IN PHOTOS: A peek into the home of ‘Assassin’s Creed’

By: Yuji Vincent Gonzales - 9 years ago

Rooftop of Solaris building in Fusionopolis where Ubisoft Singapore is located. PHOTOS BY YUJI VINCENT GONZALES/INQUIRER.NET

SINGAPORE—The hit “Assassin’s Creed” series may be competitive, complicated, and chaotic in nature and theme, but way back in its origin in this calm Asian city, there is nothing like home to some 300 multi-national team members.

INQUIRER.net had a chance to visit the quarters of Ubisoft Singapore, which made its mark in the gaming industry for being one of the lead developers of the successful Assassin’s Creed franchise and Ghost Recon Phantoms.

The Singapore studio of the French gaming giant is situated at the Solaris building in the Fusionopolis complex at the one-north business park here, near fellow tech companies, educational and research institutions, hospitals, and government and media entities.

Ubisoft Singapore was set up in July 2008, but it moved to Solaris, said to be one of the most eco-friendly structures here, only in 2010.

Its brainchild games and the awards that they reaped in past years, which communications manager Sylviane Bahr referred to as the studio’s “resume,” are on display at the entrance.

The pantry, which is right after the entrance, is an open area furnished with homey design where workers can eat, play, and just spend time together during breaks. It has vending machines, dining tables, billiard and pingpong tables, bean bag chairs, and corners where employees and guests can play video games.

It is noticeable that employees are comfortable wearing casual clothes like plain shirts, shorts, and slippers, with some even walking barefoot around the studio. “It is a creative industry where people don’t judge you by the way you look,” Bahr said.

The studio’s hallways and meeting rooms are also decorated with concept arts of the video games that it has produced.

The sound room, dubbed as the “most awesome room” in the studio, is where sound effects and voiceovers in video games are being recorded and processed.

Bahr said Ubisoft established a studio in Singapore because they knew that there were talents here, while Singapore managing director Olivier de Rotalier said Asia was a “very important” region in reaching out to new talents and consumers, as they are always in search of new opportunities.

“We respect a lot about what each (person) brings. It tells a lot about the richness of the talent core. It’s easy to work together and that’s very important,” he said.

Now one of the fastest-growing game development hubs in the world, Ubisoft Singapore houses a team of about 300 employees from 32 nationalities, including Filipinos, which grew from only 22 people when it opened eight years ago with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” as its first project.

Created in 1986, Ubisoft, the third largest independent publisher of video games worldwide, has more than 9,700 team members in 28 countries. It has earned €1.007 billion in sales in 2013-2014, and more than 15 of its franchises have sold more than one million units.

Here are some photos of the studio all taken by this reporter. TVJ