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Ubisoft buys studio FreeStyle Games (GH Live, DJ Hero) from Activsion

F

FelipeMGM

Member
EDIT: Yeah, like Nirolak said, Activision was prob going to shut them down, but because of UK laws they had to be offered around first. Ubi prob got it on the cheap.

Also, yes, IP remains with Activision

http://blog.ubi.com/en-GB/richard-blenkinsop-heads-reflections-new-leamington-studio/

They also renamed the studio to Ubisoft Leamington

Richard will also serve as Managing Director for new members of the Ubisoft family joining from FreeStyleGames, previously an Activision studio, located in Leamington Spa. The FreeStyle team is known for their work on the DJ Hero series and last year's Guitar Hero Live. The studio will be renamed Ubisoft Leamington and will work in close collaboration with Reflections and Ubisoft's other International studios to develop AAA games. Of Ubisoft Leamington, Richard said, ”we're thrilled to have their expertise within the group, and the team at Reflections are looking forward to creating great things together!"
Click to expand...
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Does Activision Publishing have anything outside of Destiny and Call of Duty at this point?

I guess Toys For Bob is still on Skylanders?

I get that they have Blizzard and King as part of the company, but still, like really?
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Oregano said:
Wow that's interesting. Not often does a publisher sell a subsidiary to another publisher.
Click to expand...

In the UK, when you shut down a studio, you have to take 60 or 90 days shopping the studio around before you're allowed to close it.

Activision probably decided they would get more money if they tried that process before announcing a closure.
 
S

Saucycarpdog

Member
Nirolak said:
Does Activision Publishing have anything outside of Destiny and Call of Duty at this point?

I guess Toys For Bob is still on Skylanders?

I get that they have Blizzard and King as part of the company, but still, like really?
Click to expand...
Call of Duty is in decline. If it keeps going down, I feel like they'll move Infinity Ward or Raven Software to work on a new franchise to make up for it.

No point in having 4 studios working on a declining franchise. At the same time I don't see them closing any of the studio's down.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
Well, it's better than the studio just ending dissolved. I'm guessing they'll either be churning out Just Dance games till the world ends, or maybe yet integrated into Rocksmith.

DJ Hero is the finest rhythm game ever made, and could've been a phenomenon had Activision gotten on board with EDM at the right moment. A damn shame, but the talent is nonetheless exquisite.
 
H

Hero of Legend

Member
Nirolak said:
In the UK, when you shut down a studio, you have to take 60 or 90 days shopping the studio around before you're allowed to close it.

Activision probably decided they would get more money if they tried that process before announcing a closure.
Click to expand...

So MS tried selling Lionhead and Sony tried selling Liverpool and no-one accepted? Maybe they asked for way too much.
 
O

Oregano

Member
Nirolak said:
In the UK, when you shut down a studio, you have to take 60 or 90 days shopping the studio around before you're allowed to close it.

Activision probably decided they would get more money if they tried that process before announcing a closure.
Click to expand...

True. Last time I can think of this happening is Bizarre Creations. Another UK based Activision Dev.

But does that mean Sony had to shop their studios around?
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Hero of Legend said:
So MS tried selling Lionhead and Sony tried selling Liverpool and no-one accepted? Maybe they asked for way too much.
Click to expand...
Oregano said:
True. Last time I can think of this happening is Bizarre Creations. Another UK based Activision Dev.

But does that mean Sony had to shop their studios around?
Click to expand...
A few places considered Lionhead, but wanted the Fable IP to go with it, which Microsoft was unwilling to part with.

I think Liverpool was effectively just a layoff wave at an existing studio complex, so they didn't have to go through the same process.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
I loved DJ Hero 1/2 and Guitar Hero Live. I hope they get to make something really cool. Ubisoft seems like a good fit because they're pretty out there sometimes.
 
F

FelipeMGM

Member
Nirolak said:
Does Activision Publishing have anything outside of Destiny and Call of Duty at this point?

I guess Toys For Bob is still on Skylanders?

I get that they have Blizzard and King as part of the company, but still, like really?
Click to expand...

Yeah, really poor. Skylanders is prob going to be dead soon too.

Only other thing atm is a team inside Vicarious Visions working on Crash N Sane Trilogy
 
W

wildfire

Banned
Ubisoft is sort of a media company. This sounds like a good fit. I hope they come out with something interesting if that is their intention with this purchase.
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
Nirolak said:
In the UK, when you shut down a studio, you have to take 60 or 90 days shopping the studio around before you're allowed to close it.

Activision probably decided they would get more money if they tried that process before announcing a closure.
Click to expand...

Ouch. This means Sony had to shop theirs around too but no takers.
 
F

fernoca

Member
Though is a bit ironic with the talk of Activision buying Ubisoft.

Great studio thst made great games anyway. So, hopefully their talents will be put to good use.
 
A

Alessandro

Member
Seeing the first decade of the '00 I could have sworn Activision would dominate gaming for a long time, but they have been going downhill in the recent years.

EA and Ubisoft invested in their own digital storefronts, what about Activision?

They have battlenet but they use it only for Blizzard products.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
What does this mean for GHTV? They're gonna shut it down are they?
Nirolak said:
Does Activision Publishing have anything outside of Destiny and Call of Duty at this point?

I guess Toys For Bob is still on Skylanders?

I get that they have Blizzard and King as part of the company, but still, like really?
Click to expand...
They've only cared about COD for almost a decade. Nothing new except now they care for Destiny.
 
P

pswii60

Member
Nirolak said:
In the UK, when you shut down a studio, you have to take 60 or 90 days shopping the studio around before you're allowed to close it.

Activision probably decided they would get more money if they tried that process before announcing a closure.
Click to expand...
So nobody wanted Guerilla Cambridge.
 
AHA-Lambda

AHA-Lambda

Member
Nirolak said:
Does Activision Publishing have anything outside of Destiny and Call of Duty at this point?

I guess Toys For Bob is still on Skylanders?

I get that they have Blizzard and King as part of the company, but still, like really?
Click to expand...

Skylanders is rumoured to be cancelled too, no?
Licensed division is gone?
Call of Duty is in decline.

Yeah...

EDIT: Oh yeah they're making Crash. Really seems like an outlier now that I list this stuff out, wonder why they did it. Sony pay them?
 
D

dangerskew

Member
DJ Hero and Guitar Hero Live were both fantastic rhythm games and I hope Ubisoft lets FSG make more cool stuff and doesn't just turn them into a Just Dance machine.
 
AHA-Lambda

AHA-Lambda

Member
ElBoxyBrown said:
Nobody is buying plastic instruments. Unless Ubi wants to lose a lot of money a new DJ Hero like game is unlikely.
Click to expand...

This, the "rebirth" of guitar hero and rock band flopped hard, and I have no idea who thge hell thought it was a good idea.

Plastic instrument genre is never coming back.
 
A

ALLseeingEYE

Member
This is great news. Freestyle games is awesome (aside from thier terrible taste in Guitar based music,*cough* Guitar Hero Live *cough*).

But let's hope this means more music games from Ubisoft, and that Rocksmith sees a new iteration.
 
E

ElBoxyBrown

Banned
Activision could literally coast on by with just Blizzard, COD, and Destiny. It doesn't even matter if COD is in decline. Overwatch and Destiny 2 (if it's good) will keep them going for at least a decade.
AHA-Lambda said:
This, the "rebirth" of guitar hero and rock band flopped hard, and I have no idea who thge hell thought it was a good idea.

Plastic instrument genre is never coming back.
Click to expand...

I can see them making a DJ game that plays like Amplitude.
 
S

SprachBrooks

Member
pswii60 said:
So nobody wanted Guerilla Cambridge.
Click to expand...

This doesn't really make any difference anyway. When a studio has created a valuable IP, the owner will always keep it. So selling them off is effectively a worthless endeavour that any sensible businessperson would avoid buying them. I say this because, it's only talent that's left in the studio, and it'd be much cheaper to try and hire some of the talent once the studio closes as opposes to purchasing a studio for the talent itself.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
AHA-Lambda said:
Skylanders is rumoured to be cancelled too, no?
Licensed division is gone?
Call of Duty is in decline.

Yeah...

EDIT: Oh yeah they're making Crash. Really seems like an outlier now that I list this stuff out, wonder why they did it. Sony pay them?
Click to expand...

At minimum, Vicarious Visions seems to be off of Skylanders, as they were just announced as a Destiny partner studio, and have the Crash remaster with some amount of staff (I'm guessing not a ton).

Toys For Bob could plausibly still be on the series, but it's unclear.
 
J

Jiguryo

Aryan mech phallus gun
I really enjoyed both DJ Hero games - and Guitar Hero Live brought the series back to releavance, GH TV was such a good idea.

Here's hoping Activision keeps the ball rolling on new material for GHTV for the time being.
 
W

wbEMX

Member
Jiguryo said:
Here's hoping Activision keeps the ball rolling on new material for GHTV for the time being.
Click to expand...

I don't think that will happen without the studio that "made" the songs. Except if they pull in RavenSoft or Infinity Ward, a.k.a. never. And that's pretty damn sad.
 
J

JigglesBunny

Banned
Hopefully they don't push them on Rocksmith or Just Dance and they give them the freedom to pursue their own projects. Lord knows Ubisoft can take the risk of a new IP and it would certainly be interesting to see what FreeStyle could cook up.
Saucycarpdog said:
No point in having 4 studios working on a declining franchise.
Click to expand...
4 is a humble number.
You have Certain Affinity, Raven, Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Beenox, Neversoft, Sledgehammer Games and Mercenary Technology.

Development on Call of Duty is a titanic effort with a whole lot of hands on deck.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Nirolak said:
Does Activision Publishing have anything outside of Destiny and Call of Duty at this point?

I guess Toys For Bob is still on Skylanders?

I get that they have Blizzard and King as part of the company, but still, like really?
Click to expand...

They haven't gotten rid of their Transformers publishing rights (or whatever the proper term is) though right? That and I think the Peanuts game is still available on digital services.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
Alessandro said:
Seeing the first decade of the '00 I could have sworn Activision would dominate gaming for a long time, but they have been going downhill in the recent years.

EA and Ubisoft invested in their own digital storefronts, what about Activision?

They have battlenet but they use it only for Blizzard products.
Click to expand...

You do realize that Activision Blizzard is about 9x bigger than Ubi and is bigger than EA.
 
S

SFenton

Member
Oynox said:
What happens to GH Live now? Hopefully they won't abandon it..
Click to expand...

Gut feeling is that they'll do the absolute minimum to keep it online (including maybe letting it be offline for a while and fixing it as a second priority), no new content, and when licenses expire it's done.
 
R

RecRoulette

Member
Ubisoft basically owns iNiS at this point too (iNiS' last few games have been through Ubisoft), so let's get Gitaroo Hero already.
 
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