Ubisoft Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

The Ubisoft Forward game showcase event debuted brand-new footage for “Star Wars: Outlaws,” Ubisoft’s expensive, open-world take on the “Star Wars” universe. The gameplay saw players going through a third-person stealth-action mission filled with crouching, shooting, bonking people on the head and most other standard gameplay mechanics of AAA studio third-person games.

cinematic trailer on Sunday for “Star Wars: Outlaws,” the first open world “Star Wars” video game which will be launched next year. The trailer, which aired during the Xbox Games Showcase, introduces fans to Kay Vess, a young smuggler desperate for a way out as she is hunted by the criminal syndicates that have prospered under the Galactic Empire’s reign and who are the true power on the backwater planets where Kay struggles to survive.

Star Wars Outlaws below.“Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game, set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi,” reads the description for Star Wars Outlaws‘ trailer.“Explore distinct planets across the galaxy, both iconic and new. Risk it all as Kay Vess, an emerging scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix.

“Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth” is officially due to drop in 2024. The highly anticipated addition to the role-playing franchise will arrive for the PS5, notably on “two discs.” (What that detail means is still unclear, but a logical assumption would be that the game is just that big.)The major announcement was the last of many revelations at the Summer Game Fest 2023 big games showcase on Thursday, held at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles to highlight upcoming releases gamers can look forward to in the near future.

UPDATED with statement: After a story this week from Deadline’s sister publication Rolling Stone detailed allegations against Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham, the actor has issued a statement on the matter, the text of which Deadline has confirmed with his representative.

Sega has joined a number of other game publishers in missing E3 this year, leading to the game industry questioning whether the Los Angeles convention will still go ahead.As reported by IGN, Sega said that “after careful consideration, we have decided not to participate in E3 2023 as an exhibitor. We look forward to sharing more information on announced and unannounced projects in the future.”IGN found that Tencent will also be skipping E3 2023, and claimed that more publishers will not be attending but are yet to make an announcement.The news comes just days after Ubisoft confirmed it would not be attending E3, with the Assassin’s Creed developer deciding to “move in a different direction” and host its own live event in June.Both companies join Xbox and Nintendo in skipping E3 2023, while it’s been reported that Sony will also miss the convention.

Rylan Clark is adding another job to his already hectic schedule and that's helping shoppers find the best deal in Amazon's new spring sale.

Ubisoft has revealed Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace, the first of three games that the studio will be making with Netflix.Announced today (March 20), Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace will take place in the same universe as Ubisoft’s free 2015 game The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot.Set to launch for Netflix Games’ mobile app on April 18, Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace has been developed by Ubisoft’s Paris team.The first trailer for Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace features Hades-style isometric combat, and hints at a treasure hunt that’s gone wrong.Speaking to press, Etienne Tardieu – who leads mobile business and distribution at Ubisoft – said the game will feature an “innovative meta layer” to help make the roguelike genre more approachable to players.Leanne Loombe, vice president of external games at Netflix, added that Mighty Quest: Rogue Palace will feature “an improved formula, deepened narrative and upgraded frantic action gameplay”.Elsewhere, London-based developer Ustwo will be bringing its Monument Valley series to Netflix Games, and teased an unannounced collaboration that’s in the works.Ustwo made its Netflix debut last year, launching strategy rogue-like Desta: The Memories Between in September.As part of a press roundtable, María Sayans – Ustwo’s CEO – revealed that the studio appreciated Netflix’s strength as a publisher, and pointed to its localisation efforts for Desta‘s launch across the world.NME gave Desta four stars out of five in our review, praising the game as “a touching message about finding the right words”.Finally, Netflix has also announced that Super Evil Megacorp – the developer behind Vainglory and Catalyst Black – is creating a game based on a new, unannounced Netflix IP.While the game is early in development,

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is continuing its push to bring out a diverse set of games — ranging from casual puzzle titles to AAA games — included for no extra cost with its streaming plans, on the theory that it will help drive up and retain subscribers. Since bowing its first games globally in November 2021, the company has released 55 games. About 40 more are slated for later this year, which would bring the lineup to 95. In addition, Netflix Games has around 70 titles in development with partners, plus 16 games currently being developed by its in-house game studios, which include one in Southern California built around Chacko Sonny, the former Activision Blizzard executive producer behind “Overwatch.”

Ubisoft is reportedly shutting down offices across Europe, with the company telling NME it is working on a “strategic reorganisation” of its European subsidiaries.Today (March 3) a Resetera user claimed to have received an email from Ubisoft announcing the closure of an office in Benelux.“As we all know, the market is constantly evolving and as an organization, we need to keep up with it,” reads the supposed email. “At this time, Ubisoft is facing several challenges due to external factors, such as the decline in sales volume of physical games in favor of digital sales, the centralization of marketing by digitizing all our communication channels, the shift from major retail releases to F2P, mobile and seasonal games and less major physical shows.”“To meet the challenges of the future, Ubisoft’s management has decided to close a number of subsidiaries in Europe,” it continues.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 has today (March 1) released its newest season, Reign of Fire. This newest season focuses on the alliance between in-game baddies the Black Tusk and the True Sons.If you haven’t played The Division 2 in a while, there are plenty of new story beats going on. A section of the True Sons led by Captain Lewis is now siding with The Division and private military company the Black Tusk’s mysterious CEO Natalya Sokolova is stepping from the shadows into a more prominent role in the story as she arrives in Washington to contest The Division directly.There’s a trailer, below, which is light on details but big on explosions.The centerpoint of Reign of Fire is Zachary “Stovepipe” Beattie, an EOD specialist working within the Black Tusk.

Rainbow Six Siege operator Grim is currently planned for a rework, according to a round table on game balance and onboarding at Ubisoft’s HQ, along with remarks from NME’s interview with Siege’s creative director Alex Karpazis.Grim hasn’t made much of an impact in Rainbow Six Siege since his addition in Operation Brutal Swarm back in August 2022, and comments from the balancing round table have shown that the Siege developers are keen to look at how they can make him more interesting, admitting that while Grim is viable in high-level post-plant situations, but that “this operator needs to be viable at multiple times”Karpazis talks a little bit more about the approach the development team takes to reworks. “First we listen to the community,” said Karpazis.

NME was not shown any more information on how these operators might be equipped or the gadgets they might entail.Brava will join Brazillian colleagues Capitao and Caviera, while there are already two Korean operators in Dokkabei and Vigil. However, there hasn’t been a Swedish operator in the game since the original franchise’s Annika Lofquist – a deep cut if Ubisoft were to bring her back – and there has never been a Portuguese operator, so it’s a chance for players from those countries to play operators from those two places.At the Rainbow Six Siege world championship the Six Invitational, a heap of information on both new operation Commanding Force and Ubisoft’s upcoming plans for the next year has been revealed.

Rainbow Six Siege, with a rework arriving in the Year 8, Season 4 operation. It will be the biggest change to shield operators since the game’s launch, and NME spoke to Siege creative director Alex Karpazis at the Six Invitational to find out what’s changing.Karpazis points to shields as one of the standout features of Siege and something that really differentiated it at launch, but said that while the fantasy is about a super powerful force shaping the battlefield around them, in reality it’s “two operators dancing around each other super awkwardly, and we strip these elite operators from any of their fun and engaging tactical choices.”The rework will empower shield users, but rather than empowering them to be the godless killing machine that was shield-wielded attacker Blitz in 2018, here shield operators will be buffed to help with the role the development team on Siege had them planned for: protecting and observing.“At the moment we’re playing around with shield operators tucking in behind their shield, so there’s no hip fire on them anymore, but you can free look to have better situational awareness.” explains Karpazis.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope, Ubisoft has shared a track from the game with NME – which you can listen to below.‘Icy Battle Ballet’ was created by composer Grant Kirkhope for Sparks Of Hope, and you can listen to the track below:Speaking to NME, Kirkhope shared that he was “super happy” with how ‘Icy Battle Ballet’ turned out and described it as “my kind of John Williams, Home Alone-y thing.”“Mostly I’ve drawn from John Williams, just because he’s a legend – I can’t hope to ever get to his level of utter brilliance, but if I can get one per cent of it then I’ll be happy,” continued Kirkhope. “I was just trying to find something that was light, wintery and bouncy.

J. Kim Murphy Apple has released the first full trailer for the third season of its comedy series “Mythic Quest,” showing Rob McElhenney’s Ian and Charlotte Nicdao’s Poppy helming GrimPop Studios and teasing a rivalry between the pair and their old company. “Joe Manganiello? Nobody’s going to believe he could play me. He’s not big enough!” Ian exclaims in the trailer, reacting to news of the beefy actor (playing himself) being booked to portray the egotistical developer in motion-capture. New episodes of “Mythic Quest” follow Ian and Poppy at the helm of their new banner GrimPop, making a name for themselves in the video game developer world. Over at rival studio Mythic Quest, tensions brew and loyalties are tested.

Ubisoft‘s Toronto studio has revealed that an upcoming Splinter Cell remake will have a story designed for a “modern-day audience.”In a job listing (via PSU) seeking a scriptwriter, Ubisoft touched on how it’s approaching the task of remaking the first Splinter Cell game, which was released in 2002.“Using the first Splinter Cell game as our foundation we are rewriting and updating the story for a modern-day audience,” reads the job listing. “We want to keep the spirit and themes of the original game while exploring our characters and the world to make them more authentic and believable.”Ubisoft goes on to say that a successful applicant will “help create a cohesive and compelling narrative experience for a new audience of Splinter Cell fans,” and describes the position as “an opportunity to be part of a treasured franchise, rebuilt on Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine to deliver next-generation visuals and modernized stealth gameplay, while preserving what’s at the heart of the Splinter Cell experience.”The studio’s Splinter Cell remake was announced back in December 2021, and will be a ground-up remake of the 2002 title.

Jerry Bruckheimer Television CEO KristieAnne Reed has set her TV development team with two new hires and two other key JBTV execs.

Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe was announced at an Ubisoft Forward live stream on September 10, and alongside the 30-second trailer, developer Marc-Alexis Côté told fans to “tear apart” the footage for “secrets”.The trailer featured dark and mysterious imagery alongside the Assassins Creed logo constructed of wicker, with runes or symbols appearing in rings around it which fans had begun to craft theories about as soon as the trailer had aired.Game Pressure followed those instructions well (via The Loadout), with every second of the trailer having been scrutinised for information. They now believe they’ve found all of the secrets hidden within by identifying the runes as the Alphabet of the Magi.The Alphabet of the Magi is the modern name for a variant of the Hebrew alphabet invented by Paracelsus in the 16th century, according to Omniglot – a website dedicated to language and writing systems.By translating this Alphabet of the Magi, Game Pressure has come up with a German phrase: “Wir arbeiten im dem tunckel um dem licht zu dienen.” This translates into English as, “We work in the dark to serve the light,” which is a phrase Assassin’s Creed fans should be familiar with as it’s one of the franchise’s most iconic sayings.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is getting one last expansion, with The Last Chapter set to conclude Eivor’s story when it launches “in a few months time.”The Last Chapter follows Eivor as she grapples with Odin’s memories, continuing on from a twist in the game’s main story. In a teaser for the expansion, Eivor decides that it’s “time to say goodbye” to her companions and set out for “distant shores and new adventures.”While the expansion’s first teaser doesn’t reveal where Eivor is heading next, Ubisoft says The Last Chapter will reunite her with characters from the game and introduce her to “influential” historical figures.

Ubisoft Forward live stream event is taking place tonight (September 10) and is set to confirm the future of the Assassin’s Creed franchise following the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Mirage.After an unofficial image spread around the internet like wildfire on September 1 that seemed to contain information on the new Assassin’s Creed game, Ubisoft confirmed the details and promised a full reveal of Assassin’s Creed Mirage at the upcoming Ubisoft Forward event.That event streams live tonight and fans of the series eager for a further look at Mirage as well as a “peek at the future of the franchise” can tune in to Ubisoft Forward tonight (September 10) at 8PM BST / 12PM PT / 3PM ET on the Ubisoft YouTube channel, or Ubisoft’s Twitch channel where Twitch Drops will be enabled, meaning viewers can earn in-game rewards as they watch. It’ll also be available to watch below.Ubisoft has also promised a look at its other upcoming games such as Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Skull and Bones, the latter of which received a release date of November 8 earlier this year.

Ubisoft has confirmed the title of the next Assassin’s Creed game, with more details on Assassin’s Creed Mirage due next week.Yesterday (September 1) an image shared unofficially made rounds on social media that seemingly confirmed Assassin’s Creed Mirage. At 5pm BST, Ubisoft then confirmed the news, promising a full reveal at next week’s Ubisoft Forward.Ubisoft Forward is set to take place 10 September at 8pm BST.Assassin's Creed Mirage is the next Assassin's Creed game.We can't wait to tell you more on September 10 at Ubisoft Forward: 9PM CEST | 12PM PT.

Ubisoft has announced that its plan to decommission online services for several older games has been pushed back for a month, giving players longer to activate their single-player downloadable content (DLC).While today (September 1) was originally meant to be the day that Ubisoft removed online services for titles including Far Cry 3 and five Assassin’s Creed games, the studio has pushed that date back to October 1.“Over the last month, our teams have been hard at work exploring what is possible to reduce disruption,” shared Ubisoft in a blog post. “As a result, we moved the decommission date from September 1 to October 1, and the single-player DLC of several games on PC – Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Assassin’s Creed 3 (2012 release), Far Cry 3 and Splinter Cell Blacklist – will be available to download and keep before that date.”Ubisoft went on to clarify that Anno 2070 – one of the games originally scheduled to be decommissioned – will still be playable online.

Ubisoft’s Beyond Good And Evil 2 has a new lead writer – Sarah Arellano.The prequel to 2003’s Beyond Good And Evil was first teased in 2008 before officially being announced at 2017’s E3 conference with a trailer, though no release date was confirmed.Since then, updates on Beyond Good And Evil 2 have been few and far between. In 2020, creator Michel Ancel retired from the games industry but said work on Beyond Good And Evil 2 was “going super well,” before promising “beautiful things to be seen soon.”However, he said the same thing about Wild which was quietly cancelled in 2021.Earlier this year, it was reported that Beyond Good And Evil 2 was still in pre-production.

Tencent is reportedly looking to raise its stake in Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry publisher Ubisoft.According to a new report from Reuters, Tencent apparently expressed interest in the French publisher and is looking to raise the five per cent stake it placed in 2018.Two sources claimed that Tencent is aiming to “become the single largest shareholder” of Ubisoft with another stake purchase. At this time it’s unclear how much the company is planning on owning of the company.Additional sources said that Tencent does plan on purchasing the extrastake from the Guillemot family – the current CEO of Ubisoft – which own 15 per cent of the firm.

Apple today unveiled a first-look teaser for the third season of its critically acclaimed workplace comedy Mythic Quest, which is slated to premiere on Apple TV+ this fall.

Ubisoft has shared that the development of Splinter Cell VR, Ghost Recon: Frontline and two other unannounced titles have been cancelled.This was revealed during Ubisoft’s recent earnings call, where chief financial officer Frederick Duguet revealed Ubisoft would be undergoing “sizeable cost optimisation” in the upcoming fiscal year. With this in mind, Ghost Recon: Frontline, Splinter Cell VR and the two unannounced games have been cancelled so Ubisoft can put more resources into the company’s “biggest development opportunities” (via PC Gamer).Splinter Cell VR was announced in late 2020 for release on Oculus devices.

Ubisoft has delayed Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, quietly confirming a 2023-2024 release window in a first-quarter fiscal sales report.While the report highlights a “slightly better than expected” performance for the company, the rest of the report details a significant delay to Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora.While Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora was originally meant to launch in 2022 and coincide with the release of James Cameron‘s upcoming film Avatar: The Way of Water, Ubisoft has shared that it will now launch in either 2023 or 2024.On the delay, Ubisoft shared that while it is still committed to creating “a cutting-edge immersive experience that takes full advantage of next-gen technology,” the studio needs more time to do that.“While this additional development time is a reflection of the current ongoing constraints on productions across the industry, we are hard at work to design the most efficient working conditions to ensure both flexibility,” explained Ubisoft.In the report, Ubisoft added that it has also delayed a “smaller unannounced premium game” to 2023-2024.“The new high-value mobile partnership for one of our brands reflects the powerful appeal of our brands for the fast-growing AAA mobile segment,” shared Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot. “It also provides our teams with more time to fully realize their creative vision and deliver high-quality experiences for our fans, while at the same time increasing our visibility for both 2022-23 and 2023-24.”Earlier in the week, developers at Ubisoft discussed how “entitled gamers” make launching new games an unpleasant experience.

Ubisoft employees have addressed why developers avoid communicating with fans where possible, especially around the launch of a new title.Joe Hobbs, lead prop artist at Ubisoft Annecy, shared his thoughts via his Twitter page where he wrote that team members who are open online about their involvement with Ubisoft titles regularly receive abuse from “fans”, which has led to employees deciding to avoid associating with their achievements publicly.“I’ve received death threats in the past over Division 2. It’s unacceptable,” said Hobbs, before continuing, “The harassment that game develops receive is utterly disgusting and I see it in the comments of most devs who say pretty much anything.”Hobs then goes on to suggest that if players want devs to be more open and communicative, it cannot be met with demands and threats when they do make the decision to do those things, especially when such fans seem to be unaware of how games are made and which decisions certain roles are responsible for.Other developers responded in the Twitter thread by Hobbs to confirm that comments and abuse from fans has driven them away from social media “to the point I avoid saying anything about what I work on,” said Ubisoft artist Chris Goodridge.

Ubisoft has announced a presentation for Skull & Bones later this week, which will give players their first proper look at the gameplay of the long-delayed pirate game.Set to air at 7pm BST on Thursday 7 June via YouTube and Twitch, the showcase will feature “new gameplay, our unique take on piracy, and exclusive behind the scenes with developers” of Skull & Bones.If you tune in 15 minutes beforehand though, you’ll be treated “with a pre-show full of surprises”.Tune-in for a #UbiForward spotlight on #SkullAndBones and catch the worldwide gameplay reveal!July 7 at 11AM PT / 8PM CEST

Anno 2070 developer Ubisoft Mainz is allocating resources to upgrading the game’s online infrastructure following Ubisoft’s announcement that they would be shutting down online services for it on July 2.Ubisoft recently announced it would be shutting down online services for several of its older titles, including Anno 2070.“Closing the online services for some older games allows us to focus our resources on delivering great experiences for players who are playing newer or more popular titles. To help us achieve this, a number of older titles will be added to our list of decommissioned online services…”However, following this news, Anno 2070 developer Ubisoft Mainz made an update post on their website.

Kotaku, the reason Skull & Bones hasn’t been cancelled despite its tortured development is an agreement between Ubisoft and the Singaporean government.Kotaku senior reporter Ethan Gach quote-tweeted an article from Eurogamer regarding the rumoured November release of Skull & Bones.In the tweet, Gach said the game is on the way regardless of how development goes because of an agreement between Ubisoft and the Singaporean government. For those unaware, Skull & Bones is being developed by Ubisoft Singapore, a studio that has mostly worked with other Ubisoft studios to develop the Assassin’s Creed series.Was originally aiming for early summer.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope appears to have been leaked by its publisher Ubisoft. The alleged release date was spotted on the Ubisoft Store, with the game being slated for an October 20 release. The date has since been reverted back to the vague 2022 release window, although this hasn’t stopped people from taking screenshots and posting them online.

Ubisoft has announced an Assassin’s Creed celebration stream for today (June 14). To celebrate the franchise turning 15, the developer has promised a special look at the future of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, a look back at previous releases, and a tease of what’s to come this year.The stream will go live today at 5.00pm BST (9AM PST / 6PM CEST).

last year and described Duke as “Deadpool on steroids,” envisioning a story in which the egotistical, misogynistic brute from the ’90s transports into an alternate universe to meet a more respectful, woke version of himself in the future. Various producers have been trying to get a “Duke Nukem” movie off the ground since the ’90s, including a version by Lawrence Kasanoff, another by “Max Payne” producer Scott Faye during the late 2000s and again in 2018 when it was even set at Paramount and Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes with John Cena attached to star.Counterbalance Entertainment is the creative force behind “Cobra Kai.” Baronnet is the co-founder of Marlas Studios, a production company specializing in adapting video games into movies and TV shows.

Ubisoft has announced that The Division 2 is getting a brand new season, the first in almost two years, this week.Season nine, titled Hidden Alliance, will feature a new episodic narrative within The Division and will go live this week on May 12.Instead of exploring the multiple districts of Washington, the season’s focus will shift to the smaller areas of the map, and provide “more contained, concentrated stories, and to avoid repetition from season to season.” You can check out the Season Nine launch trailer below:Hidden Alliance will also introduce a new antagonist, named Captain Lewis, as well as four new mini-bosses for players to challenge that will release across multiple months. Starting on May 12, players can take on Major Castillo, with Sergeant Daniels following on May 31.