Ubisoft has acquired the rights to free-to-play, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) March of Giants from Amazon Games Montreal, as well as the developers behind it.
Announced yesterday, the team is set to join Ubisoft to continue development on the game. Amazon Games Montreal consists of a group of veteran developers, some of whom previously worked at Ubisoft. This includes senior production lead Alex Parizeau, former managing director of Ubisoft Toronto, and creative director Xavier Marquis, who was the original creative director of Rainbow Six Siege.
“March of Giants has a real opportunity to bring something fresh and dynamic to players, and to help Ubisoft compete in one of gaming’s biggest arenas,” said Yves Guillemot, co-founder and CEO of Ubisoft, as part of the announcement.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming back Alexandre, Xavier, and many of the seasoned March of Giants team who have previously worked at Ubisoft, and the entire team’s ambition, creativity, and talent align perfectly with our desire to build bold new experiences for players. We look forward to supporting them as they shape the future of this promising new IP.”
March of Giants is still in development, with the team running closed alpha tests throughout the year. According to the announcement, the team is currently working on the next “large-scale update,” which will add foundational systems “designed to support long-term growth.”
As part of the agreement, Amazon is set to provide Ubisoft with marketing support for March of Giants on Twitch.
“My thanks go to Amazon for their commitment during the first chapters of March of Giants,” said Parizeau. “Our closed alpha was an important milestone and showed a glimpse of the game’s real promise. Now, by joining Ubisoft, we’re uniting behind a shared vision to build March of Giants into one of the next great, enduring MOBAs.”
“We’re proud of what our team in Montreal has built with March of Giants,” said Steve Boom, VP of audio, Twitch, and games at Amazon. “We’re confident that under Ubisoft’s leadership, the talented developers in Montreal will continue to thrive and create amazing game experiences.”
Amazon ended active development on MMO New World in October
Amazon itself has had a fraught relationship with some previous releases, and seemingly has shifted its overall game strategy as a result. Four years after release, Amazon Games ended active development on New World: Aeternum just this October. At the time, Amazon said it reached a point where “it is no longer sustainable to continue supporting the game with new content updates.”
The announcement followed the news of the conglomerate laying off 14,000 employees within its corporate workforce, including people in the video game division. In a memo to staff, which was obtained by Variety, the company said the staff cuts indicate a larger strategy shift within the game division.
In said memo, Boom reportedly said the company made the “difficult decision to halt a significant amount of our first-party triple-A game development work,” specifically around MMOs, within Amazon Game Studios. This translated to “significant role reductions” in Amazon’s studios in Irvine and San Diego, as well as its central publishing team. March of Giants was one of the games mentioned in the memo. At the time, Boom reportedly said the Montreal team “concluded a successful closed alpha” and was “working hard to finish the game.”
