Ubisoft orders Indian takeaway

By Emma Boyes, GameSpot UK
Posted Apr 15, 2008 6:43 am PT

The French publisher of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 makes its presence felt in India by snapping up a studio near Mumbai.

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."

42 Comments

frag_1
Posted May 28, 2008 12:04 pm PT

awesome
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ib_banging
Posted May 25, 2008 12:24 pm PT

HEY!!! Maybe I can join into Ubisoft now!!! That would be so cool!!!
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aman27deep
Posted May 23, 2008 12:01 pm PT

nice
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justfei
Posted Apr 17, 2008 5:48 am PT

wooh go india go.
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taj7575
Posted Apr 16, 2008 7:43 pm PT

w00t go india!!!
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RonTorque
Posted Apr 16, 2008 1:14 pm PT

Hope they open another one where i live. =(
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lanista
Posted Apr 16, 2008 11:54 am PT

@bawathegamer thanks for that, very interesting to hear
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Reetesh
Posted Apr 16, 2008 3:29 am PT

And now both EA and Ubisoft have studios here.. but its only for Mobile games

I hope some day other branches also will start coming here..

and most importantly, I hope this makes it possible for having ubisoft games released here in India. because for some strange reason No Ubisoft console games release here.
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Errur
Posted Apr 16, 2008 3:28 am PT

now that's some nice news
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sonic_xa
Posted Apr 15, 2008 11:06 pm PT

gah why bother 2/100 pc gamers have consoles..... 1/200 pc gamers play on hadhelds.....and ppl here play mostly old pc games like cs.(damnn them)
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acsam12304
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:21 pm PT

Macs is better than a PC why? Because it has no viruses for a Mac? How so stupid a Mac owner can get! I'm sorry Gamespot but it has to be said and done. Viruses are possible for a Mac. It's just that hackers have not made anything for a Mac because ALL the money is with Windows users, because everyone has a Windows PC. Well now all you people getting Macs, is making hackers to think where to hit next! I promise you BIG LOUD MOUTH Mac users, will need a good anti-viurs software in the next few years, because everyone is now making the switch to Macs. Sorry but it had to be said and done who care if you rate me with a lot of bad ratings, I'm telling the truth. And I'm just sick of all the Mac users.
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Tenjikuronin
Posted Apr 15, 2008 4:45 pm PT

What's with all the haters posting all of a sudden? Way to turn positive news into xenophonic drivel....
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Sins-of-Mosin
Posted Apr 15, 2008 2:09 pm PT

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
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jknight5422 posted Apr 15, 2008 1:07 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)
jknight5422
Posted Apr 15, 2008 1:07 pm PT (hide)

The sub-heading should be:

Cheap, lower-paid, foreign salary employees churn out inferior, hershey squirt-code quality.
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vigraman007
Posted Apr 15, 2008 12:40 pm PT

Yes,Yes,Yes...This makes things better.....Ready to join UBI
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Brmarlin
Posted Apr 15, 2008 12:28 pm PT

Who else wants to see a tech support sim as the first thing released by this studio?

On a serious note, best of luck to them. I hope we see some good things from them.
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Tenjikuronin
Posted Apr 15, 2008 11:27 am PT

This is a great move on the part of Ubisoft. India is definitely the place to expand to nowadays.
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- 7 of 9 users agree
bawathegamer
Posted Apr 15, 2008 11:09 am PT

@lanista
.any genre really.except for jrps and mmorpgs i pretty much enjoy all genres of games.
but in the game cafes warcraft 3,counterstrike(1.6),aoe2(yes....2),unrealtournament 2004,fifa,cnc generals rule in popularity, by far.the one cafe near my college(with 50pcs) is packed throughout college hours daily.lecture bunking ftw!

all the gta's are really popular as well .

not many console gamers though.majority are pc gamers.i own consoles and pc though.
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cooldude03
Posted Apr 15, 2008 11:06 am PT

Ubisoft is awesome, but I can see the influence of the stockholding EA all over these Ubisoft takeovers. I would not be surprised if EA's Ubisoft stockholders aren't pushing these takeovers.
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s_emi_xxxxx
Posted Apr 15, 2008 11:01 am PT

surprising... but definitely a good news... now i respect UBi more than EA.
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bawathegamer
Posted Apr 15, 2008 11:01 am PT

surprising news i might say.sweet nonetheless. when they set-up i might check it out.i go to pune quite freqently.nice. i like ubi. though i think this studio which there setting up is mainly for the programming part. no direct say in the games i think.
lets see how this turns out.hey if they want a tester il take the next train to pune!!
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bawathegamer
Posted Apr 15, 2008 10:58 am PT

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
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shiben
Posted Apr 15, 2008 10:39 am PT

funny when India and China are in the news, lota of ppl seem jealous... hmmm
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- 8 of 8 users agree
teirdome
Posted Apr 15, 2008 10:19 am PT

Huh, off-shoring testing to India. More testers for cheaper... but is that necessarily a good thing? The language barrier for an entertainment product like games might be a bit much to overcome.

Could you post a link to the article Emma?
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- 1 of 7 users agree
diablobasher
Posted Apr 15, 2008 10:19 am PT

Prrrff Macs. What a joke.

Anyway. Tasteless headline Gamespot, not that I care anyway, just thought i would point that out.
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sanjt
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:49 am PT

*ahem*

So because it's indian, it HAS to be "Indian Takeaway"..?
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KingSigy
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:45 am PT

At least Gameloft developed under Ubisoft, so this isn't that big of a deal.
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BigSmitts07
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:37 am PT

India and China..everything goes there....

@ ocdog45
haha no kidding, i have a mac and its so much better then any windows pc
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yboucher
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:35 am PT

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
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lowkey254
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:23 am PT

@ boobakerbrown. I do agree with you on American companies and their outsourcing plans. This is definitely a reason why America is in a recession now. It doesn't matter though, as long as the big pockets are lined then it's all good right? *rhetoric*

Back to the news story. As long as Ubisoft continues to make great games then I'm happy.
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ocdog45
Posted Apr 15, 2008 9:00 am PT

alientech support in india? haha, thats why you get a MAC.
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BooBakerBrown
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:59 am PT

Right you are Avenger1324. Back in the late 90's/early 00's the .com trend went bust & so did all the jobs for Americans in the IT field. What happened? We all know that these jobs were outsourced to countries like India and other low-cost labor countries. Have you ever tried to call Alienware's tech support or even some of your lending companies? Your phone call is re-routed to some call-center in Bangladesh or the Phillipenes. I'm not trying to turn this post into a social commentary but Ubisoft is no diferent than any other business entity. They always want "more for less." This generally turns into sub-par quality for minimal cost. Even though UbiSoft is a French company & have put out some kick aspercreme games they fall into the category of so many other companies... "Cheaper labor=high profit margin." & BTW... why are they trying to port cell phone games over to handhelds? Most of them are either rip-offs of other successful console/handheld games or are a (heavily) scaled down version of another console/handheld game. I guess it doesn't matter how well a game developers earning potential is if he can't get a job unless he moves to India or another country. Hey Ubisoft... ever heard of promote or hire from within? That means... give some of those croissant eatin' youngins an opporunity to work in the gaming industry.
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iLikeTheWoods
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:27 am PT

great work, good to see they recognise potential in places other then the US and europe.
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ChrnoTrigger
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:25 am PT

Sounds like a wise idea, India is after all the second fastest growing economy in the world.
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beckoflight
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:12 am PT

UBISOFT should buy all it stock back from EA 1st !!! LOVE THEM .... Assassins Creed just 1 word "briliant" ... ops i mean all of UBI's game BRILIANT !
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Avenger1324
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:12 am PT

I think this has more to do with cutting costs than the merits of the studio they have bought. No doubt for the cost of one high-paid US developer they can employ several Indian programmers, or a whole department of testers.
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tjdeep_2007
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:06 am PT

hurray...ubisoft is finally making a move ....targeting Asian markets
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tjdeep_2007
Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:03 am PT

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
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lanista
Posted Apr 15, 2008 7:56 am PT

Seems like they've thought about this and any move to encourage gaming globally has to be welcomed

On a related note, It would be interesting to see whether they could take on any ideas from India itself in developing new games

We all know Japan is keen on their JRPG's but I wonder what genres gamers in India prefer?
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PEELEDbanana
Posted Apr 15, 2008 7:42 am PT

So when is EA going to go afte Ubisoft? lol. Good for you the Ubisoft. I really liked Assassin's Creed, and i am hoping for a sequel soon. Also, if you could, put Beyond good and evil on the Xbox Live Marketplace, i want to play it.
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Gribb85
Posted Apr 15, 2008 7:02 am PT

Seems like even game testers will be moving to other areas in order to utilise the cheaper man power, I'm thinking that Ubisofts customer service call centre is there already . Brilliant opportunity to develop the industry in Asia, leading to more competition for talent and progress for the interactive entertainment industry. Nicely done Ubisoft, tapping into one of the biggest emerging economys in the world is, without a doubt, a wise step in keeping them an independent entity from EA and Acti-Blizzard.
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raverrozza
Posted Apr 15, 2008 6:58 am PT

well with one billion people why would you not want to get a head start on one of the most blossoming economys in the world.
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- 4 of 4 users agree

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