Ubisoft opens another studio – this time in Kiev

Ubisoft has announced plans to open its third studio in Eastern Europe, this time picking Kiev, Ukraine to host its next development office.

Its the fifth new studio Ubisoft has opened in recent months, following new offices in China and India. Ubisoft said that it had now expanded to Kiev as the city is home to over 100 of the Ukraine’s 300 IT universities and institutions.

The company has had an Eastern European presence for over 15 years since opening its Bucharest, Romania studio in 1992. A team in Sofia, Bulgaria was opened in 2006 – that team now has over 50 people and is planning to double in size in the next year. Meanwhile Bucharest employs over 500 across production, testing and IT departments with plans to grow to 650. That takes Ubisoft’s total count of Eastern European employees to 800 – the company says around 350 of those are development teams.

A core team of 12 developers have helped found the Kiev outfit, already contributing to the PC version of Blazing Angels, and the team expects to grow to include 50 people within the next 12 months.

Initially, the Kiev studio will collaborate with Ubisoft Bucharest, on projects such as the PC version of Tom Clancy’s Hawx. Sebastien Delen, MD of Ubisoft Bucharest and Ubisoft Sofia, will manage the studio.

 “We have had a very positive experience in Eastern Europe, as the quality of the upcoming Tom Clancy’s Hawx developed by our Bucharest studio can attest,” said Christine Burgess-Quémard, executive director, worldwide studios at Ubisoft.

“Having seen the potential demonstrated by the Sofia studio’s first projects, it was only natural for us to pursue our expansion in this region and attract a new pool of highly-skilled talents to the group.”