybe got into dev stuff) so kind of good for Ubi to grab some early talents without spending too much.

 

Q

Quonny

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #3

but where will i get my eastern european jank games now?

 

C

Corpekata

Banned

• Nov 17, 2016

• #4

Was going to make a joke about this being their PC port office like Ubi Kiev is but they actually are working on the PC version of a game lol.

 

C

Crixus

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #5

Prince of Persia or it didn't happen.

 

J

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action

• Nov 17, 2016

• #6

more jobs always seems like a good thing 👍🏾

 

S

Showshank

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #7

Great, even longer credits...

 

D

dracula_x

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #8

Quonny said:

but where will i get my eastern european jank games now?

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like Witcher 3?

 

J

JetSetRadio

Banned

• Nov 17, 2016

• #9

Cheap bastards.

 

E

emag

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #10

Ubisoft Sofia's done an amazing job with AC games (Liberation, Black Flag (partial), Rogue). Hope Belgrade does well too.

dracula_x said:

like Witcher 3?

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The Witcher series has been extremely janky, and W3 -- while better than its predecessors - still clearly has that janky EE feel.

 

C

CheDominik

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #11

Serbia is a country that really needs more job opportunities. Hopefully it will be a success!

 

S

Splatt

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #12

Rondras said:

I'm from there and it's basically because all ex-yugoslavia is a cheap zone now and also in serbia are some good mathematicians(who maybe got into dev stuff) so kind of good for Ubi to grab some early talents without spending too much.

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Basically this.

Still a good entry opportunity for bigger stuff in gamedev

 

D

DieH@rd

Banned

• Nov 17, 2016

• #13

JetSetRadio said:

Cheap bastards.

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This.

The salaries in my country are way below what devs get in the west, so it's not strange that more and more tech and asset outsorcing teams are being formed here in Serbia.

 

royox

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #14

~2000 employees in Eastern Europe overall.

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And they will put ALL their names on the next Assassins Creed game credits and finally the credits will be longer than the game!

 

O

Orniletter

Banned

• Nov 17, 2016

• #15

dracula_x said:

like Witcher 3?

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Ehhhh, Poland is more central than eastern europe.

 

L

Linkyn

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #16

Quonny said:

but where will i get my eastern european jank games now?

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Don't worry, that jank will feel right at home in the next AC game.

 

K

Kastrioti

Persecution Complex

• Nov 17, 2016

• #17

Can't wait to see A Serbian Game

Seriously though happy to see some western investment in the Balkans hope it starts going to neighboring countries

 

T

ty_hot

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #18

If they added 15 employs it means that they already have around 2000 employees in the region, 15 more or less doesn't change much.

 

T

tearsintherain

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #19

Great, another 45 seconds added to every Ubisoft credits screen.

Just kidding, but man it really feels like Ubi has way too many employees for the number and quality of games it produces. I wonder if the Vivendi purchase is about someone coming in and gutting the dev process and cycle to make it far more efficient.

I wonder how many people worked on the Assassins Creed Ezio remaster. Typically I'd guess 15-20, but in Ubi's case... 100+?

 

V

Visualante2

Member

• Nov 17, 2016

• #20

JetSetRadio said:

Cheap bastards.

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I don't think it's actually cheap as you make out. In some cases they are sowing the seeds at an educational level to ensure there is a steady steam of developers 5-15 years from now in emerging markets like Brazil. So they make games that can cater to that audience. It's not like they are going to close Montreal or Montpellier because of this.

 

I

Imperfected

Member

• Nov 19, 2016

• #21

Quonny said:

but where will i get my eastern european jank games now?

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... from Ubisoft?

Honestly, some of the Assassin's Creed releases could have benefited from a bit of Eurojank in place of whatever half-baked North American jank they shipped with. At least Eurojank is charming.

 

J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.

• Nov 19, 2016

• #22

tearsintherain said:

I wonder how many people worked on the Assassins Creed Ezio remaster. Typically I'd guess 15-20, but in Ubi's case... 100+?

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Ubi actually outsourced The Ezio Collection. It was done by Virtuous, the same studio responsible for Return to Arkham and the upcoming FFXII HD.