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Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...
based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''
Rayman ''Rayman'' is a franchise of platform video games, created by video game designer Michel Ancel for Ubisoft. Since the release of the original '' Rayman'' game in 1995, the series has produced a total of 45 games across multiple platforms. The ...
'' and ''
Beyond Good & Evil ''Beyond Good & Evil'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox and GameCube platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and m ...
'' series. At 350 employees as of September 2019, Ubisoft Montpellier is led by co-founder Frédéric Houde as
technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...
.


History

Ubisoft Montpellier was founded by
Michel Ancel Michel Ancel (; born 29 March 1972) is a French video game designer. He is best known for creating the '' Rayman'' franchise and was the lead designer or director for several of the games, including ''Rayman Origins'' and its sequel ''Rayman Leg ...
and Frédéric Houde, two French
video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...
s. Houde, after obtaining a
Brevet de technicien supérieur The Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS) senior technologist’s certificate is a national diploma of higher education in France, established in 1959. The technician certificate is usually earned in two years, after graduating with a Bac (baccala ...
at the in Montpellier, first met Ancel (at the time still a high school student) in 1987 at Informatique 2000, a local technology store. They co-operated on the development of video games, sometimes spending multiple hours at a time in front of their computers. Houde later went on to serve his
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...
, while Ancel was hired by French video game company
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...
(then named Ubi Soft) to work at its Montreuil-based studio as a developer. After Houde finished his service, he was also hired by Ubi Soft to aid the company in the launch of a
Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as ...
game. Thereby, Houde re-encountered Ancel, who by this time was developing car-centric games for Ubi Soft. However, Ancel wanted to leave the Paris area; he presented Houde with ''
Rayman ''Rayman'' is a franchise of platform video games, created by video game designer Michel Ancel for Ubisoft. Since the release of the original '' Rayman'' game in 1995, the series has produced a total of 45 games across multiple platforms. The ...
'', a game he had conceptualised aged 17 and created a prototype for on his Atari ST. Ancel and Houde thus resigned from Ubi Soft and presented ''Rayman'' to the company, agreeing to develop the game as freelancers. Subsequently, Ancel moved to Carnon in his native Montpellier area; Ubi Soft formally established a new studio out of these operations in 1994 under the name Ubi Pictures. Ancel and Houde hired three further people—Eric Pelatan, Alexandra Steible, and Olivier Soleil—to form a core team of five. All five worked remotely, exchanging data via bulletin board systems, and met with Ancel at least once per month. After ''Rayman'' was released in 1995, development on a sequel—'' Rayman 2: The Great Escape''—began, and the team began to grow. Ubi Pictures briefly operated out of the apartment of Ancel's sister before moving to its first proper offices, located on Rue de l'Ancien Courrier in the centre of Montpellier, in 1995. These new accommodation could fit up to ten people and provided the studio with its first conference system, using which it could frequently communicate with Ubi Soft's other studios. However, the team rapidly grew, wherefore it moved to another office on the nearby Rue de l'Argenterie less than two years later in 1997; this move made room up to thirty people. ''Rayman 2'' was finished in 1999, allowing Ubi Pictures to relocate again, this time to a 400-years-old farm house (referred to internally as "''La Villa''") on Avenue de Saint-Maur, also located within the Montpellier city centre and close to the
Opéra national de Montpellier The Opéra national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon is an opera company located in the Place de la Comédie in Montpellier, France. The company was established in 1755 and was granted the status of "National Opera" in 2002 by the French Minist ...
. Part of ''La Villa'' became an internal sound studio that was set up in the building's attic. By December 2000, Ubi Pictures employed 25 people. In late 2003, when the studio was known as Ubisoft Pictures, Ubisoft acquired Montpellier-based developer Tiwak and consolidated it and its 17 employees with Ubisoft Pictures, which was rebranded as Ubisoft Montpellier. By 2007, Ubisoft Montpellier's staff count had risen to 80 people, led by Xavier Poix as producer and Ancel as
creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...
. By July 2009, Ubisoft Montpellier and Tiwak collectively employed 250 staff members. Tiwak, as well as other Ubisoft-owned properties in the Montpellier area, were formally merged into Ubisoft Montpellier, which also adopted the "Ubisoft Montpellier" name legally, in March 2011. That same year, Ubisoft Montpellier moved to offices in the Bellegarde
business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typicall ...
in Castelnau-le-Lez, a town neighbouring Montpellier. In July 2014, Ancel opened an independent development studio, Wild Sheep Studio, while simultaneously remaining creative director for Ubisoft Montpellier. In May 2017, Ubisoft Montpellier announced that it was moving to new, larger offices located close to the previous location. The new offices were designed by Philippe Rubio Architectes and built specifically for Ubisoft Montpellier. At the time, the studio had 220 employees. After a two-year construction phase, the building (known as "''Le Monolithe''") was inaugurated on 17 September 2019; Ubisoft Montpellier had 350 employees then and planned to reach 500 within three years. A research and development project known as ''Uramate'' is financed by the regional council of
Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...
, which granted the studio in September 2019. Ancel left Ubisoft Montpellier, as well as Wild Sheep Studio and the
video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstrea ...
in general, in September 2020 to work with a
wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
. This move came about in the midst of widespread departures of high-profile employees at Ubisoft due to various misconduct allegations. Ancel had been under investigation of toxic behaviour, which was reported by fifteen employees, since August 2020 but disputed these claims as "
fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...
" and denounced the link between them and his departure.


Technology

For the development of ''
Beyond Good & Evil ''Beyond Good & Evil'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox and GameCube platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and m ...
'' (released in 2003), Ubisoft Montpellier developed a game engine known as Jade, named after the protagonist of the game. Around 2009, Ubisoft Montpellier developed the LyN engine for their game ''
Rabbids Go Home ''Rabbids Go Home'' is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the Wii and Nintendo DS. The game was released in North America on November 1, 2009, in Australia on November 5, 2009 and in Europe on November 6, 2009. ...
''. In response to
Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Divertissements Inc., doing business as Ubisoft Montreal, is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Montreal. The studio was founded in April 1997 as part of Ubisoft's growth into worldwide markets, with sub ...
's drive of developing games with photo-realistic graphics, Ubisoft Montpellier developed the UbiArt Framework engine, which the studio used for ''
Rayman Origins ''Rayman Origins'' is a 2011 platform video game developed and published by Ubisoft. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Rayman'' series and the first main installment since '' Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc'' (2003). The game was released for ...
'', its sequel ''
Rayman Legends ''Rayman Legends'' is a platform video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft. It is the fifth main title in the ''Rayman'' series and the direct sequel to the 2011 game ''Rayman Origins''. The game was released for Mi ...
'', and '' Valiant Hearts: The Great War''. For
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...
games, such as the internally developed ''Space Junkies'', Ubisoft Montpellier developed the Brigitte engine.


Litigation

In December 2012, Ubisoft Montpellier fired Alain "Gaston" Rémy, an artist of six years at the studio, over caricatures of the studio's management. Rémy insisted that the caricatures were intended to be humorous and were not publicised, and opted to challenge the firing; a French labour court was scheduled to make a decision on the matter on 26 July 2013. The court ruled in favour of Rémy and ordered Ubisoft to pay in addition to compensation. A second, unnamed artist was also fired in 2012 for employing a "too Franco-Belgian" style; they challenged the decision and the court again ruled in favour of the artist.


Games developed


References


External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Occitania (administrative region) French companies established in 1994 Ubisoft divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies established in 1994 Video game companies of France Video game development companies