Developing the Middle East

Last November, Ubisoft announced that it would be setting up a new studio in Abu Dhabi, making it the first major game publisher to establish a development presence in the Middle East. (While Sony has been operating in the United Arab Emirates for eight years, its efforts have focused primarily on distribution and publishing.) Ubisoft’s studio will be based at the campus of twofour54, a media production and training hub launched in 2008 to help support the Abu Dhabi government’s aims to make the capital of the Emirates a creative centre for the Arab world, and to diversify its local economy away from reliance on the oil sector.

“We needed to take a risk,” says Yannick Theler, who was human resources director at Ubisoft Shanghai before coming to Abu Dhabi to set up and manage the new studio. “Some companies aren’t willing to take risks, but you have to remember Montreal was a risk for Ubisoft years ago when nobody was there. But now everybody’s in Montreal, and many thousands of jobs were created.”

The decor inside the various buildings on the twofour54 campus offers a reminder of the diverse range of media channels being served by the company, which include gaming, film, music, radio, animation, publishing, mobile, TV and online. The new gaming academy will launched this month

Similar to the Canadian government’s past efforts to lure game studios via generous tax incentives, Abu Dhabi boasts its own range of deal-sweeteners: a tax-free environment, plus 100 per cent foreign ownership. And twofour54 works closely with its partners to ensure a soft landing in the region, whether that’s using the organisation’s cutting-edge Intaj production facilities or feeding them potential new recruits via its Tadreeb training academy. During our visit, its IT department was even helping Ubisoft’s Theler to get an ailing laptop running.

So how did the partnership between the two companies come about? “Our relationship with Ubisoft started close to three years ago now, when I met with Yves Guillemot and we talked about the region,” says Wayne Borg, twofour54’s deputy CEO and chief operating officer. “Of all the game publishers, Ubisoft has a very international mindset in terms of developing a global network of studios. And this region was sort of a gap in their broader plan.”

The arrangement that came out of those negotiations involved Ubisoft committing to establish a 100-person studio over the next three to five years, employing developers from the region and teaching them the company’s design methods and production pipeline. (“I could import people from different Ubisoft studios and set up a studio of 25 people very easily,” says Theler, “but that’s not the objective.”) Ubisoft will also be sponsoring twofour54’s gaming academy, which is scheduled to launch in March, providing input on the curriculum and sharing its team leads for a few hours a week to give guest lectures.

With a potential audience of 320 million people spread across the Arab world, there’s a huge market waiting to be tapped into. And since most of the existing media content is imported from outside the region, there’s a sizeable appetite for locally made entertainment. International developers have already used Middle Eastern locales to great effect, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed being a prime example. Is there any research from that development cycle that could be leveraged in future games made here?

Twofour54’s production facility, Intaj, is currently able to boast that it has the only stereoscopic 3D lab in the Middle East

“I will say it’s possible,” says Theler. “The brand owner is Montreal. We have to see what we could do. The first project will be a small-scale XBL or PSN project based on an existing Ubisoft brand. After we do our proof, if we are good, perhaps there are some things we could do, but it’s too early to say. I went to Montreal two months ago, and I was speaking about Assassin’s Creed with them. And they were laughing because, yes, a lot of things in that game happened in the region here. Not to mention Prince Of Persia. Maybe there is some content we could use. Or maybe continue another sequel, but of course, it’s too early to say specifically.”

Theler had just moved to Abu Dhabi two weeks prior to our visit. His first order of business is to fill the lead programmer, lead game designer and lead artist positions from within Ubisoft. In terms of the wider recruiting effort, the response has been encouraging. On the day Ubisoft and twofour54 announced their partnership, they received 28 applications from developers requesting more information, and that number has grown to nearly 160. In mid-December, Theler held two open informational sessions both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

It remains to be seen if other publishers will follow Ubisoft’s lead and establish a presence in Abu Dhabi, but twofour54 is optimistic about the short-term prospects. “Games are a popular pastime here,” Borg says. “If you look at the demographics of the region, particularly casual gaming with the technology platforms, there’s a great level of participation and interest.”