Ubisoft orders Indian takeaway

Hot on the heels of the announcement that it will be opening up a studio in Singapore, Ubisoft has now also published details of its plans for expansion into India.

The Assassin's Creed publisher confirmed today--almost exactly one month after its Singapore news--that it has acquired Gameloft's development studio in Pune, India. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Pune is a satellite city of Mumbai, and is, according to Ubisoft, "part of the second generation of India's techno-poles, and is considered one of the most pleasant cities to live in [in] the country." The Gameloft studio was established toward the end of 2006, and has a team of 120 developers and testers.

Initially, the French firm says, the Gameloft crew will be focusing on porting games to handhelds such as the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable, as well as "reinforcing Ubisoft's testing teams." Ubisoft plans to grow the studio to 200 staff over the next year, with the ultimate aim of increasing that to 500 "in the coming years."

According to Ubisoft's executive director of worldwide studios, Christine Burgess-Quemard, "this acquisition will reinforce Ubisoft's presence in Asia and the southeast region in particular. India has a promising future in the video game industry and this is an opportunity for us to establish ourselves in the country."