Gaming giant to add 100 local jobs

Video games giant Ubisoft, which boasts of brands such as Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed, has announced the opening of a development studio in Abu Dhabi, becoming the first major games publisher to have established a direct presence in the GCC.

Set up in conjunction with Abu Dhabi government’s twofour54, the studio will open its doors in December this year, and aims to employ 100 people in the next three to five years with its officials claiming that they would like to see local talent occupy those slots.

“We expect to have about 25 people after the first year and to hire more than 100 people over the next three to five years,” Yannick Theler, the General Manager of the new studios and a ten-year veteran at Ubisoft, told Emirates 24/7.

“The demographics and the pool of skilled technical talent in the Middle East and North Africa region are key factors that will contribute to the success of this new studio,” said Christine Burgess-Quémard, executive director, worldwide studios at Ubisoft. 

“The digital games played by Arabs have traditionally been developed outside the region, which means that they rarely have a direct relevance to Arab gamers,” said Wayne Borg, Deputy CEO & COO, twofour54.

“Our agreement with Ubisoft will benefit the region in that it will enable the development of titles that resonate with the local population, whilst also building the skills of young Arabs to allow the region to create its own games and developing a gaming industry base here at twofour54,” he said.

“Our long term focus is to hire local talent as the industry matures,” Theler added, while hastily noting that the developer – one of the world’s leading video game publishers and developers with a turnover of €1.04 billion for the 2010-2011 fiscal year – will have a keen eye on its bottom line.

“In the beginning, we will naturally rely on talented and experienced professionals in order to ensure that we have the proper competencies and that they can train and mentor junior members of the team,” he said.

However, for local gaming enthusiasts, it will probably be a while before a regional-flavoured game hits the shelf. “The Ubisoft Abu Dhabi studio will first collaborate with other Ubisoft studios on existing projects before moving on to develop titles locally,” said Theler.

“Eventually, the studio may consider developing games that are designed specifically with the region in mind, but it is too soon to speak specifically about any projects,” he added.

The studio will also contribute expertise to the ‘twofour54 gaming academy’ a new, full-time game development academy run by twofour54 tadreeb, twofour54’s media training arm in partnership with Ubisoft.

“We are excited by the partnership with twofour54. Their commitment to developing a strong regional gaming industry and their knowledge of the region were the perfect foundation on which to continue building our development teams,” said Burgess-Quémard.

When asked on how long does it take to develop a typical video game and its accompanying costs, Theler said the dynamics varied for different games. “A standard production cycle for an ‘AAA’ title can take anywhere up to three years. We don’t disclose specific production costs but video games can take anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to tens of millions of dollars – depending on the platform and type of game,” he answered.

But while twofour54 obviously has a mandate to push for local talent, what does Ubiosoft expect to gain out of this? “We aren’t disclosing the specifics of our investment but we are happy to have the support of twofour54 and to be opening a new studio in Abu Dhabi. The objective of any studio is to bring great entertainment to the consumer within a budget that allows us to be profitable. The industry needs talents and we foresee a good pool emerging from the region,” he said.

Theler also added that the support from twofour54 in making this a commercially viable proposition was important. “Twofour54 offers access to a regional talent pool, a local and international partner network and state of the art facilities and training in one strategic location. Moreover, its collaborative content creation community is supporting the development of a sustainable regional gaming industry through facilitating the development of locally relevant and commercially viable content,” he added.