Articles

Montreal, Canada March
2, 2005 – Today, Ubisoft, one of the world’s
largest interactive game publishers, announced that it has entered
into an agreement to acquire MC2-Microids (Microids Canada) Canadian
development operations and integrate them into its Montreal studio.
The closing of this agreement is subject to requirements to be met
by the two parties. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Following this agreement,
Microids Canada’s fifty employees
will be integrated into Ubisoft’s Montreal studio operations.
This agreement does not cover any of MC2-Microids intellectual property
or projects currently under development.

What a shocker, eh! Ubisoft Montreal acquires the development operations
of MC2-Microids Canada.

So what does this mean
to the adventure community? As adventure gamers are well aware,
MC2-Microids has been responsible for developing
numerous classic titles – Syberia,
Amerzone & Post
Mortem,
to name but a few – and they have always been staunch supporters
of the adventure genre. Does this acquisition mean that we will never
enjoy another installment of Syberia or Post
Mortem? Will Still
Life and Obscure still be released in North America?

To obtain further clarification,
we spoke with representatives of both UbiSoft and Microids. First,
we contacted Cedric Orvoine, Public
Relations Manager for Ubisoft Canada:

JA – Will MC2 be assimilated
into Ubisoft, or will MC2 continue to function as a separate
entity?

Ubisoft Montreal
has acquired the employees of Microids Canada. These employees
will be integrated to our team in different projects.

JA – Will Ubisoft now
be the North American publisher for all future MC2 titles?

Ubisoft Montreal
has bought the technical equipment and the talented employees of
Microids Canada only. Ubisoft didn’t buy any of Microids IP’ or
incoming project and hasn’t reached any publishing deal with MC2-Microids.

JA – As this deal must
have been in the works for some time, why is The Adventure Company,
and not Ubisoft the publisher of the upcoming Still
Life and Obscure?

The agreement
has nothing to do with the publishing of any of Microids’ titles

Next, we spoke with Microids
representative, Nathalie Bergeron of High Road Communications.
From our conversation, we learned the following:

Microids will still be
publishing games, but will no longer be developing games. Microids
still owns the IP rights to all of their
properties.
The release of
Still Life will not be affected by any of this.

So what does this all
mean for us, the consumers who purchase the games? Well, let’s look at some facts and then indulge in some speculation.

FACT: Ubisoft has acquired
the development operations of MC2-Microids Canada.
SPECULATON: Ubisoft acquired MC2-Microids as part of its
ongoing battle to thwart a takeover by Electronic Arts.
Ever since
Electronic Arts
intentions were made public, Ubisoft’s stock has continued to rise. This newest
acquisition – besides adding a new infusion of talent – was also
a calculated business move to increase their stock value.

FACT: Ubisoft will assimilate approximately 50 MC2-Microids employees
into their workforce. This includes the employees who were laid-off
late last year.
SPECULATION: Ubisoft was not the only company bidding to either purchase or
merge with MC2-Microids, but they were the only company to guarantee work for
the entire MC2-Microids staff. While a MC2-Microids merger with an equal-sized
company may have benefited both participants in the long term, it also would
have meant more lay-offs that could have had negative repercussions on the
workforce.

FACT: MC2-Microids will still be publishing games.
SPECULATON: MC2-Microids is recognized as a publisher only in Europe. They
will not be publishing any games in North America.

FACT: MC2-Microids will no longer be developing games, but they
do still own the Intellectual Properties (IP) to their past products.
SPECULATION: MC2-Microids can sell their IPs to the highest bidder.
This means that any company can, for the right price, develop and
publish a sequel to
Still Life, Obscure or any of their other titles. But the question still lingers,
why didn’t Ubisoft also purchase MC2-Microids IPs? Do they believe them
to be of little or no worth?

FACT: Last
year, Ubisoft published Frogware’s Sherlock Holmes:
The Case of The Silver Earring.
Ubisoft also develops and publishes the CSI games and the Myst series.
They are no strangers to the adventure genre.
SPECULATION: Though there has not yet been an announcement from Ubisoft of
any new adventure games in development. It would not make sense to acquire
probably the most talented group of adventure game developers in the industry
and then just assimilate them into the workforce. If so, shame on Ubisoft for
stooping to the same tactics as Electronic Arts. But, I personally believe
that Ubisoft will announce at least one major new title involving the ex MC2-Microids
employees later this year.

FACT: Both Still
Life and Obscure will still be published in North
America by The Adventure Company/Dreamcatcher.
SPECULATION: If a deal with Ubisoft was imminent, then why is Ubisoft
not publishing these two games in North America? This leads one to
believe that MC2-Microids
had another iron in the fire. If you are close to a deal, wouldn’t you
sweeten the pot by throwing in publishing rights to your current titles?

So for now, the future
is cloudy and we’ll just have to wait for future
news of adventure titles in development from Ubisoft. But, be the news good
or bad I would like to sincerely thank MC2-Microids for the years and years
of wonderful, sometimes awe-inspiring games, for a commitment to excellence
in every title they developed, for a dedicated group of employees who never,
ever hesitated to give me a moment of their time and for a crack public relations
staff who understood the importance of nurturing a close relationship with
Just Adventure and the adventure community.