Massive bulks up Ubisoft

French publisher scoops up Swedish developer of World in Conflict from Activision Blizzard; World in Conflict: Soviet Assault still release date-free.

Nearly four months after Activision Blizzard said it was divesting itself of Vivendi Games assets, yet another of its former properties has been scooped up. Today, Ubisoft announced it has acquired Massive Entertainment, developers of the critically acclaimed 2007 real-time strategy title World in Conflict. Financial terms of the deal, which was not mentioned as part of Activision Blizzard's earnings last week, were not disclosed.

"Ubisoft is growing at an intense pace and our strategy is to ensure the strength of our global creative teams," said Christine Burgess-Quemard, Ubisoft's executive director of worldwide production studios, in a statement. "Massive has put together a group of some of the most confirmed and recognized creators in the industry and I know that their talent and innovation will allow them to seamlessly integrate into our worldwide network of production studios."

Said integration apparently will be seamless, as the France-based publisher explicitly mentioned "the assets and all of the personnel" of the Swedish shop. Massive, which also developed Ground Control, was named as one of the top 50 best game international studios by Game Developers Research in 2007. Its next project, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, was to ship for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this quarter, but was delayed after Activision put Massive up for sale in August. No new release date was mentioned in today's announcement.

47 Comments

  • TehEliteElite

    Posted Mar 4, 2009 1:19 pm PT

    "Ubisoft, making sure pc ports suck since...2005
    I really hope that ubisoft doesnt affect the game too much. "

    Indeed.

  • arfo

    Posted Dec 7, 2008 10:02 am PT

    A few years ago some young guy was stating developing vidi-game ,because they love it .Now some big/huge/rich companies are start buying game companies,because they love money.So whats going on..? THERE IS NO RED ALERT 2 any more ''remember westwood''

  • Avals

    Posted Nov 14, 2008 4:27 pm PT

    Well,better than being purchased by EA.

  • tudyniuz

    Posted Nov 12, 2008 10:16 am PT

    @mach-stem:yep

  • mach-stem

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 10:13 am PT

    First EA, now UBI...I was happy with Massive/Sierra, this game is amazing, but let's just hope they aren't pressured by UBI for forced releases as they have been demonstrating the last couple games.

    Sigh.

  • R-ZZZ

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 9:30 am PT

    Ubisoft, making sure pc ports suck since...2005
    I really hope that ubisoft doesnt affect the game too much.

  • oneofthefall

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 6:20 am PT

    UBISOFT are already the best in my books (or on my console) and hopefully this will open more opportunity's for them? i cant wait to see the next batch of games in 09 when these 2 Merge properly! Good luck to them

  • londonrider

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 5:22 am PT

    Activision Blizzard has gone crazy

  • lehoang15tuoi

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 3:55 am PT

    Well why is AB selling all of Vivendi assets? No profit, huh? WiC is great, but, but, but does it earn them a lot of money?

  • rotnem

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 3:29 am PT

    Myst still remains one of my favourite PC games of all time. The Ending Has Yet To Be Writin

  • rotnem

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 3:21 am PT

    Ubisoft has made some good PC games. I believe they picked up the license to Myst after the second instalment and made the next two of them, while the last game in the series went back to roots with it's parent company Cyan. I think that's how it went, can't remember too sure.

  • Nichols1984

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 2:37 am PT

    I Care Nothing Of This News When Is Assasins Creed Coming Out Now Thats News

  • RonTorque

    Posted Nov 11, 2008 1:20 am PT

    I hope after that they still make GOOD PC games and not abandon them.

  • TehUndeadHorror

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 11:58 pm PT

    Hmmm... why would Activision put them up for sale in the first place...

  • shani_boy101

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 10:44 pm PT

    Ubisoft is gonna turn into EA someday and i'm fearing for whenever that will happen. I've got 2 of the most hyped games from Ubisoft Montreal (Assassin's Creed and Far Cry 2) and seriously, they really, REALLY, R E A L L Y! need to work on improving gameplay standards. It's so bloody repetitive!!!

  • DukeEdwardI

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 9:50 pm PT

    wonderful, now ubisoft is going to require them to make their games for consoles too which will direct their attention away from where the pc versions.

  • Gamesterpheonix

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 9:13 pm PT

    lol bad move Acti. I think they were retarded to get rid of such good games. So sad.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 7:30 pm PT

    I hope this can help them out

  • FlashCharge

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 7:29 pm PT

    There's something to be said about growing too big. Image the day when Ubisoft buys EA.

  • RangerG

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 6:11 pm PT

    This is awesome!! Imagine the WiC gameplay with Endwar voice command. One word, glorious.

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 6:03 pm PT

    yeah i see....so where is splinter cell conviction thats all i want to know

  • jeffgordonfan24

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 5:43 pm PT

    Yeah waht Inconnux said. EA should focus on making games that don't suck, instead of buying rival studios. I wonder what changes this deal may bring.

  • corp-hicks1

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 4:52 pm PT

    Hopefully World in Conflict: Soviet Assault will now be released.

  • Hekynn

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 4:47 pm PT

    Thats cool!

  • Inconnux

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 4:42 pm PT

    Atleast EA didn't buy them...

  • Spartan4001

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 3:11 pm PT

    Maybe EndWar 2 will be a worthwhile strategy game now.

  • foxfire0666

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 3:10 pm PT

    good catch by ubisoft, now if they also release the expansion for the pc Ill be happy

  • fzaynoun

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 3:07 pm PT

    world in conflict is a great game, good move Ubisoft

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 3:07 pm PT

    So are we going to have the big three third party companies now? EA, Activision and Ubisoft?

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 3:02 pm PT

    not bad at all, hope that it works out

  • firedrakes

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 3:00 pm PT

    good they did not go under with this Blizzard thing.

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 2:37 pm PT

    sounds like a delicous hot ham and cheese sandwich with hot fries!!!

  • jazilla

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 2:24 pm PT

    WIC rocks. I am so glad that they will be able to make great games for years to come now. way yo go Ubi!

  • MattF

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:55 pm PT

    Massive makes greats games, period. I don't know how anyone lets them get away. Smart move by Ubi.

  • iron_zealot7531

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:54 pm PT

    @gamer082009:

    activision had cancelled WIC:soviet assault, if ubisoft hadn't aquired Massive there would have been no future WIC installations.

    So instead of cursing their name be grateful that Ubi might finally bring a new WIC game to light

  • SaintAjora

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:54 pm PT

    OMG! Great news!!!

  • iron_zealot7531

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:51 pm PT

    thank god!

    die in a horrible fire activision, now we might actually see that Worild in Conflict sequal we've all been praying for

  • dual_barrel

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:51 pm PT

    Ubisoft, why don't you buy yourself a FPS development studio and do yourself a favor.

  • InuHanyou1701

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:47 pm PT

    Oh awesome! I like Ubisoft. Finally, someone escapes the clutches of EA!

  • henrynarits

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:42 pm PT

    good news, last one was published by Sierra so i think Ubisoft will make it better, thanks to EndWar they know a bit about console rts to

  • Dilan120

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:39 pm PT

    Very good news, Massive is a great Swedish developer and Ubisoft is a good publisher

  • technowiz999

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 1:34 pm PT

    Good to see. Good to see Acti-Bliz is liquidating that is. Anything that shows the weaknesses of that company is good news. Plus Ubisoft will do great things with Massive so this is a double win for gamers.

  • wackys posted Nov 10, 2008 12:58 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    wackys

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 12:58 pm PT (hide)

    NOOOOOOOO goddamn Ubisoft

  • gamer082009

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 12:53 pm PT

    I really don't like these types of acquisitions because usually when the buying company buys another it runs the whole series into the ground. Please Ubisoft don't screw up the WIC series. Ubi is better @ 3rd person shooters than anything else.

  • Trooperdx3117

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 12:45 pm PT

    Sweet my respect for Ubisoft has gone up now and it would be awesome if they gave massive the technology they use in endwar for the voice controls for World in conflict

  • Myzz617

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 12:42 pm PT

    End War II

  • Sw0rDMaN

    Posted Nov 10, 2008 12:40 pm PT

    Yay!

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