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.
Steep (video game)
The game was developed by Ubisoft Annecy, a French studio which had previously worked on the multiplayer modes of the "Assassin's Creed" franchise and the "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" franchise as well as assisting in the development of "Tom Clancy's The Division". The game was co-developed by Ubisoft studios in Kiev and Montpellier. "Steep" became the first original game created by them. Development of the game was started in late 2013. The concept was inspired by the developer's close proximity to the Alps, and another Ubisoft game, "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands", whose large open world forced developer Ubisoft Paris to implement transport methods such as paragliding. The "Trials" series also influenced the game's design. Ubisoft originally was not convinced by the development team, but they later greenlit the project's development, mainly due to the huge popularity of extreme sporting videos on the video sharing website YouTube. The developers were also inspired by the renewed interest in the skateboarding game "Skate 3" after it was re-popularized through Let's Play streaming events performed by YouTubers and others. According to Igor Manceau, the game's director, the team pitched the project to Ubisoft as they believed that the game's online structure and open world are elements that are new to the sports genre.