1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech. And this is a 5 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: continuation on the story of Ubisoft or You Be Soft 6 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: So far now. In our last episode, which if you 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: haven't heard, I recommend you do listen to that, I 8 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: talked about how a group of brothers, the Guilement Brothers, 9 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: founded a video game software company after the family business 10 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: of selling farm equipment started to lou Steen, we walked 11 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:49,480 Speaker 1: through the early days of the company and how most 12 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: of the titles aren't really well known outside of Europe 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: until you get to Rayman, which in turn was more 14 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: popular in Europe than in North America. We learned about 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: Ubisoft expanding, opening up numerous development studios, first in Europe, 16 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: then later in China and then Montreal in Canada. And 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: we heard about how UBI Soft acquired a company called 18 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: red Storm out of North Carolina that had a license 19 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: for Tom Clancy's intellectual properties. We concluded just as the 20 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: company was rebranding, turning UBI soft, which was two words, 21 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: into ubi soft one word, and getting the swirl logo 22 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: that would be associated with the company for more than 23 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: a decade. Okay, that was the super short version of 24 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 1: episode one, but go back and listen to it if 25 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: you haven't heard it yet, because there's a lot in there. Now, 26 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: let's pick up where we left off. Ubisoft's acquisition of 27 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: Red Storm paid off in lots of ways. First, there 28 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: was that access to licensing Tom Clancy properties, which would 29 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: prove to be quite popular. Second, the development team had 30 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: the skill set to create types of games that the 31 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: rest of Ubisoft just hadn't really tackled before they didn't 32 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: have those skills, and a big part of that skill 33 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 1: set was based out of multiplayer gameplay elements. Microsoft's Xbox 34 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: console opened up new options for multiplayer games. While multiplayer 35 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: was already going strong on PCs and had been since 36 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: the old Land party days. Land stands for Local Area 37 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: network and even earlier in the days where you know, 38 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: two people would share a single PC to play multiplayer games, 39 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: there were only a few consoles that had attempted to 40 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: work in multiplayer modes over the internet, you know, beyond 41 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: the living room experience where you would just play on 42 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: the same couch. In fact, if I recall correctly. The 43 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:53,359 Speaker 1: Sega Dreamcast was really the only real console of note 44 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: that also supported play over a modem, and the Dreamcast 45 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: didn't really sell that well, so there wasn't much action 46 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:06,679 Speaker 1: on those networks. Microsoft launched the Xbox Live service one 47 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: year to the day after the debut of the original 48 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 1: Xbox on November two thousand two. Ubisoft wanted to embrace 49 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: multiplayer formats. They suspected that these would play a much 50 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: larger role in video games in the future, so the 51 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: company leaned very heavily on red Storm to make that 52 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: dream a reality. An early game that demonstrated this capability 53 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: was Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, a game that the Red 54 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: Storm team had begun developing shortly after Ubisoft acquired them 55 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: in two thousand and Originally, it was for the Windows 56 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: PC platform, and red Storm under Ubisoft would bring this 57 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: to the Mac, uh, the Xbox, the PS two, and 58 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: the GameCube. As I mentioned in the previous episode, the 59 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: splinter Cell game merged the Tom Clancy license with game 60 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: elements that were built for an abandoned project act called 61 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: The Drift. It originally started in a New York studio 62 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: that had been shut down and then kind of migrated 63 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: to Montreal, UH and they had additional features added in 64 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: to create a stealth based game in which players were 65 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: encouraged to take to the shadows and and move with 66 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:21,799 Speaker 1: stealth in order to achieve mission goals in each level. 67 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: The game was a commercial and critical success, bringing in 68 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: numerous awards like the Game Developers Choice Award for Excellence 69 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: in Writing. Likewise, the Prince of Persia game that came 70 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: out in two thousand three would bring home a ton 71 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: of awards, including eight Interactive Achievement Awards. But while teams 72 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: were celebrating big successes and pulling over a couple of 73 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: failures as well, there was a bit of a crisis brewing. 74 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: In two thousand four, Eve Guilmant, one of the five 75 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: brothers who founded Ubisoft and the company's CEO, received a 76 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: phone call from an Electronic Arts representative. Now, I've talked 77 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: a lot about Electronic Arts or e A in recent episodes. 78 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: For example, in an episode about the three D O 79 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: gaming system, I talked about how e A founder Trip Hawkins, 80 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: took a huge risk that ultimately didn't pay off to 81 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: found a new company, and how e A eventually did 82 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: him dirty and kicked him when he was already down, 83 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: or at least while he was sauntering vaguely downwards. To 84 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: steal a quote from Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Well, 85 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: e A has a long history of making moves that 86 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: rubbed other people the wrong way, and this was another 87 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: example of that. Eve was told by the representative that 88 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: Electronic Arts had quietly acquired shares in Ubisoft. Of those 89 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,720 Speaker 1: shares so one fifth of the company, in fact, which 90 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: made e A the largest shareholder outside of the brothers themselves, 91 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,799 Speaker 1: and with that kind of steak, e A could potentially 92 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: throw its weight around to help determine Ubisoft's direction. The 93 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: brothers and the leadership within Ubisoft talked about the move 94 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,239 Speaker 1: and determined that they would reject an outright acquisition offer 95 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: if such a thing were to follow. Behind this announcement, 96 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: the concern was that e A was at the time 97 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: to business oriented, and they had a reputation for quote 98 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: not caring too much about creative end quote that was 99 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: according to even an interview he gave with Game Informer magazine. 100 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: Now just a side note here, as I think that 101 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: comment is really interesting. See when Hawkins first founded e 102 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: A many years earlier. It was all in a reaction 103 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,160 Speaker 1: to how other video game companies, namely Atari, at the time, 104 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: we're churning out product while not crediting the people who 105 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: were making the actual games. The original ethos at e 106 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: A was that games were a type of art, and 107 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: that the developers were artists who deserved recognition and acknowledgement. 108 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: In fact, at one point, e A was hoping to 109 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 1: create something like a personality driven business model, and that 110 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: gamers would gravitate towards specific game titles because they would 111 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: associate the particular creators of those games with stuff they liked, 112 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: whether it was, you know, a style of gameplay or 113 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,559 Speaker 1: a particular gift of story or whatever. But over time 114 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: the ethos changed at e A, and what had been 115 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: part of the founding principles of the company was largely discarded. 116 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: Anyway back to Ubisoft. Generally speaking, the mood within Ubisoft 117 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: was largely anti e A around this time, with lots 118 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: of people saying that they would rather leave the company 119 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: entirely than become a part of Electronic Arts. The message 120 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,960 Speaker 1: was loud and clear. The management team, already determined to 121 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: prevent a takeover, really buckled down once it was clear 122 00:07:55,480 --> 00:07:58,320 Speaker 1: that the feeling at large within the company was against 123 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: any sort of e A merger, but it meant that 124 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: they needed to be extra careful in how they did 125 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: business to avoid, you know, opening up an opportunity for 126 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: e A to take control of more shares than get 127 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: possession of the company through you know, a proxy battle. 128 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: According to the management team who spoke in that game 129 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: and former interview I've mentioned, this meant that Ubisoft had 130 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: to pump the brakes a bit when it came to 131 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: expansion plans. Ubisoft itself would put decisions about acquiring other 132 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: companies on hold, or at least slowing them down slightly. 133 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: As we go through this episode, it will become clear 134 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: that Ubisoft has always been expansion hungry. EA for its part, 135 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:43,440 Speaker 1: wasn't making any aggressive moves at the time. In fact, 136 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: Eve has said that the people from e A with 137 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: whom he spoke they were all quite nice. And in 138 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,319 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, a former e A executive who had 139 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: left e A and then returned and became the new 140 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: CEO of eight spoke out. His name is John Richie Taylo, 141 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: and he reached out to Ubisoft and he let them 142 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: know that he had no intention of making any sort 143 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: of acquisition moves without the express approval of Ubisoft. There 144 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:14,440 Speaker 1: would be no hostile takeover. In other words, and in 145 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: t e A would actually sell off its shares and 146 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,320 Speaker 1: thus in the potential for a hostile takeover. But the 147 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: possibility hungover Ubisoft for six years. EA never really pushed 148 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: for anything more, but it was still a looming cloud. 149 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: In the end, it did more to shape Ubisoft's corporate 150 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: culture and again slow down plans for expansion rather than 151 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: any other kind of outcome. So we know that that 152 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: story turns out okay for Ubisoft. But let's get back 153 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: to what else was going on at the company while 154 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: this specter of a potential hostile takeover loomed over everyone. 155 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: And this wouldn't be the last time this would happen 156 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: to Ubisoft, by the way. That's what we call foreshadowing, 157 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: and we'll learn more a about that in the episode 158 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,200 Speaker 1: that follows this one, because this is a big story. 159 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: One thing that happened with Ubisoft was a collaboration with 160 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: another games studio called cry Tech c R y t 161 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: e K. That company has its headquarters in Germany. The 162 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: company developers had created a game engine called cry Engine. 163 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,679 Speaker 1: You'll you'll get a lot of crying in this episode 164 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: for multiple reasons. And a quick word about game engines. 165 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: These are software development environments that contain the various tools 166 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: and operations that allow developers to build games inside the 167 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: game engine without having to do all the lower level 168 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,440 Speaker 1: programming themselves. You can do stuff like define the draw 169 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: distance and tweak physics and so on, and the game 170 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: engine essentially relays those changes to computer hardware in such 171 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: a way that you get the end result you want. Now, 172 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: that's a super high level overview of what a game 173 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: engine does. It moves the starting point for game development 174 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: further along than zero, though there's always a ton of 175 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: stuff left to do. I don't mean to say like 176 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,840 Speaker 1: the game engine magically does all the work for you. 177 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:19,199 Speaker 1: It's it's just a helpful environment within which you can 178 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: build games. So anyway, cry Tech builds out this game 179 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: engine and also creates a demo to show off what 180 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:31,199 Speaker 1: this engine could potentially do, which included some fairly impressive 181 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: stuff like rendering large outdoor spaces. This can sometimes be 182 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,319 Speaker 1: a tricky task and one that requires a decent amount 183 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: of processing power on the game's machine, which led earlier 184 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: game developers to rely on, you know, a little cheats, 185 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 1: kind of like using fog to limit the draw distance 186 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: of an outdoor area. You know, you'd think, oh, I 187 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: should be able to see much further, but because it's foggy, 188 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: I can't. Well, that helps you get around this technical issue. 189 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: Cry Tex demo, which was called x Isle Dinosaur Island, 190 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 1: impressed people at Ubisoft when they got a look at 191 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: it at an E three conference a few years earlier. 192 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: The two companies work together with Critech building out a 193 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: full game using this game engine, and it was called 194 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: Far Cry, which Ubisoft would publish. Far Crime is a 195 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: first person shooter game in which the player controls the 196 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: character named Jack Carver in the first game, and he's 197 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,479 Speaker 1: attempting to locate a person he believes as a journalist 198 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: who is on an island after the two of them 199 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: have become separated at the very beginning of the game. 200 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: And it's kind of a one against many style of 201 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: game in which the player can make use of the 202 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: environment and try to you know, hide and use stealth 203 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: to help even the odds against all these enemies that 204 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: are on screen at once. And the game had several 205 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: features that critics really liked, including the capabilities of the 206 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: game engine with those large draw distances, and the enemy AI, 207 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 1: which seemed realistic. In the batties would sometimes call for reinforcements, 208 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,120 Speaker 1: or they would run to get behind cover, or they 209 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: would attempt to split their forces so that some of 210 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,319 Speaker 1: them could flank you, and so on. The story is 211 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: kind of a mixture of a Rambo movie and the 212 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: Island of Dr Moreau with some sci fi elements. That 213 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,600 Speaker 1: Play and Ubisoft would publish the Critech developed game in 214 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: two thousand four, and subsequently Ubisoft purchased the intellectual property 215 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: that and that build of the cry engine as well. 216 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 1: So at this point, the cry Engine splits into two pathways. 217 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,040 Speaker 1: The cry Tech path continues to be the original cry engine, 218 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: and then they upgrade that over time. The UBI Soft 219 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: path would eventually be renamed the Dounia Engine, based off 220 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: the original cry Engine, but then tweaked by UBI Soft 221 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: and Ubisoft Montreal would become the primary studio in charge 222 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: of developing future far Cry titles, and I'm sure we'll 223 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: chat about a couple of those further along in these episodes. 224 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: The franchise has been a pretty strong performer in the 225 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: market overall, although some entries have received um more love 226 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: than others. As for cry Tech, that studio is still 227 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: updating the cry engine. It's still developing games, most notably 228 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: the Crisis series c R Y S I S. I 229 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: guess you're picking up on the naming convention by now 230 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,400 Speaker 1: with cr Tech, cry Engine, Far Cry and Crisis. The 231 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: company has opened and frequently closed studios in various cities 232 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: around the world, and maybe someday I will do a 233 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 1: full episode about them. But let's get back to Ubisoft. 234 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: In two thousand five, the company opened up the first 235 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: UBI Soft campus, and this one is again in Montreal. Now, 236 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: this was actually part of an overall expansion of the 237 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: Montreal studio, and it was helped considerably by some rather 238 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:57,520 Speaker 1: generous support from the Canadian and Quebec governments. Ubisoft received 239 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: millions of dollars in grants and tag incentives, and in return, 240 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: the company was creating more jobs in the Montreal area 241 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: and was building out a learning center to teach coding 242 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,480 Speaker 1: and game development. And we would see this happen again 243 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: and again with UBI Software. The company would expand, but 244 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: it was doing so very strategically, expanding in places where 245 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: they could get these sweet kind of incentives to put 246 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: a studio there because those studios were employment centers. So 247 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: there was this mutual beneficial relationship, and Ubisoft was very 248 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: good at picking places where the company was benefiting not 249 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: just through expansion but getting this help through incentives, etcetera. 250 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:47,560 Speaker 1: So the company also established a developer studio in Quebec City, Quebec, 251 00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: which is about two KOs or about a hundred fifty 252 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: miles away from Montreal. The early work of that studio 253 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: was largely in support of projects from other Ubisoft studios, 254 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:00,160 Speaker 1: you know, like porting games that have been develop for 255 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 1: one platform for other platforms, or developing DLC that's downloadable 256 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: content material for established franchises, and they would later produce 257 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,479 Speaker 1: full titles in one of the company's most popular franchises. 258 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: More on that to come. Around this same time, Ubisoft 259 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: Montreal was working on a new game engine of their own, 260 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: and it was originally called Scimitar, though it would later 261 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: change names and become Anvil, followed by Anvil Next, and 262 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: the intent was to create a foundation for a Prince 263 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: of Persia sequel. This was around the time when the 264 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: next generation of video game consoles was on the Horizon, 265 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: the next generation in this case being the Xbox three 266 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 1: sixty which came out in two thousand five, and the 267 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: PlayStation three and Nintendo we both of which would come 268 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: out in two thousand six. Ubisoft was hard at work 269 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: building the tools they would need to develop, you know, 270 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: games for those platforms. The team gradually came to the 271 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: conclusion that the engine they were building would allow them 272 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 1: to create an all new i P that is, intellectual 273 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: property if they could get buy in from leadership. Sara Jaskaway, 274 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:12,199 Speaker 1: the head of creative, would come on board fairly early on, 275 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: and Haskaway had been reading the novel Alamute, a novel 276 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,199 Speaker 1: set in the Middle East in the eleventh century and 277 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: featuring the historical assassins not just assassins, but assassins with 278 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: a big a. The team built out a concept video 279 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,440 Speaker 1: for a game they had in mind in which the 280 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: player would control an assassin in an ancient setting. The 281 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: video was pre rendered, but it showed off a concept 282 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 1: of what the gameplay would look like, including how stealth 283 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: could be used in a game, along with acrobatic stunts, 284 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 1: kind of similar to what they had already done with 285 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,360 Speaker 1: Prince of Persia, and the video ended with the protagonist 286 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: riding out of a city on horseback. The team pitched 287 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: the idea to Eve Guilmant, who was impressed, and he 288 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: agreed that they could build out a new I P 289 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,120 Speaker 1: and that was the beginning of the very first Assassin's 290 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 1: Creed game. I'll talk about more after we take this 291 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: quick break. Okay, first things first, While I am not 292 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: covering every single entry of every single game ever produced 293 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: or distributed by Ubisoft, because that would take forever, there 294 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: are literally hundreds of them. I do want to take 295 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: a moment to acknowledge a two thousand six title that 296 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: came out for a Nintendo we before we go back 297 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:41,560 Speaker 1: to Assassin's Creed, and that is Rayman Raving Rabbits, which 298 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: introduced us to these weird little rabbit critters that acted 299 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,959 Speaker 1: like manic antagonists and they're kind of like a rabbit 300 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: version of the minions from the Despicable Me franchise. While 301 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: they began as a spinoff of Rayman, they in turn 302 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,680 Speaker 1: would fuel numerous games, include ing a crossover game called 303 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: Mario plus Rabbids Kingdom Battle, in which rabbids and characters 304 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: from the Super Mario series would appear together and that 305 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: game is a tactical role playing game, as you probably 306 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: would guess from the mixture now. I mentioned it here 307 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: because while Kingdom Battle would come out much much later 308 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:26,439 Speaker 1: in it was just remarkable to me that Ubisoft created 309 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: some characters that would ultimately crossover when Nintendo's beloved and 310 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: heavily protected i P. That's something Nintendo does not typically do. 311 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: It is very rare for Nintendo to allow their first 312 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 1: party characters to appear with characters from other companies like that, 313 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: outside of like a Smash Brothers game. Before I jump 314 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 1: into more Assassin's Creed, let me also talk about intellectual 315 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: property and why the decision to make a new i 316 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: P was actually a really big deal and a lot 317 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,159 Speaker 1: of the is intuitive, but I think it's good to 318 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: just cover it now. When it comes to i P, 319 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: you've got to weigh risk versus reward. When you're building 320 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: out a brand new i P, you have no idea 321 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: if it's going to catch on with the general public, or, 322 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: in the case of video games, with the game playing public. 323 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: So you want to create something that's going to capture 324 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 1: the interest and attention of your audience, whether it's gamers 325 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: or a TV audience. Or movies or whatever. And again, 326 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,159 Speaker 1: all this is intuitive, So the i P needs to 327 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: make people want to experience the thing like the game, 328 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,640 Speaker 1: and sometimes this can be tough to judge. For every 329 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: game franchise that becomes a big hit, there are dozens 330 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: of games that, for one reason or another just didn't 331 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 1: catch on, and some of them are just bad games, 332 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: and that in itself is a problem. You have to 333 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: make sure that the actual game is good or even 334 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 1: the coolest concept is going to fall short cough the 335 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:02,199 Speaker 1: order eight six cough. On the other hand, if you 336 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:06,399 Speaker 1: manage to establish an i P, then developing a new 337 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,359 Speaker 1: game in that series represents a much lower risk. At 338 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 1: least initially, you know that there's already a built in 339 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: audience for that game. So if you're deciding where to 340 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,880 Speaker 1: dedicate resources like talent, money, and time, all of which 341 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,160 Speaker 1: you have in limited amounts, you have to weigh all 342 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: of these decisions. Do you take a risk and try 343 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: to make something new without knowing if there's an audience 344 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,199 Speaker 1: for it, or do you go with the slightly safer 345 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 1: route then try to give people more of what they've 346 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: already loved. Now, the danger of going with option two 347 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,440 Speaker 1: is that you can overstay you're welcome, or you can 348 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:46,320 Speaker 1: create a development cycle that proves to be unsustainable, things 349 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: that you could argue would apply to the Assassin's Creed 350 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: series at a certain point where a new title was 351 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 1: coming out essentially every year. So getting the approval to 352 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: build a new I P was actually a really big deal, 353 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: and once the team behind Assassin's Creed got the green light, 354 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: they dove into deep research. They were determined to represent 355 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: the historical setting and the assassins accurately, since this was 356 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,919 Speaker 1: a game about the historical Assassin's not simply about an 357 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: assassin with a little a According to the developers, they 358 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:23,160 Speaker 1: even had representatives who trace their lineage back to those 359 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 1: historic first assassins centuries ago, and they visited the studio 360 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 1: to make sure that the representation was accurate. I imagine 361 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,720 Speaker 1: knowing that you have the descendants of the original assassins 362 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: looking over your shoulder is a little intimidating. The team 363 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: admitted that actually building an open world game, one where 364 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,080 Speaker 1: the player has freedom to explore regions of the map 365 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 1: without having to follow a linear pathway, and they can 366 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: go vertically. You can climb up buildings and swing on polls, 367 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 1: and all this kind of stuff. All of that presented 368 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,160 Speaker 1: big challenges. They would later say that the research part 369 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 1: was actually easy compared to making the game mechanics work 370 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: within the setting they had designed. In all, the development 371 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,119 Speaker 1: for the first Assassin's Creed game would take four years, 372 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: so they would finally release in two thousand seven. On 373 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: top of that, the team came up with an idea 374 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: that would mean the game wouldn't just be a straightforward 375 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 1: historical fantasy game. There was a science fiction element to 376 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: it too. Now, according to Sair jasco A, a French 377 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: Canadian developer named Patrice de Sel was well the one 378 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: to insert the science fiction elements into the Assassin's narrative. 379 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: So let me give you a very quick overview. Within 380 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: the Assassin's Creed universe. There are multiple storylines that are 381 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:41,439 Speaker 1: all unfolding in different eras. In the present day of 382 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: the game, which is a present that has technology more 383 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: advanced than what you would find in our real world. 384 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 1: Engineers have created a technology called the animus. Now. This 385 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: allows users to enter into a virtual representation of their 386 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: genetic memory. This means that you can relive the memories 387 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: of one of your ancestors. So the parts of the 388 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,880 Speaker 1: game set back in history are in fact virtual representations 389 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,719 Speaker 1: of genetic memories, and it would turn out that the 390 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: conflict you lived out in those historical eras, which is 391 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 1: a conflict between two ideologically opposed factions, those being the 392 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: Templars and the Assassins, that conflict is still going on 393 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,680 Speaker 1: in the present day, with the storylines from history interweaving 394 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,440 Speaker 1: into those in the present, and it all gets really complicated, 395 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: involves a lot of science fiction technology, it involves in 396 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: ancient race of human noids that predate humans, and odd mythology, 397 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,159 Speaker 1: and honestly, I lose the thread after a while. It's 398 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: super complicated. Now, in my personal opinion, the modern day 399 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,439 Speaker 1: parts of the game aren't that fun for me, and 400 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: I don't really care for that story. I like them 401 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: being kind of more episodic, where they're just self contained 402 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: stories within the historical era. But I also know a 403 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: lot of people who really love the lore and story 404 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,880 Speaker 1: of the game, So again that's just my take. Then again, 405 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: the more complicated mythology woven into the history of humanity 406 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,640 Speaker 1: also gets so convoluted. But I am a simple man 407 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 1: incapable of following such complicated plots, So that's probably on me. 408 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: Desla would go on to become the early creative head 409 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: of this franchise, because, in case you didn't know, Assassin's 410 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: Creed would in fact become a full series of games. 411 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: I figure it's a good idea to sort of follow 412 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 1: up with his own personal story with the company here, 413 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,359 Speaker 1: because I don't think I'm going to return to it 414 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: that much in the rest of the episode, so we're 415 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: just gonna find out what happened with right now. He 416 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,800 Speaker 1: had worked on several titles, including Prince of Persia of 417 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: the Stands of Time before Assassin's Creed, and he would 418 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: also serve as the creative lead on Assassin's Creed two, 419 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: and he would work on Assassin's Creed Brotherhood before he 420 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: made the decision to leave Ubisoft. He would go on 421 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: to work at a different game developer called th h Q, 422 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,879 Speaker 1: a company that I definitely need to cover in a 423 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:10,159 Speaker 1: future episode of Tech Stuff anyway. Desill would work for 424 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,399 Speaker 1: a th h Q for just a couple of years 425 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: because the company was already on unsteady ground when des 426 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,640 Speaker 1: joined in two thousand eleven, and less than two years later, 427 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: the company had to declare bankruptcy and it's sold off. 428 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: It's Montreal office, which is where desl was working. And 429 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,479 Speaker 1: guess who bought it? You got it, It was Ubi Soft. 430 00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: So de s leaves Zubi Soft, only for Ubisoft to 431 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: come back and scoop up the company he had been 432 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: working for, so or at least scoop up the assets 433 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: of that company. So de se and Ubisoft could not 434 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,199 Speaker 1: come to an agreement regarding his re employment, and so 435 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,639 Speaker 1: the two parted ways. Now. According to de Sile, the 436 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,919 Speaker 1: parting was rather brusque and he was escorted off the 437 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,159 Speaker 1: premises without the opportunity for him to say goodbye to 438 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: his co workers. And he would go on to found 439 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:03,640 Speaker 1: another video game company of his own called Panash Digital Games, 440 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 1: which just last year released a game titled Ancestors the 441 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:12,120 Speaker 1: Humankind Odyssey. That game has mixed reviews. Anyway, let's get 442 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 1: back to Ubisoft. The company really got behind Assassin's Creed 443 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 1: as the game prepared to launch in two thousand seven 444 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: on the next generation of consoles again, the Xbox three sixty, 445 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: the p S three, and the Wii. The PR and 446 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,919 Speaker 1: marketing efforts aligned behind the creative team and there was 447 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 1: a big push for it. The four years of development 448 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: also happened to coincide with a relatively quiet period in 449 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: the video games market, at least when it comes to 450 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,160 Speaker 1: launching new I p There were a lot of sequels 451 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: coming out, but not a lot of new stuff. So 452 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed would benefit from the fact that there just 453 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: weren't many other new ideas hitting the market at that time, 454 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:50,679 Speaker 1: and it helped the game stand out among the various 455 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: sequels and spinoffs. The reception for the game was largely positive. 456 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,159 Speaker 1: It was a commercial success, and the development team was 457 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,879 Speaker 1: already at work on the sequel, which took a big gamble. 458 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: So the first game featured a modern day character named Desmond, 459 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: who then gets put into the animus and he goes 460 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:13,720 Speaker 1: through the genetic memories of his ancestor named Altaire. This 461 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: character lived in the late twelfth and early thirteen centuries. 462 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: He actually, in lore lives to the right old age 463 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: of ninety two, which is not bad for an assassin. 464 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: The two thousand nine sequel, Assassin's Creed Too, would still 465 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 1: follow Desmond in the present day, but the historical setting 466 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: of the game would center around a different genetic ancestor 467 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: of Desmond's. This would be a Florentine named et Ceo, 468 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: who lived in the fifteenth century, and so the historical 469 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: setting of Assassin's Creed two was in the Renaissance, giving 470 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: the game a different style and opening up new possibilities 471 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: for the development team. Assassin's Creed two and the games 472 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: that would spend off of it would go on to 473 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: become a critical success and a commercial success, and was 474 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: seen by many to be a truly superior st worry 475 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: to the original Assassin's Creed. The franchise would become a 476 00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: backbone for Ruby Soft, one of the most popular ones 477 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: in their arsenal As I record this episode the most 478 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: recent chapter in the saga Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which follows 479 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: the exploits of a Viking as the historical setting component, 480 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: has broken sales records of all previous games in the 481 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed series. Now, I'm sure I will pop back 482 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: to Assassin's Creed a bit as we go on, but 483 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,360 Speaker 1: just in case I don't, my own personal favorite entry 484 00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: was Assassin's Creed for Black Flag because it was set 485 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: in the era of piracy, and pirate games are some 486 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: of my favorites. Now, all that being said, I also 487 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: have to admit I have not played most of the 488 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed games. I've played like four of them, so 489 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:52,400 Speaker 1: my experiences with them is still extremely limited. Jumping back 490 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,680 Speaker 1: a bit, while the company was working on the first 491 00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed game in two thousand and six, it also 492 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: bought some i P from another company. That other company 493 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,520 Speaker 1: was Atari, which was a very different company from the 494 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,600 Speaker 1: one that had produced the Atari Jaguar console. If you 495 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 1: remember from our last episode, that was the console that 496 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: served as the launch point for Rayman, and that in 497 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: turn was a very different company from the Atari that 498 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 1: had created the game console. But that's a story for 499 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: a different podcast. In fact, Chuck Bryant of stuff you 500 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: should know, and I did a whole series about Atari, 501 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: because that that is a complicated history. The i P 502 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: that Ubisoft purchase from Attari was for a game franchise 503 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: called Driver, and the deal was valued at around twenty 504 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: four million bucks, a princely some but not a prince 505 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 1: of persian ly some. The UK studio behind the i P, 506 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: called Reflections Interactive, was part of the deal and became 507 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: Ubisoft Reflections. So they didn't just get the intellectual property, 508 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,760 Speaker 1: they got the development studio responsible for it. Interestingly, the 509 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: Reflections Studio traces its history back to the mid nineteen eighties, 510 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: the same time that Ubisoft itself was taking shape. But 511 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: while I'm tempted to give a rundown of Reflection studio 512 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 1: zone history, I figure I should probably restrain myself and 513 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: stick with UBI Soft. So also in two thousand six, 514 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: Ubisoft would release Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for 515 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: the Xbox three sixty. This game would break company records 516 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: for most copies sold in the first week than any 517 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: other Ubisoft game up to that point. That would go 518 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 1: on to get positive reviews and awards as well, making 519 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,320 Speaker 1: another success in the Tom Clancy licensed material that came 520 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: out of the Red Storm studio. Ubisoft opened more development 521 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: studios as well, including one in Bulgaria and another Chinese studio, 522 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: this time in Chengdu, and the company continued to expand 523 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: as well. It honestly amazed me to learn about all 524 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,600 Speaker 1: the development studios around the world that Ubisoft overseas. I 525 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 1: knew that Ubisoft was a big company, I had no 526 00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: clue how many different studios are under the corporate banner 527 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: until I researched these episodes. The company just opened up 528 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: offices everywhere and acquired so many other development studios. Within 529 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,360 Speaker 1: Ubisoft Montreal, a group of developers were hard at work 530 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: on the next Far Cry game, and they were tweaking 531 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,479 Speaker 1: that old Cry engine and converting it into the Dounia engine. 532 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,680 Speaker 1: This game would incorporate some new elements, namely destructible environments, 533 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 1: which is always a fun addition to video games. There's 534 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: nothing like seeing your actions are actually affecting the game 535 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: world around you, as opposed to games where you know 536 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: you can do something like fire endless clips, say into 537 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: a table, and maybe you'll see a mark up here 538 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 1: on the table, maybe where it shows where the bullet hit, 539 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: and maybe that mark will even stick around for longer 540 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: than a minute or two. But Far Cry Too would 541 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: let players do a lot of collateral damage, which is 542 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: just kind of fun to watch. Far Cry Too also 543 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: went a little further toward the open world sandbox concept 544 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:03,120 Speaker 1: than its predecessor did. None of the characters or the 545 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,239 Speaker 1: setting from the first game would make an appearance in 546 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: the sequel, and in fact, this would become mostly a 547 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 1: feature of the Far Cry series. Each game, along with 548 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 1: the DLC for each game, would be it's obtained story. 549 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: Occasionally you get minor characters from one entry of the 550 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: series that might pop up in another entry, and some 551 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:28,040 Speaker 1: features included in Far Cry too, like weapon degradation, would 552 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,400 Speaker 1: be discarded in future entries of the series. When we 553 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,920 Speaker 1: come back, we'll look at how the next few years 554 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: unfolded at Ubisoft. But first let's take another quick break. Okay, 555 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,480 Speaker 1: so it's two thousand eight. Assassin's Creed has been out 556 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 1: for a year and it's a hit. Far Cry two 557 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: has just come out, and it too would be a 558 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: success for the company. Meanwhile, Rabbids are raving all over 559 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,080 Speaker 1: the Wii and laying the groundwork for their own line 560 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: of games and spinoffs. Ubisoft would continue its bid for 561 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,719 Speaker 1: world domination one acquisition at a time by scooping up 562 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: studios like Sunflowers, which was a German video game developer, 563 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 1: and Hybride Technologies, which was actually better known as a 564 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 1: visual effects studio that created effects for movie and television projects. 565 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 1: Hybride was responsible for effects on films like The Faculty 566 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,880 Speaker 1: and Mimic and Battlefield Earth, though they also worked on 567 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,360 Speaker 1: Since City three hundred and the movie that was better 568 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,280 Speaker 1: as a meme than as a film. Snakes on a plane. 569 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: Now I'm poking a little fun here, but the studio 570 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,839 Speaker 1: has legit done incredible work and these days you'll see 571 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: results of their efforts and stuff like the house with 572 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: the clock in its walls, which actually has a connection 573 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,240 Speaker 1: to my family, but that's another story. Uh, the Watchman 574 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:57,120 Speaker 1: TV series which was legit amazing, and the Mandalorian series, 575 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,240 Speaker 1: among numerous other famous projects. Not first glance, a video 576 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:05,440 Speaker 1: game company purchasing a VFX studio for film and television 577 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: really seems a bit odd, but the general messaging was 578 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:12,320 Speaker 1: that Hybrid would continue to operate as a traditional VFX studio, 579 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,239 Speaker 1: which it has, and Ubisoft and Hybride would be able 580 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: to share technologies between the two that have been developed 581 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:23,080 Speaker 1: for either video games or for VFX, and then repurpose 582 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,400 Speaker 1: those tools for the other industry whenever it made sense 583 00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,759 Speaker 1: to do so, which is kind of a cool concept. 584 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: Ubisoft would also acquire a game studio in India that 585 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,719 Speaker 1: had previously belonged to game Loft. Now, those of you 586 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,319 Speaker 1: who have been paying attention in this series know that 587 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: Game Lofts founder was Michel Guilman, the brother to Eve Guilmant, 588 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: who was the CEO of Ubisoft still is. And I 589 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:52,360 Speaker 1: guess this is where I mentioned that while researching these episodes, 590 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: I came across a couple of instances in which Ubisoft 591 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,720 Speaker 1: would acquire assets from another company that had been founded 592 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,400 Speaker 1: by one of the Gilman brothers. With this example, it 593 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: was just Game Lofts, Indian studio. It wasn't. The rest 594 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,759 Speaker 1: of game Loft was just that one studio. The rest 595 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:12,560 Speaker 1: of game Loft remained untouched for the time being anyway, 596 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: but we'll get to that. That being said, I find 597 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: the instances where a big, publicly traded company, one that 598 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,800 Speaker 1: trades on the stock market, founded by a group of brothers, 599 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:28,320 Speaker 1: then acquiring assets from smaller companies that were also founded 600 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,120 Speaker 1: by at least one of those brothers. That's a little 601 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:36,400 Speaker 1: let's call it unorthodox, to put it kindly. In addition, 602 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: Ubisoft acquired a couple of other studios, one called Digital 603 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:44,359 Speaker 1: Kids out of Japan and one called Massive Entertainment out 604 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,400 Speaker 1: of Sweden, and they also opened another studio of their 605 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:51,320 Speaker 1: own in Kiev, Ukraine. While the company had enjoyed licensing 606 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,480 Speaker 1: privileges with Tom Clancy's i P through the acquisition of 607 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 1: Red Storm years earlier two thousand eight would mark the 608 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 1: year when Ubisoft would officially secure all i P rights 609 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: to the Tom Clancy name for video games. So two 610 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: thousand and eight was a big year as Ubisoft expanded dramatically, 611 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,200 Speaker 1: and this is also toward the tail end of that 612 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: era I was mentioning earlier where e A was looming 613 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:20,959 Speaker 1: over Ubi Soft as a possible hostile takeover opponent. They 614 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: also would publish and distribute tons of games in this time. 615 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,239 Speaker 1: Really in the span between two thousand and two thousand ten, 616 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: the list of games that UBI Soft published or distributed 617 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,560 Speaker 1: is enormous, because you know, you had the games not 618 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,720 Speaker 1: just from Ubi Soft and it's dozens of studios around 619 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,719 Speaker 1: the world, but also games that Ubisoft was publishing on 620 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: behalf of other developers. In two thousand eight, Ubisoft Montreal 621 00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:48,920 Speaker 1: had a couple of games come out. One of them 622 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:54,200 Speaker 1: was Lost via Domos tie into the television series Lost, 623 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,120 Speaker 1: and another one's Rainbow six Vegas too, so another Tom 624 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:01,120 Speaker 1: Clancy title and a continuation of the popular Rainbow six 625 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: shooter series. The Rainbow six Vegas shooter series in particular 626 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,360 Speaker 1: is really popular. In two thousand nine, Ubisoft announced it 627 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 1: would open a studio in Toronto the following year, so 628 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 1: the studio would open in The studios in Quebec were successful, 629 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,879 Speaker 1: prompting Ubisoft to expand again in Canada, but this time 630 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:25,440 Speaker 1: of course in Ontario rather than in Quebec, and initially 631 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:29,040 Speaker 1: most of the employees of Ubisoft Toronto were transplants from 632 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,919 Speaker 1: Ubisoft Montreal and the first title that the studio would 633 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: take on was another Tom Clancy property, splinter Cell Blacklist, 634 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: which wouldn't be ready until but they were hard at 635 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:46,360 Speaker 1: work in. Ubisoft would also acquire a French game developer 636 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,920 Speaker 1: studio called Nadio, which was the company behind a series 637 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:53,720 Speaker 1: of multiplayer car racing games that were really popular in Europe. 638 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,120 Speaker 1: I had never heard of them before, but they are 639 00:38:56,239 --> 00:39:00,640 Speaker 1: big news in Europe and was when Michelle on Sell, 640 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:06,080 Speaker 1: who was the creator of Rayman, began development of Beyond 641 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 1: Good and Evil, to the sequel to his critically acclaimed 642 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:15,320 Speaker 1: but commercially disappointing game from two thousand three. So development 643 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:20,880 Speaker 1: on this project started in the company wouldn't announce anything 644 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:25,359 Speaker 1: until e three sen giving a a sneak peek at 645 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:30,440 Speaker 1: this prequel game, and now in the game is still 646 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 1: not out. Game development cycles frequently take several years, particularly 647 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,000 Speaker 1: as game scope increases, and then developers have to deal 648 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: with problems like feature creep, where a creative lead will 649 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:44,480 Speaker 1: add more elements to a game after it was already 650 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:47,600 Speaker 1: supposed to be kind of feature locked for development. But 651 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:51,600 Speaker 1: going more than a decade in development is a little 652 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:56,080 Speaker 1: unusual unless you're you know, Duke Newcomb or Star Citizen 653 00:39:56,200 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 1: or something. Oh. Shots fired. In the next episode, we 654 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,560 Speaker 1: will follow up on the Beyond Good and Evil saga, 655 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,880 Speaker 1: as well as what happened to michel on self because 656 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:13,040 Speaker 1: but for now, we'll wrap up this episode with a 657 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,000 Speaker 1: few other points. We're now up to eleven and at 658 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:20,200 Speaker 1: this point e A had divested itself of the shares 659 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,240 Speaker 1: that it had once held in Ubisoft. That allowed everyone 660 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 1: to kind of breathe a sigh of relief for the 661 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,920 Speaker 1: time being. As we've learned the company had started to 662 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:34,040 Speaker 1: expand aggressively over the last couple of years, and would 663 00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 1: be a continuation of that trend. For one thing, Ubisoft 664 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:41,200 Speaker 1: would make its own film division called Ubisoft Motion Pictures. 665 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: In the goal of this division is to take I 666 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: P from the various video game franchises that Ubisoft owns 667 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,920 Speaker 1: and then convert them into television and film projects. I'm 668 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 1: sure I'll talk more about that in the next episode. Also, 669 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 1: Ubisoft acquired a studio from Finland called Red Links, which 670 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:05,359 Speaker 1: is most famous for developing the Trials series of games. Uh. 671 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: Those are a kind of side scrolling, motorcycle racing and 672 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: stunt games. So big shout out to Jack Potillo from 673 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: Rooster Teeth who loves those games and he's wicked good 674 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:18,800 Speaker 1: at them. Ubisoft has continued publishing the Trials series since 675 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:21,919 Speaker 1: they acquired Red Links. Red Links, by the way, that's 676 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,160 Speaker 1: l y in X, not l i in k s. 677 00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:32,880 Speaker 1: Ubisoft acquired a Paris based studio called Alliant in Alien's 678 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:36,680 Speaker 1: specialty was developing free to play games, and this marks 679 00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:41,239 Speaker 1: an important turning point in the general scope for the 680 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:45,840 Speaker 1: games industry. The transition had begun probably about a decade earlier, 681 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,759 Speaker 1: but it was a very gradual and slow transition, and 682 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,320 Speaker 1: this is generally the idea behind it. So traditional games 683 00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:56,960 Speaker 1: are essentially pay once and then play forever kind of things, 684 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:00,279 Speaker 1: or at least play as long as the game or 685 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:03,880 Speaker 1: hardware that you're playing on continues to work. So you 686 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,000 Speaker 1: would go and you would purchase a game, and that 687 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,759 Speaker 1: would be the end of the monetary exchange, right. Game 688 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:11,799 Speaker 1: studios would have to balance out the budget for the 689 00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:15,360 Speaker 1: games they were working on with whatever expected number of 690 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,960 Speaker 1: copies they thought they were going to sell, and the 691 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: more ambitious the game, the more copies you would need 692 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:23,960 Speaker 1: to sell in order to recoup your investment. You'd be 693 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,480 Speaker 1: spending more time and money developing the game, so you 694 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,200 Speaker 1: need to sell a lot of copies to cover your 695 00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:31,120 Speaker 1: costs and make a profit on top of that. At 696 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,280 Speaker 1: least in the older days when we were all using 697 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,480 Speaker 1: physical media exclusively, game studios also had to contend with 698 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:39,080 Speaker 1: the fact that some of their games were going to 699 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,480 Speaker 1: be in the resale market. People would play them and 700 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,520 Speaker 1: then sell their used games to a store, which would 701 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,640 Speaker 1: then sell them off again. The game studio would see 702 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,759 Speaker 1: none of that money, so that complicated matters as well. Now, 703 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,759 Speaker 1: as you can imagine, it wouldn't be very difficult to 704 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 1: reach a tipping point where the amount you were spending 705 00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:59,879 Speaker 1: to develop a game is more than you would ever 706 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,640 Speaker 1: earned back from the sales of that game without i 707 00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:07,280 Speaker 1: don't know, selling a copy to literally everyone on the planet, 708 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,720 Speaker 1: or raising the price of the game beyond the normal 709 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,959 Speaker 1: market value for games and hoping that that doesn't turn 710 00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:17,600 Speaker 1: people away. But the free to play model takes a 711 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:21,120 Speaker 1: different path. Now, as the name suggests, it is entirely 712 00:43:21,239 --> 00:43:25,200 Speaker 1: free to play these games, but within the games are 713 00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: elements that entice people to spend real world money in 714 00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:32,239 Speaker 1: order to enhance their playing experience, and there are a 715 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:35,279 Speaker 1: lot of different approaches to this. You might offer up 716 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:39,120 Speaker 1: items within the game that give your character certain advantages, 717 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:42,920 Speaker 1: and that kind of falls into the derisively nicknamed paid 718 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,799 Speaker 1: to win category of games, which is generally frowned upon 719 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:51,600 Speaker 1: by gamers, particularly for multiplayer titles. Then there are items 720 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:54,520 Speaker 1: that are just purely cosmetic, which allow you to customize 721 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,640 Speaker 1: the look of your player character or avatar or whatever. 722 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:01,240 Speaker 1: And then there are games that have a limited number 723 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:05,080 Speaker 1: of turns per day or a cool down associated with 724 00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 1: some aspect of play, and these often allow gamers to 725 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,360 Speaker 1: spend real money to get another turn or bypass the 726 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: cool down or limit. And a game can have any 727 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 1: combination of these things. Now, that last strategy can be 728 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:22,160 Speaker 1: particularly profitable if you make your game tempting enough. So 729 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,960 Speaker 1: think of a game like the Civilization series. Civilization is 730 00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:32,040 Speaker 1: famous for creating a just one more turn mentality, leading 731 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:35,479 Speaker 1: to endless gamers just staying up all night while trying 732 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:40,400 Speaker 1: to nullify that total jerk. Gandhi. Seriously, Gandhi in the 733 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:44,360 Speaker 1: Civilization games is a homicidal maniac because of an error 734 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:47,520 Speaker 1: that has made in an early game code for the 735 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:50,520 Speaker 1: first game in the series, and since then it has 736 00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:53,160 Speaker 1: been made a feature of the series. Now Gandhi is 737 00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,200 Speaker 1: homicidal in all the games because of a mistake from 738 00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,240 Speaker 1: an early game. Alright, so imagine you've got a game 739 00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:03,799 Speaker 1: that is addictive like Civilization, only you put up a 740 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,800 Speaker 1: gate on the number of turns each player gets to 741 00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:10,600 Speaker 1: play per day, and if that player were to pay 742 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:14,040 Speaker 1: a small amount, like a dollar, they might get a 743 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:17,640 Speaker 1: few more turns. Now, these are called micro transactions because 744 00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:22,480 Speaker 1: each individual transaction is very small, but they can also 745 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,400 Speaker 1: accumulate quickly. So the game itself is free to play, 746 00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 1: but there are incentives in the game to encourage players 747 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:32,839 Speaker 1: to spend money to continue to play the game. This 748 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 1: doesn't have to be insidious. I play a couple of 749 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 1: free to play games, and I have spent money on 750 00:45:38,719 --> 00:45:41,160 Speaker 1: one of those, not so much to get an advantage 751 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,400 Speaker 1: in the game, but rather to reward developers who created 752 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,279 Speaker 1: an experience that I really enjoy. I'm like, this is 753 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:50,080 Speaker 1: something that's worth paying for. I got it for free, 754 00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:52,680 Speaker 1: so I'm going to go ahead and put some money 755 00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:56,920 Speaker 1: toward it. But it's also easy to abuse this model 756 00:45:57,160 --> 00:46:01,439 Speaker 1: and create a parasitic relationship with gamers. So this model 757 00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:04,680 Speaker 1: would later find its way into paid games as well, 758 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:08,000 Speaker 1: namely in the form of stuff like loot boxes, in 759 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 1: which players pay real money to get in game rewards, 760 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 1: and those rewards are randomized, so you're not even buying 761 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,920 Speaker 1: a specific thing, you're buying the chance to get that 762 00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:24,759 Speaker 1: specific thing, or you might get one of numerous other things. Ubisoft, 763 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,880 Speaker 1: like a lot of game companies, has used lootboxes to 764 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:32,240 Speaker 1: create an ongoing revenue stream after people have already purchased 765 00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:36,680 Speaker 1: a game, so now games revenue is not solely dependent 766 00:46:36,880 --> 00:46:40,880 Speaker 1: upon those initial sales. There's a long tail stream of 767 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:44,479 Speaker 1: revenue as well. And you could argue that this has 768 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,839 Speaker 1: become a necessity with video games growing so large and 769 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:52,680 Speaker 1: so complicated and so expensive to develop. Those costs have 770 00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:56,560 Speaker 1: skyrocketed over the last few years. You could also argue, 771 00:46:56,800 --> 00:47:00,520 Speaker 1: and many people have, that the practice of loot boxes 772 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,440 Speaker 1: can exploit people who get addicted to the cycle of 773 00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:08,920 Speaker 1: rewards that loot boxes create. There's a longer discussion to 774 00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:12,200 Speaker 1: have about this topic, and I will likely do a 775 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:16,719 Speaker 1: full tech stuff episode about the history, the psychology, and 776 00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:19,640 Speaker 1: the potential harm of loot boxes, not just on people, 777 00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:23,200 Speaker 1: but on the game's industry itself, plus a discussion about 778 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,960 Speaker 1: perhaps alternatives we could take when it comes to game design, 779 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:31,120 Speaker 1: but that'll have to wait for another episode. The point 780 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:35,760 Speaker 1: being that this was sort of Ubisoft's entry into that world, 781 00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:40,000 Speaker 1: and that those philosophies would find their ways into future 782 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:45,160 Speaker 1: Ubisoft titles. Uh. The big title from al Leon being 783 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:49,720 Speaker 1: howerse It's a horse game where you would raise horses 784 00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:52,680 Speaker 1: and take care of them until and I am not 785 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,760 Speaker 1: making this up, the horses would die in the game 786 00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:57,319 Speaker 1: and then you would get to see them go to 787 00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:03,160 Speaker 1: horse Heaven. Yeah. Okay, maybe that one's a Taylor made 788 00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:07,279 Speaker 1: for the McElroy brothers. Alright, guys, that wraps up this 789 00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:11,520 Speaker 1: chapter of the UBI Soft saga. In our next episode, 790 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:14,759 Speaker 1: we will continue, I'll try to get up to present day. 791 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:16,759 Speaker 1: I'll be packing a lot in because I know there's 792 00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:19,760 Speaker 1: a lot that's going on here, and uh, within that tale, 793 00:48:19,840 --> 00:48:24,239 Speaker 1: we'll hear about another potential hostile takeover bid, and we'll 794 00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:28,600 Speaker 1: also hear about a massive scandal that ran through all 795 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:31,839 Speaker 1: of UBI Soft. It's still unfolding as I record this, 796 00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:35,920 Speaker 1: and how the company is handling that, uh in some 797 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,759 Speaker 1: cases not so great, but we'll get to that in 798 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:41,640 Speaker 1: our next episode. If you have suggestions for topics I 799 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:44,120 Speaker 1: should tackle in future episodes of tech Stuff, whether it's 800 00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:48,640 Speaker 1: another company, a specific technology, a trend in tech like 801 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:51,839 Speaker 1: the loot boxes trend, or whatever, let me know. Send 802 00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:54,200 Speaker 1: me a message on Twitter. The handle is tech Stuff 803 00:48:54,400 --> 00:49:00,120 Speaker 1: H s W and I'll talk to you again really soon. M. 804 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,080 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more 805 00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:09,520 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 806 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:12,840 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.