Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French video game publisher based in Saint-Mandé. It has development studios in many countries around the world. The company is known for popular game series such as Anno, Assassin's Creed, Driver, Far Cry, Just Dance, Prince of Persia, Rabbids, Rayman, Tom Clancy's, and Watch Dogs.

The company is led by its chairman and CEO, Yves Guillemot. Ubisoft became very popular and well-received with its 1995 platform game, Rayman. In 1996, Ubisoft started expanding globally by opening studios in Shanghai, Montreal, and Milan. Recently, the company has faced financial problems, with a significant drop in revenue reported in 2024. In 2025, Ubisoft let go of 700 employees.

History

By the 1980s, the Guillemot family had become a support business for farmers in the Brittany region of France and other areas, such as the United Kingdom. The five sons of the family—Christian, Claude, Gérard, Michel, and Yves—helped their parents with the company’s sales, distribution, accounting, and management before attending university.

All five brothers gained business experience while in university. After graduating, they returned to the family business and came up with the idea of selling different types of agricultural products. Claude started by selling CD audio media. Later, the brothers expanded to sell computers and software, including video games.

In the 1980s, they noticed that buying computers and software from a French supplier cost more than buying the same items in the United Kingdom and shipping them to France. This led them to create a mail-order business for computers and software. Their mother allowed them to start their own business, provided they managed it themselves and split the shares equally among the five brothers.

Their first business, Guillemot Informatique, was founded in 1984. It originally sold only through mail order but soon received orders from French retailers because it could sell items up to 50% cheaper than other suppliers. By 1986, the company earned about 40 million French francs (about US$5.8 million at that time). In 1985, the brothers created Guillemot Corporation to distribute computer hardware. As demand grew, they recognized that video game software was becoming profitable and decided to develop their own games, using their knowledge of publishing and distribution.

Ubi Soft Entertainment S.A. was founded by the brothers on March 28, 1986. The name "Ubi Soft" was chosen to mean "ubiquitous" software.

Ubi Soft first operated from offices in Paris, moving to Créteil by June 1986. The brothers used a chateau in Brittany as the main development space, hoping it would attract developers and help manage expectations. The company hired Nathalie Saloud as a manager, Sylvie Hugonnier as director of marketing and public relations, and programmers. Hugonnier left the company in May 1986 to join Elite Software. In 1986, Ubi Soft published games such as Zombi, Ciné Clap, Fer et Flamme, Masque, and Graphic City, a sprite editing program. Zombi sold 5,000 copies by January 1987. The company also partnered to release the game in Spain and West Germany. In 1987, Ubi Soft imported games like Commando and Ikari Warriors from abroad for sale in France. Commando sold 15,000 copies by January 1987. In 1988, Yves Guillemot became Ubi Soft’s chief executive officer.

By 1988, the company had about six developers working from the chateau. These included Michel Ancel, a teenager known for his animation skills, and Serge Hascoët, who applied to be a video game tester. Maintaining the chateau became expensive, and developers were offered the chance to move to Paris. Ancel’s family, who had moved to Brittany for his job, could not afford Paris and returned to Montpellier in southern France. The Guillemot brothers told Ancel to keep them informed of any ideas he had. Ancel returned with Frédéric Houde, bringing a prototype of a game with animated features that interested the brothers. Michel Guillemot decided to make the project a priority, establishing a studio in Montreuil in 1994 to house over 100 developers. The studio aimed to create games for 5th generation consoles like the Atari Jaguar and PlayStation. Their game, Rayman, was released in 1995. Yves managed Guillemot Informatique, making deals with companies like Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line, and MicroProse to distribute their games in France. Guillemot Informatique expanded to other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. By 1993, it had become the largest distributor of video games in France.

In 1996, Ubi Soft completed its initial public offering, raising over US$80 million to expand the company. Within two years, it opened studios worldwide in Annecy (1996), Shanghai (1996), Montreal (1997), and Milan (1998).

A challenge the brothers faced was the lack of intellectual property that could succeed in the United States market. Around 1999, when the Internet grew rapidly, they created game studios focused on free-to-play online games, such as GameLoft. This allowed them to license Ubi Soft’s properties to these companies, increasing the company’s share value five times. With an additional €170 million, they purchased Red Storm Entertainment in 2000, gaining access to the Tom Clancy’s series of stealth and spy games. Ubi Soft helped expand the series, creating titles like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. The company entered the United States market by partnering with Microsoft to develop Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, an Xbox-exclusive game released in 2002. This game competed with Metal Gear Solid, a PlayStation-exclusive title, by combining elements of the Tom Clancy’s series with an in-house game called The Drift.

In March 2001, Gores Technology Group sold The Learning Company’s entertainment division—including games originally published by Broderbund, Mattel Interactive, Mindscape, and Strategic Simulations—to Ubi Soft. This included rights to intellectual properties like the Myst and Prince of Persia series. Ubisoft Montreal developed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, released in 2003. At the same time, Ubi Soft released Beyond Good & Evil, Ancel’s project after Rayman. The game was a commercial failure at first but later gained a cult following.

Around 2001, Ubi Soft created an editorial department led by Hascoët, who was initially called editor in chief and later became the company’s Chief Content Officer. Hascoët had worked with Ancel on Rayman in 1995 and saw the opportunity to apply that experience across all

Technology

Ubisoft Connect, previously called Uplay, is a service that helps users buy and play Ubisoft games on computers. It was first introduced with the game Assassin's Creed II as a way to reward players with in-game items for completing tasks. Over time, it became a platform for downloading games, managing game access, and playing online. Ubisoft later split the reward system into a separate program called Ubisoft Club, which was connected to Uplay. In October 2020, Ubisoft announced Ubisoft Connect as a replacement for Uplay and Ubisoft Club. It launched alongside Watch Dogs: Legion and allows players to play games across different devices and keep their progress in some games. The reward system from Ubisoft Club remains in Ubisoft Connect, but some older games on Uplay will not support these rewards. For those games, Ubisoft will give all players the rewards automatically.

Ubisoft Connect helps manage access to Ubisoft games on Windows computers. When it first launched, it required an internet connection to play some games, which caused problems if players lost their connection. This led to criticism, especially after Ubisoft's servers were attacked, making some games unplayable. Ubisoft later stopped requiring an always-on internet connection but still checks game access through Ubisoft Connect servers when games start.

Ubisoft Anvil, formerly named Scimitar, is a game engine created by Ubisoft Montreal in 2007 for Assassin's Creed. It has been used in most Assassin's Creed games and other Ubisoft titles, including Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, and For Honor.

The Disrupt engine was developed by Ubisoft Montreal for the Watch Dogs games. It took four years to create and includes a system that handles multiple tasks at once. It uses advanced graphics technology and allows players to join or leave multiplayer games without disrupting the game world or story. Some features, like managing open-world cities, come from the AnvilNext engine, while others, like handling plants and artificial intelligence, come from the Dunia engine. Parts of Disrupt were originally meant for a game in the Driver series.

The Dunia engine was based on Crytek’s CryEngine, with changes made by Ubisoft Montreal. Crytek had created a demo called X-Isle: Dinosaur Island, which Ubisoft saw and helped turn into the first Far Cry game in 2004. After that, Electronic Arts made a deal with Crytek for a different game, so Ubisoft Montreal took over development of Far Cry for consoles and got rights to the Far Cry series and the CryEngine.

For Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal improved the CryEngine to include destructible environments and better physics, creating the Dunia engine. It was used in Far Cry 2 and later games, as well as Avatar: The Game. In 2012, Ubisoft introduced the Dunia 2 engine for Far Cry 3, which improved performance on consoles and added features like realistic lighting. The engine was further improved in Far Cry 4 and Far Cry 5. By 2017, it supported features like vegetation, fire, destruction, vehicles, AI, weather, and storytelling. For Far Cry 6, the engine added support for ray tracing on PCs and a technology called FidelityFX Super Resolution. Dunia 2 is also used in games like Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Far Cry Primal, and Far Cry New Dawn.

The Snowdrop engine was co-created by Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft for Tom Clancy’s The Division. It uses a system that connects different game functions, like graphics, AI, and missions, more easily. The engine is also used in games such as South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Star Wars Outlaws.

Games

According to Guillemot, Ubisoft realized that connected sandbox games, which allow smooth transitions between single-player and multiplayer modes, offered players more enjoyment. This led the company to shift its focus from making only single-player games to creating internet-connected games. Guillemot explained that Ubisoft refers to this change as "before The Division" and "after The Division."

In an interview with The Verge, Anne Blondel-Jouin, who was the executive producer of The Crew and later became vice-president of live operations, stated that The Crew was one of Ubisoft's first games to require an always-on internet connection to play. This change caused worries among gamers and raised questions within the company.

Film and television

In 1999, 12 years before Ubisoft Film & Television was created, a 3D animated Rayman series called Rayman: The Animated Series was made to help promote Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which was released the same year. The series was produced by Ubisoft itself. In 2011, Ubisoft started its Ubisoft Film & Television division (originally named Ubisoft Motion Pictures). At first, this division created media connected to Ubisoft's video games, but later it expanded to include other projects. Some productions include the live-action film Assassin's Creed (2016), the series Rabbids Invasion (2013–2022), and Mythic Quest (2020–2025).

Litigation

• In 2008, Ubisoft took legal action against Optical Experts Manufacturing (OEM), a company that copies DVDs, for $25 million and other damages. The lawsuit said OEM failed to follow its contract with Ubisoft by not protecting Ubisoft’s game, Assassin’s Creed, properly. OEM reportedly agreed to all the issues listed in the complaint.
• In April 2012, Ubisoft was sued by John L. Beiswenger, the writer of a book called Link, who claimed Ubisoft used his ideas in the Assassin’s Creed series without permission. Beiswenger asked for $5.25 million in damages and a stop to the release of Assassin’s Creed III and future games. On May 30, 2012, Beiswenger ended the lawsuit. He later said he believes writers should protect their creative work and suggested Ubisoft’s attempt to block future lawsuits showed guilt.
• In December 2014, Ubisoft gave a free game from its recent collection to players who bought a season pass for Assassin’s Creed Unity. This was because the game had many problems when it first launched. The offer included a rule that players could not sue Ubisoft for the issues with the game.
• In May 2020, Ubisoft sued a Chinese company, Ejoy, and Apple and Google over a game called Area F2. Ubisoft said Area F2 was very similar to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. Ubisoft asked for legal action against Ejoy and financial compensation from Apple and Google for letting Area F2 be sold on their app stores and for earning money from in-game purchases.
• In November 2024, two people from California—Matthew Cassell and Alan Liu—filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft in a U.S. court. They claimed Ubisoft lied to players by making them believe their purchases of The Crew were permanent, but instead, the game was only available under temporary licenses. They also said Ubisoft falsely claimed physical copies of the game included the game files, when they only provided a key to unlock the game.
• In January 2026, a former Ubisoft employee, Marc-Alexis Côté, said he would sue the company for CAD 1.3 million. He claimed he was forced to leave his job and was offered a leadership role for the Assassin’s Creed series that required moving to France. He said Ubisoft told him not to work on October 13, a day before his departure. His lawsuit also asked for CAD 75,000 in damages and severance pay.
• In April 2026, a French consumer group, UFC-Que Choisir, and Stop Killing Games sued Ubisoft over the shutdown of The Crew. They said Ubisoft misled customers by not clearly stating that the game would no longer be available permanently.