When the crumbs start falling from Activision Blizzard’s extra-wide table, it seems rival publishers are all-too-willing to scoop them up. Today, Massive Entertainment, one of the last game studios in limbo following the Acti-Blizz merger, has found a new home at Ubisoft — and brought the rights to their premiere RTS title World in Conflict along with it.
What this means for World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, the console version of the game developed by Swordfish Studios — as well as World in Conflict: Complete, the PC game revealed in ESRB ratings several months ago — is uncertain, and Ubisoft and Massive employees were unable to comment by time of publication. We will note that Swordfish is now developing 50 Cent for THQ.
Amazon.com currently lists both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of WiC:SA for release on February 3rd, 2009.
To date, 50 Cent, Ghostbusters, Riddick and now World in Conflict have been saved from the remains of Sierra Publishing; to our knowledge, only Brutal Legend still lacks a publisher.
Press release follows the jump.
Paris, France – November 10, 2008 – Today Ubisoft announced that it has acquired from Activision Blizzard the assets and all of the personnel of esteemed Malmö, Sweden- based studio Massive Entertainment®, as well as the real time strategy brand World In Conflict®.
Created in 1997, Massive employs over 120 developers and was ranked as one of the top 50 best game studios in the world by Game Developers Research in 2008. The studio is world-renowned for its expertise in the RTS genre and for the quality of its innovative proprietary technologies. World in Conflict® was acclaimed by critics, receiving the Best Strategy Game of E3 2007 award, as well as being named Best Online Multiplayer Game of 2007 by IGN, and Most Innovative Game of 2007 by Gamespot, among many other awards.
“We are delighted to welcome the talented team of creators at Massive into the Ubisoft family,” said Christine Burgess-Quemard, executive director of worldwide production studios at Ubisoft. “Ubisoft is growing at an intense pace and our strategy is to ensure the strength of our global creative teams. Massive has put together a group of some of the most confirmed and recognized creators in the industry and I know that their talent and innovation will allow them to seamlessly integrate into our worldwide network of production studios.”
“Massive’s development team places great importance on its freedom to innovate and create games of the highest quality,” stated Martin Walfisz, president and founder of Massive Entertainment®. “We are fortunate to have found in Ubisoft a publisher who shares the same values and understands our mindset. I have no doubt that our future together will offer significant mutual benefit and synergy.”
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