Ubisoft Raids Hollywood

French publisher expands further into movies and TV, picking up Heroes and Beowulf. Lost details too.

Ubisoft may be well known in gaming circles as the creator of Prince of Persia and all those Tom Clancy war games, but announcements this week prove that the company is looking way beyond just its current audience.

The company made three big announcements this week, all tied to the movie and TV industries.

Ubisoft gave more details on its video game adaptation of island-bound mystery series Lost and confirmed that it has secured the rights to make games based on both new sci-fi hit Heroes and the upcoming fantasy movie Beowulf.

The Lost game, developed at Ubisoft's Montreal studio and due in early 2008, casts you as one of the survivors of doomed Oceanic Air flight 815 out of Australia. You find yourself alive and confused on the anonymous Pacific island with the rest of the characters from the show. During the course of the game you'll not only come to grips with your immediate problems but also, in true Lost fashion, confront the demons from your past.

Lost

Ubisoft has been less forthcoming with play specifics for Heroes, the adaptation of the latest sci-fi TV hit. The show features ordinary people around the world who discover they've developed super powers. Heroes has been one of the top new TV series among the under-50 set in the US.

According to Reuters, Ubisoft is turning Heroes into a third-person action game for consoles and PC. No released date has been confirmed that late 2008 has been suggested.

Fans don't have to be worried about a cheap cash-in, though. Jesse Alexander, a producer on the show, told Reuters the Heroes creators have been "writing some of our stories in ways they can tie into the eventual video game."

Away from the small screen, Ubisoft has also signed a deal to make the official game for this autumn's Beowulf, a big-screen take by Forest Gump director Robert Zemeckis on the classic tale of the Norseman's adventures in Denmark.

Beowulf

The third-person swords-'n'-muscles game, due in November, promises even more access to Beowulf's turbulent life, letting players experience three decades of his life and adventures not seen in the movie. It's being developed by Ubisoft's Tiwak studio using technology last seen in the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games.

In recent weeks, Ubisoft has also revealed that it's working on a video game based on Avatar, a science fiction movie from James Cameron - his first time in the director's chair since Titanic - and another based on popular crime series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

The company has gone from strength to strength in recent years. As part of its quarterly earnings report earlier this week, Ubisoft said it had doubled its take compared to last year, mostly thanks to the success of Rainbow Six: Vegas, and new releases for Surf's Up, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and older games such as the Petz series.

Most of that success has been in Europe, which was responsible for 47 per cent of Ubisoft's sales.

The company's figures also suggest that the uptake of next-generation consoles is on the up, with 51 per cent of all sales between March and June coming for games for Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with Sony's new console being the most popular of the three.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo