Ubisoft heads to Hollywood

By Ryan Fleming May 2, 2011

If you want something done right, do it yourself. Such seems to be the message coming from French video game giant, Ubisoft. Not content to watch its properties either languish in the recesses of Hollywood studios that buy properties as often to avoid others having them as to actually make a movie from it, or to watch the lucky few properties make it all the way to the big screen be met with mixed reviews ala Prince of Persia, Ubisoft has decided to take matters into its own hands.

According to Variety, Ubisoft is in the process of launching Ubisoft Motion Pictures specifically to develop its own properties for TV and the cinema. The new division will be headquartered in Paris, and will be run by Jean-Julien Baronnet, the former CEO of Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp. Jean de Rivieres, former head of distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France will be in charge of marketing and international sales.

Recommended Videos

The decision is likely spurred on by last year’s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which went on the earn $355 million worldwide, a respectable number, but far short of the franchise building numbers that Disney had hoped to see when it dubbed the film “the new Pirates of the Caribbean.” It did, however, show Ubisoft that there was money to be made in film versions of its properties. The developer may also be further bolstered by the success of Marvel Entertainment, which has been on a roll adapting its properties to the big screen.

Besides the Prince of Persia series—which is likely now booby-trapped with myriad legal and rights issues—the developer is sitting on some of the most popular video game franchises of the last decade, including the Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six games (although those may be complicated by the Tom Clancy license), the FarCry series (already a terrible movie directed by Uwe Boll), and the Assassin’s Creed games, which almost certainly have the most potential to be translated to either film or television.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

Gaming

Assassin’s Creed Shadows delayed into 2025 as Ubisoft overhauls launch plans

Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows fighting an enemy. He's dressed in his samurai armor.

Ubisoft is making some big, last-minute changes. The next game in the Assassin's Creed franchise has been pushed into next year, according to a statement the company published Wednesday, due in part to the lower-than-expected performance of Star Wars Outlaws.

Assassin's Creed Shadows, which is set in feudal Japan and has two playable protagonists, has been delayed from November 15, 2024, to February 14, 2025, to give the developers more time to "polish and refine the experience."

Gaming

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s new DLC makes a great game even better

Sargon in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is one of 2024's most underrated games. It's been a year full of creatively diverse games, so this Metroidvania from Ubisoft has flown under the radar since its launch in January. It still stands as one of my favorite games of the year, as it features some of the best 2D platforming action since Celeste and utilizes features like Memory Shards to make a daunting Metroidvania feel approachable. I returned to it to check out its Mask of Darkness DLC and fell in love with it once again.

Mask of Darkness is a challenging DLC meant for players who have mastered the complexities of The Lost Crown's silky-smooth platforming. It fleshes out the backstory of a character the main game mostly ignored and features some of the best art in the entire game. It celebrates almost everything good about The Last Crown and provides another reason for people to check out this great game once again.

Gaming

Star Wars Outlaws feels like Ubisoft’s own Red Dead Redemption

Kay tries to enter Crimson Dawn territory.

There was plenty to see and do during the four hours I spent with Star Wars Outlaws at a recent preview event. The universe was at my fingertips, but my adventure was at its best when I could simply vibe. My most memorable moment came when walking into a dingy bar on Kijimi from The Rise of Skywalker and playing several rounds of Sabacc, only to walk back to my ship and find some loot to smuggle. It's such moments that sell the smuggler fantasy that Ubisoft is touting as the first open-world Star Wars video game.

Behind all of this, players have to balance their relationships with the five different Syndicates that rule the underworld of the Star Wars galaxy. While I still have questions about how this system will play out in the long term, as well as plenty of nitpicks, the relationship management adds to the sandbox feel of Ubisoft's sci-fi adventure. At its highest points, it feels like Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment is using Star Wars Outlaws to deliver a sci-fi answer to Red Dead Redemption.
Attention to detail
My lengthy Star Wars Outlaws preview began on Toshara, a new planet created by Ubisoft that was the first section of the game that opened up to players. It's here where I met the Pyke, Crimson Dawn, and Hutt syndicates and began forming relationships with each as Kay Vess. For the most part, doing so came through missions that had me exploring Toshara's open world on a speeder bike.