Ubisoft Picks up Massive Entertainment

Ubisoft is sending word that it has acquired Massive Entertainment, a development studio based in Malmo, Sweden, which is best known for the Ground Control series and for last year's blockbuster real time strategy title World in Conflict. The studio currently employs around 120 people and Ubisoft has announced that it currently plans to keep all of the staff.

Massive Entertainment was caught up in the whirlwind of the Activision Blizzard merger. The company published World in Conflict through Sierra, which basically no longer exists as a publishing label and the studio was let go by the newly formed company along with other developers working on projects that were judged not to have sequel potential. At the time, Massive was creating an expansion for World in Conflict called Soviet Assault that was supposed to tell the same story as the original game from the perspective of the Russian forces that were invading the United States. The original game was noted for the tactical choices it offered and for the depth of the situations portrayed and the expansion was supposed to add even more character.

When it announced its latest financial results, Ubisoft stated that it aimed to buy development studios as long as it did not have to borrow money in order to do so. Massive, with its focus on real time strategy games, is well positioned to complement the game line up which Ubisoft is offering. We can only hope that the new parent company will allow Massive to launch Soviet Assault, which was also supposed to arrive on the Xbox 360 as a standalone package.

Christine Burgess-Quemard, who is the director of worldwide production studios at Ubisoft, said that “We are delighted to welcome the talented team of creators at Massive into the Ubisoft family”, while representatives of Massive expressed relief related to finding a new and more stable publisher.