14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft has announced that Jade Raymond, who has served as the public face of the Assassin's Creed project, has been chosen to head the newly opened Toronto studio.
The producer is set to report directly to Yannis Mallat, who is also overseeing the Montreal studio of the French publisher. The new development studio was opened with the help of the Canadian government of the Ontario province, which has committed to invest around 226 million dollars (not Canadian) in the project over the coming 10 years.
Ubisoft stated in July that the new studio was set to develop videogames but would also be working with other media, “including books, comics, short films, and other products.” It will be interesting to see how Ubisoft manages to take its successful franchises and spin them into new products.
Jade Raymond has been working at the Montreal studio since 2004 and has worked on the first Assassin's Creed videogame, which was launched in 2007 and went on to be praised by gamers for its open world acrobatics and has sold more than 8 million units until now. In Toronto, Raymond will be in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the studio.
Yannis Mallat stated that “I’m excited to have Jade managing our Toronto studio. With more than 12 years of experience in the video game industry, Jade’s knowledge and leadership as an industry veteran are major assets in building the Toronto studio and expanding Ubisoft’s presence in Canada.”
At the moment, Ubisoft is working on Assassin's Creed 2, which will be moving the action of the series to Medieval Venice while enhancing the signature gameplay mechanics of the series. Players will have dual wrist hidden blades and will be able to use machines created by Leonardo da Vinci for the player character while exploring the city and, of course, assassinating various figures.