Ubisoft, which has released five VR titles to date, confirmed that it’s building a large, 50 person team to develop an “unannounced AAA project” using one of the company’s well known IPs.
Ubisoft has confirmed to VRFocus that it’s spinning up a VR team of 50 people to work on an unannounced VR project that will be based on the company’s known IP, among which are Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, and many more names well known to the gaming industry.
While 50 employees isn’t a big team for traditional AAA game development, it’s a significant number for the VR space, which generally sees smaller scoped projects to fit with the smaller addressable audience. Indeed, Ubisoft’s VR games to date have likely seen smaller teams, and none have dealt directly with any of the studio’s major IP.
The confirmation comes not long after a July report by The Information which claimed that Facebook signed a deal with Ubisoft to develop Oculus exclusive VR projects based on Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell; it seems that these two plot points might very well be connected.
VRFocus notes that a handful of VR-specific job postings can already been on Ubisoft’s career website, most of which seek employees at the company’s Dusseldorf, Germany headquarters; Ubisoft says that more job postings are coming.
Each listing notes, “we are creating a brand-new team to work on an unannounced AAA VR project. You will work on cutting-edge VR technology, on one of Ubisoft’s great IP’s, developed across multiple studios. Join us today to shape the future of VR!”
At current check there’s nine full-time VR-specific job openings:
- Level Design Director – VR
- Art Director – VR
- Senior Level Artist – VR
- Senior Game Designer – VR
- Senior General Programmer (C#) – VR
- Build & Release Engineer – VR
- Senior Technical Artist – VR
- Senior Game Designer (Progression) – VR
- Lead Character Artist – VR
– – — – –
While most major game development studios haven’t yet committed significant resources to making VR games, Ubisoft has done pioneering work in the VR space with five titles already released to in-home VR users:
- Werewolves Within (2016)
- Eagle Flight (2016)
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew (2017) [optional VR support]
- Transference (2018) [optional VR support]
- Space Junkies (2019)
Surprisingly, considering the studio’s pedigree, Ubisoft’s VR titles so far have largely fallen short of achieving ‘must-play’ status, and their focus on multiplayer has left many of the games to languish without a stable population of players. In fact, the company just announced the end of post-launch development for their most recent title, Space Junkies. Will their next project upend this trend?
In addition to their five in-home VR titles to date, the company’s Ubisoft Escape Games brand has also developed two out-of-home VR escape rooms, Beyond Medusa’s Gate and Escape the Lost Pyramid, both set in the Assassin’s Creed universe.