The Razor

Ubisoft Gets Into The Movie Business February 10, 2007

Posted by David Kaye in : Games, Movies , trackback

Top ten games publisher Ubisoft is to start producing CGI short films based on the company’s own intellectual properties. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s CEO, had this to say:

“Video game production has progressively moved closer and closer to film and television production and this convergence will only intensify in the coming years,” commented Guillemot. “This natural evolution is accompanied by revolutionary changes in online distribution channels via the explosion of free and paid-for digital content. Today’s launch of a studio specializing in digital film creation will allow Ubisoft to be a pioneer in the domain for the years to come.”

This makes a lot of sense. In the short term, these films will be serve as fantastic marketing tools for upcoming titles when distributed across channels like YouTube and Xbox Live Marketplace - it’s no accident, I’m sure, that the first of these CGI shorts is for a new Ubisoft IP (Assassin’s Creed) rather than an established one.

Long term, this allows the company to build the in-house expertise to take major properties to other media when the time is right. Ubisoft is arguably one of the best positioned publishers to make a success of this, given their strength in creating original IP and doing innovative things with established ones such as Tom Clancy.

[via Kotaku]