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Ubisoft has announced the opening of its new development studio based in Berlin, Germany today. The new studio, Ubisoft Berlin will open in early 2018 and will get straight to work on the Far Cry series with other Ubisoft studios.
The new studio, which is based very close to the Berlin Zoo and the Kurfürstendamm shopping area, is also looking to hire around 50 developers over the first twelve months of operation. Taking charge of the studio is Istvan Tajnay, who was most recently the studio operations director for Ubisoft Blue Byte, also based in Germany.
"We are thrilled to be opening the doors to Ubisoft Berlin and working on the Far Cry series together with other Ubisoft teams,” said Tajnay. “In the first year, we will build a core team of around 50 developers drawing on all areas of expertise. We are currently recruiting for these positions and the reception so far is overwhelmingly positive from candidates of a very high calibre.”
“As part of Ubisoft’s global growth strategy, we have high hopes to continue to build up our teams in Ubisoft Berlin in the coming years. However, this growth also depends on the future development of funding video games in Germany,” added Ubisoft Blue Byte MD, Benedikt Grindel. “I am confident that we have found a strong Studio Head in Istvan Tajnay, who is ready to take on this challenge. And we are bringing back part of the development of Far Cry to its homeland, which is super exciting.”
Ubisoft Berlin will be the third studio in the region, along with Blue Byte which is based in Düsseldorf and also an office in Mainz. It signals a continued expansion for Ubisoft, who has opened studios in Saguenay, Canada, Stockholm and Bordeaux already this year.
The work on the Far Cry series signals something of a homecoming for the popular franchise, which was originally created by Frankfurt-based developer Crytek in 2004. Development on subsequent Far Cry releases moved to Ubisoft Montreal after the release of the first Far Cry.
