Ubisoft is conquering the East. The French publisher has just opened its second Romanian studio in Craiova. The company already operates a studio in Bucharest, which was heavily involved in the creation of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.

The new studio is staffed by a team of 12 highly talented and professional young people, with Ubisoft saying that more than 100 people will be hired in the next three years. The company already has development teams in Sofia and in Kiev. The initial investment is evaluated at 50.000 Euro and the project might receive between 5 and 10 million in the following years. It's not known which projects the new team will be working on.

Ubisoft chose Craiova as the place for its new studio because of the close partnership developed between the company and the University of Craiova. The two entities have worked together on a few occasions and, as the studio was under construction, Ubisoft and the University agreed on working together to create a new graphics laboratory and to improve the educational environment for the students interested in software development.

Sébastien Delen, who is the managing director of Ubisoft Eastern Europe, stated that "After several projects, like contests and training sessions, we have decided to create a more close partnership with the University of Craiova. The launch of this new studio represents a first step needed to achieve Ubisoft's goal of hiring 100 new employees in the next three years".

Those invited to the opening ceremony of the new game development studio had a chance to play Ubisoft's freshest offerings like Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, Far Cry 2 and the Prince of Persia. Ionuţ Grozea, lead designer, also demoed Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X., a game that was developed by the Bucharest based studio of Ubisoft.