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Ubisoft Acquires TrackMania Developer Nadeo
by Kris Graft
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October 5, 2009
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Ubisoft on Monday said it has "positioned itself in the multiplayer segment" with the acquisition of Paris-based developer Nadeo, developer of the popular online multiplayer racing game TrackMania.
"The acquisition of Nadeo is an important step in our expansion within the online gaming sector", said Yves Guillemot, CEO of Paris-based Ubisoft. "Through Nadeo, Ubisoft will gain an expert team, one of the best online technologies around as well as a flagship multiplayer game that enjoys an unrivalled reputation among a loyal and committed community."
He added, "We are excited about the idea of introducing TrackMania to an ever-wider audience and sharing the expertise of Nadeo's teams with our company's other developers." Ubisoft did not disclose the terms of the acquisition in a press release.
The acquisition of Nadeo is the second Ubisoft acquisition in the past several months in which the publisher was particularly interested in multiplayer technology. When Ubisoft announced the acquisition of World in Conflict developer Massive Entertainment, Guillemot said the buy would help Ubisoft get its foot into the MMO space.
According to Ubisoft, TrackMania developer Nadeo was founded in 2000. The PC version of TrackMania has 700,000 unique players monthly, and has been host to nearly 15 million user-created tracks since 2008. The game has 10 million registered players, Ubisoft said.
"Nadeo's team is pleased for this acquisition to happen," commented Nadeo CEO Florent Castelnerac. "Like players in a community, we see ourselves as being a complementary fit with Ubisoft and believe that we can share and quickly move ahead together."
Ubisoft has been aggressively expanding over the past couple of years through studio acquisitions and the founding of new studios, namely, the recently-announced Ubisoft Toronto studio into which the Ontario government will invest CAD$263 million ($226 million) over the next 10 years.
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The phrase "We are excited about the idea of introducing TrackMania to an ever-wider audience" means: We are excited about getting another franchise, porting it to console and dumbing it down like we did to Rainbow Six and Prince of Persia.
Also, Hélder, developers don't have an infinite amount of people that they can use to there disposal. Sequels will only be made if they're successful - YOU wouldn't waste $15 million again if your first game didn't make that back or didn't have the anticipated fan-base.
Mind you, I like ubisoft, and I like nadeo too, but I like them separated... Because before Ubisoft bought Tom Clancy stuff and POP stuff, I liked them too (and now I hate them, really... they changed the genre of the games and dumbed them down... they sell more this way? maybe... but they alienate the original fans, and I think that this is bad in long-term unless you made a really great new stuff, and that is not the case here... it is like what Sega is doing with the lastest Sonic games...)