Ubisoft May Still Be Opening a Theme Park
With Ubisoft's wide variety of franchises, spanning from the cartoon Rabbids and Rayman to the serious narratives of the various Assassin's Creed titles, it makes sense to explore ways to bring these popular video games to life. A concept for a theme park revolving around Ubisoft's IPs was announced all the way back in 2015, and a new update seems to indicate that those plans may still be underway.
Ubisoft's franchises have been staples of the gaming industry for years, with Assassin's Creed in particular being a semi-yearly release that gamer's have come to expect along with a new Call of Duty or FIFA. With Assassin's Creed Valhalla breaking sales records during its first week of release in November of last year, outselling all previous games in the series and having the strongest PC launch of any Assassin's Creed title, the company evidently feels like they're in a strong enough position to revisit the concept of a Ubisoft theme park.
The original announcement for Ubisoft's theme park was in 2015, with a projected opening sometime in 2020. While the mechanics of the process were being handled by RSG, a co-owner and developer of Movie Animation Park Studios, who handled the Smurfs theme park in Malaysia, the latest update indicates that Ubisoft has now partnered with Storyland Studios instead. Made up of "Team Members and Executive Leadership from The Walt Disney Company, Disney Imagineering, Pixar Animation Studios, Universal, and Legoland," Storyland Studios are a design and production firm, and they're teaming up with Alterface, designers of interactive theaters and dark rides, to help Ubisoft bring their games to life.
Ubisoft will have more details on their interactive experiences at The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions expo in November, with a 2-3 hour indoor attraction being developed by the studio as well as the main theme park. With the positive initial impressions of Super Nintendo World, it certainly makes sense for Ubisoft to rekindle plans for the theme park, and with an official preview at the IAAPA expo already planned, it seems as though it's full steam ahead.
For many, this announcement may come as a surprise. Not only for the fact that many would assume the company would be trying to keep a lower profile, given that Ubisoft is being sued for sexual harassment, but also for the staggering 25,000 cases of COVID-19 currently being reported daily in Malaysia. Super Nintendo World's successful opening has certainly paved the way for theme parks in a post-COVID world, and with sales for Assassin's Creed Valhalla's sales breaking records, even amid Ubisoft's scandals, it may be that the world is willing to separate the games from the company.
Source: Ubisoft/Blooloop
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