Ubisoft looks like it is expanding its VR efforts even further beyond our initial reports.
In early September we reported the discovery of several new listings at one of Ubisoft’s three Blue Byte offices in Dusseldorf, Germany. At the time, the company told us it was hiring both for its location-based VR experiences and “a new AAA VR project”. The Ubisoft Reflections team in Newcastle, UK, is also hiring for a VR-focused Lead Character Artist role.
A New Challenger Approaches
This month, though, we’ve discovered yet more listings for a VR project, this time in Pune, India. There the company is looking for Development Tester, Unity Developer, VFX Artist, Art Director, Level Designer and Character Artist roles.
The listings themselves don’t reveal much. The Unity Developer role does, however, state that the successful applicant “will be working closely with Lead/Technical Manager/Producer to develop and provide solutions on VR devices in the process of creating games by maintaining high coding standards.”
Initially, we’d have assumed this team would be assisting in the creation of the VR game in development at Blue Byte. The existence of Art Director and Level Designer roles, however, has us wondering if it could be separate. In a listing for a Game Director for the VR project at Blue Byte, Ubisoft states the game will be “developed across multiple studios,” though.
Reports from earlier this year suggested Facebook signed a deal with Ubisoft for two VR games. One would be a new entry in the Splinter Cell series, another in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The rate at which the company is now hiring for VR projects lends some weight to those reports.
But questions remain. Is Ubisoft developing one game at a time? Or does the use of multiple studios suggest the company is developing them simultaneously? We likely won’t know for some time yet.
