According to an official blog post published on the Massive Entertainment website, Ubisoft has rebranded subsidiary Creative House 2 to Massive Entertainment. The reorganization brings together studios across Sweden, Montréal, Paris, and Toronto to collectively develop a number of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises.
These combined teams will lead development on Tom Clancy’s The Division, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, among other unspecified franchises. In addition to managing these established blockbusters, the label will spearhead new original intellectual properties, including the upcoming title March of Giants.
Previously, development duties across these flagship franchises were split among several studios operating independently. Under this updated structure, the teams across Montréal, Paris, Sweden, and Toronto are consolidating under one shared brand to pool creative expertise across borders.
Beyond the core Tom Clancy titles highlighted in the announcement, Massive Entertainment’s scope leaves room for other properties that the studio previously had a hand in developing. This includes sci-fi blockbusters like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws, both of which were helmed by Massive and built in its proprietary Snowdrop engine. Given the unit’s focus on shooter mechanics and open worlds, a number of Ubisoft’s legacy action-shooters or stealth-adjacent franchises could logically fall under the Massive umbrella, such as the inactive Watch Dogs franchise.
The transition follows the appointment of Christoph Hartmann as General Manager earlier this year. Hartmann will continue to lead the unified entity.
“Massive Entertainment has always been defined by passion, ambition and incredible talent, and our focus now is on what comes next,” said Hartmann in the statement. “Bringing our teams together under one identity gives us the opportunity to combine the creative energy and expertise across Montréal, Paris, Sweden and Toronto to shape the next generation of these iconic franchises, create new games and IPs, and push our craft and technology forward.”
Ubisoft’s consolidation mirrors a broader shift across the games industry as publishers navigate skyrocketing AAA production costs and multi-year development cycles.
Major companies are aggressively consolidating disparate studios into focused hubs. Embracer Group executed a massive restructuring that split its network of global developers into standalone units like Coffee Stain and Asmodee. Similarly, Sony Interactive Entertainment reorganized PlayStation Studios by closing legacy outfits like Japan Studio to pool creative talent and technical resources around key core franchises like Astro Bot (Team Asobi).
