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Ubisoft Hires Battlefield Producer To Head Up New Studio Making Avatar Game

Ubisoft Stockholm will work with Massive on the new Avatar game and more.

33 Comments

Ubisoft has hired former EA/DICE veteran Patrick Bach to run a new studio in Stockholm, Sweden, the developer's second outfit in the country after The Division studio Massive, in Malmo.

Bach spent 15 years at EA's DICE studio, which is located in Stockholm, leaving the studio after Battlefield 1 shipped. The game has been a huge hit, recently passing 21 million players, so Bach went out on a high note. Bach worked a lot of Battlefield games and more recently the Star Wars: Battlefront series before moving on.

Ubisoft's new office in Stockholm
Ubisoft's new office in Stockholm

Ubisoft Stockholm, as it is called, will collaborate with Massive Entertainment to work on AAA games, including the newly announced Avatar title. In a press release, Ubisoft said it plans staff up to 100 people in its first two years.

"I am thrilled to be joining the Ubisoft family, where I feel I will be able to use my experience in the game industry in a new and different way," Bach, the Studio Manager for Ubisoft Stockholm, said in a statement. "My goal has always been to create the best possible gaming experiences for players. When talking toUbisoft about what we value most, it was clear that we share the same passion for nurturing teams’ creativity with that goal in mind."

Ubisoft also pointed out today that Massive Entertainment is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The Malmo-based studio was acquired by Ubisoft in 2008. The developer is growing still, as Ubisoft said it plans to hire 200 more people in the next two years.

"I am confident that Patrick Bach's leadership skills, his desire to nurture the passion and creativity of the people he works with, and the attraction of Ubisoft's renowned brands will encourage world-class talent to join Ubisoft Stockholm," Massive managing director David Polfeldt said. "The combination of these different elements will lay strong foundations for the new studio, enabling the team to focus on the quality and innovation of the games they create, and grow to become one of the best studios in the world."

You can see the job opportunities that the two studios have in the links below.

This story has been updated and corrected.

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Darth_Gus

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I just hope ubi uses some different engine or something like that, all games looks and feel the same, just like a shared universe.

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freeformrulz

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oh yea i forgot they r making a new avatar game

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DarthRevenX

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Avatar as in James Cameron's Avatar or XBOX Avatars???

I like James Cameron's Avatar a lot but I don't want a game based on it.......

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KhanWasHere

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Edited By KhanWasHere

An Avatar game is a great idea. These people are finally learning!

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BenHarris8888

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An Avatar game is a bad idea. Why do these people never learn?

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obinordanic

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Edited By obinordanic

@benharris8888: Because MONEY MONEY MONEY is n1 priority for Ubisoft. They don't care how well the games are made.

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GamerSince78

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Well great...one of the men responsible (along with Troedsson at Dice)for not giving us bad company 3 joins the company that gave us Division....this should be a great game lol...

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darklordvyperx

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Well, hopefully this Avatar game isn’t an absolute dumpster fire like the last one. I still won’t play it, unless it has an original story and it’s actually good. Also to those of you who say that all Ubisoft games play the same, you’re idiots. Explain to me how Assassin’s Creed plays like Beyond Good and Evil? Or how Watchdogs is even remotely Similar to Baldur’s Gate? Or how Far Cry is like Grandia? Do your research before you make yourself look stupid.

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DarthRevenX

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@darklordvyperx: sorry but all of Ubisoft games are the same.......

Far Cry is assassins without the parkour and climbing but all of the tedium and tower climbing and checkpoint assaulting.....

Watch dogs is nearly exactly like assassins and far cry.....just add hacking to the list.....but in a way it's just the modern version of eagle vision ugh

the tom clancy games are all pretty much modern military themed assassins creed games maybe without tower climbing.....and they're all sh**ty TC games anymore.....

the only things that don't fit this model is the rabids and friggin rayman sh**t......and anything else kinda indie they manage to gobble up and sh**t back out.....

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GamerSince78

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@darklordvyperx: you just answered your own question....but you have it backwards....Please explain to me how you cant see how Assassins Creed is exactly like watch dogs and far cry....lol i mean seriously...

Ubisoft game architecture meeting....."hey, add big map, no story, lots of collectibles and that is your game."

Ubisoft is the new EA...name me another studio that have games that sold like crazy (division, for honor, GRW) and then saw their playbase dwindle by 80-90% after 3 months....Ubisoft, thy name is mediocrity.

If you are going to fanboy over a studio, pick a good one....

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darklordvyperx

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@gamersince78: rofl assassins creed is like farcry. Dumbest thing I've ever heard.

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GamerSince78

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Edited By GamerSince78

@darklordvyperx: Aside from the insane similarities in the gameplay and story, there is data hidden in an Abstergo computer in AC4 which mentions CToS, Blume, and even has the Blume logo. Abstergo is also mentioned in Watch_Dogs. As for Far Cry, there are abstergo branded containers in Far Cry 3...lol

I love when know-it-alls come in...shout blatant crap...then get OWNED...lol

Or...

The radio towers/view points/CtOS towers when conquered unlocks new missions, side quests, boring collectibles etc.

-The outposts/Templar forts (or Assassin headquarters)/CtOS control centres when conquered removes danger of enemies roaming around that region opens up new side quests and etc.

Lolz....ya...nothing like it at all lolz.

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darklordvyperx

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@gamersince78: Far cry plays nothing like assassin's creed or watchdogs. Just because abstergo or blume share a universe doesn't mean they're the same game. Plus your acting like a fucking ****. So you can get blocked and eat a dick maggot.

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GamerSince78

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@darklordvyperx: Lolz....translation...I lost the argument, I'm taking my ball and going home...triggered!

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deactivated-5a191f2c70ab1

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That new office looks like Stalin residence. So fitting.

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tingtong

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They shouldn’t make an Avatar game til like 2050 when VR isn’t a joke. By that time all the movies will had been completed.

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R4gn4r0k

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Ubisoft has so many studios

But all their games play the same :/

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lorddaggeroff

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Wow that Stockholm buildings realistic, what game is it, is that the producer (guy who put photogrammetry in starwars)who worked for ea game.

Whose ubisoft.

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BigGamerDude

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I thought it was peter moore for a second

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yukushi

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I wish ubisoft would get some different developers with fresh ideas, all their games are pretty much the same thing except in some you are shooting and in others you are using a sword.

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BigGamerDude

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@yukushi: No, dude. Thats really not it. The only game that i can think of from ubi that is the same is AC and WD. All the other games arent the same stuff, but there are other problems.

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lostaname

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Edited By lostaname

What on earth could go wrong?

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DarthRevenX

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@lostaname: 10 million trillion things can go wrong at any given time, it;s simply a matter of odds......where the wheel lands, there the great chain pulls, where the force takes us, where the floor gives way......<enough with the metaphors!!!!!

also ubisoft is a master at attaining the worst outcome possible with everything.....

poop logo

all games are formulaic

everything is high concept and undercooked

and that's the nice version believe it or not.....

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UltimateBastard

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@lostaname: how many words are we limited to in the comment section?

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lolfooledyou

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The guy responsible for running Mirror's Edge and Battlefront into the ground? Yeah no thanks.

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DarthRevenX

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@lolfooledyou: it's nuts that they had all that time to think about mirror's Edge and they just made the same exact mistake gameplaywise.....

i think in Mirror's Edge they should have rethought it as just a on foot third person parkour messenger game, find the best flow and route, the best time and all that and totally take out the combat....think up some other obstacle or if combat had to be in limit what security use to just clubs and sticks.....[idea being subdue, not kill]

even in normal shooters i don't like being shot at and i doubly hate it when i can't use guns myself......IDK, maybe there was just no redemption for Mirror's Edge......

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deactivated-5d04c6ddb5adc

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@darthrevenx: I thought Mirror's Edge Catalyst combat was awesome. Kind of shows how some people can't learn new styles of play, making something easy hard.

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BigGamerDude

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@darthrevenx: The fans would trash ME if they took that idea you had simply because of 3rd person perspective.

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DarthRevenX

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@biggamerdude: then what's the answer?? keep putting large square pegs in small round holes???

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BigGamerDude

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@darthrevenx: Break from EA i guess

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DarthRevenX

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@biggamerdude: I already either don't get a lot from or don't buy anything from the big 4.....

i don't buy a lot from EA, I buy less from 2K and hActivision and I buy nothing from Ubisoft......

the biggest upcoming game I'm excited for is Cyberpunk 2077 mainly cus it sounds more like a proper RPG as well as...well i'd say a better Deus Ex but that's not correct it sounds more like kinda Blade Runner but not really lol

[the story is supposed to be personal to the character you play as and not world changing, you're saving yourself and not the city or the world]

about the only EA game I have interest in is Battlefront 2 but I'll be waiting at least a week to hear how it turns out before deciding.....

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BigGamerDude

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Edited By BigGamerDude

@darthrevenx: i do buy AC from Ubisoft, and far cry as well, but not new. I dont pre order those as well.

I guess technically, since blizz and activision are one in the same now, I kind of buy from activision - (OW, HOTS)

C2077 looks ok - but i genuinely dont understand the huge hype around it. No gameplay shown, just a trailer...

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