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UBISOFT MONTPELLIER | BETA


FROM ANOTHER WORLD


When Eric Chahi approached Ubisoft about his return to games making, the Another World creator picked the Montpellier


studio as the place to build From Dust. “From the beginning the way about the team at Ubisoft was very important to From Dust, because it is a very different game that needed a diverse team,” he reveals. “I visited the studio maybe two years before the game, and that let me start to think about what kind of game I could make at that studio. Unlike Ubisoft Paris, which is very big – too big – there was something just right about Montpellier for From Dust.” Part of the appeal was what Chahi


calls Montpellier’s ‘artists with code’. He’s talking about the engineers at the studio behind some of Ubisoft’s most ambitious internal tech, and along with the team’s numerous designers, coders and artists, they’ve left him feeling particularly optimistic about the games industry. In previous years Chahi has criticised the sector’s lack of emphasis on creativity, but now he’s hopeful for the medium’s future. “Things are moving forward now, especially in the indie space, which


is growing and growing, and I think it is very energising for the whole industry,” he says. “In the last decade, the industry was slowing down creatively. The large companies had retail distribution, and that made it hard for them to take lessons from any other developers other than similar large studios. “But now that has changed.


Minecraft is a perfect example of a lesson that the indie community can teach the major companies. Nobody at a large company would have believed in it.” According to Chahi digital distribution has given creativity a renewed voice and informed and broadened the perception of gaming. This, he says, will encourage large companies to take more risks. “I think, from two or three years


ago we entered a mutation that has brought about a phase of innovation. Maybe it is not the biggest innovation, but these small innovations and small games like Ellis, Sword & Sworcery, Journey and Flower are offering a different world that is changing everything. In three or five years, with audiences now accepting very different experiences, things will be very exciting. “The changing audience is very


important, because creatively risky games need an audience. We all need an audience.”


FEBRUARY 2012 | 33


DEVELOPING THE NEW LEADERS OF THE DIGITAL MEDIA INDUSTRY The Masters of Digital Media program (MDM)


is Canada’s first professional graduate degree program of its kind in digital media and entertainment technology.


Offered at Vancouver’s Centre for Digital Media, this unique 16-month program and internship engages students in real world projects where they gain valuable leadership experience, hands- on training, and top industry connections.


Find out more. mdm.gnwc.ca/leaders


Architectural rendering of the new Centre for Digital Media to open Fall 2012.


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