List of Ubisoft subsidiaries
Ubisoft Quebec was founded by Ubisoft in 2005 in Quebec City, Quebec. The studio was set out to provide assistance to Ubisoft's main studios, and it also participated in the development of downloadable content for the "Assassin's Creed" series, such as "Tyranny of King Washington" for "Assassin's Creed III", and "Freedom Cry" for "". On 3 November 2010, Ubisoft announced that it had acquired Longtail Studios Quebec, a studio of New York City-based Longtail Studios, itself founded in 2003 by Ubisoft co-founder Gérard Guillemot. As a result, 48 of the studio's staff were moved to Ubisoft's existing Ubisoft Quebec operations. The division's director, Andreas Mollman, resigned, and 5–6 employees were laid off. The Quebec studio worked on "", a Kinect title released in 2012, and became the lead developer for "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" in 2015, replacing the Montreal studio. It would be the first time the Quebec studio changed its role from a support studio to a lead developer of a AAA game. The studio has 500 employees.
Watch Dogs 2
At E3 2014, Ubisoft executive Tony Key claimed that they were very satisfied with the sales of the first game, and that the brand would be turned into a long-running franchise. According to creative director Jonathan Morin, the first game's main goal was to establish the "Watch Dogs" brand. It was intended that they take risks with the sequel, instead of creating a more polished version of the previous game. To improve the game, Morin and his team read the reviews of the first game, and visited NeoGAF and various forums to study player feedback. Their priorities included creating a "believable" environment, giving players more freedom, and introducing a new leading character, whose personality would be completely different from that of the protagonist of the first game, Aiden Pearce. The primary developer Ubisoft Montreal worked with other subsidiaries Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kiev, and Ubisoft Reflections to aid in the production. The driving mechanic was completely overhauled to make it more accessible to players, and was developed by Ubisoft Reflections, the developer of Ubisoft's own "Driver" series. In light of complaints about a graphical downgrade in "Watch Dogs" from what was seen at E3 2012, Ubisoft assured that "Watch Dogs 2" would not suffer the same outcome because, unlike the first installment, it was developed for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One from the start. Another improvement from the first game was a more prominent thematic connection to the narrative. Main operations are structured like story arcs that last up to ninety minutes each, advancing the plot with each completion.