Ubi Soft Entertainment - Press News

UBI SOFT SIGNS PUBLISHING AGREEMENT WITH CRITERION STUDIOS

First game title to be released this fall

San Francisco, CA, August 14, 1997 -- Ubi Soft Entertainment today announced the signing of a three-year publishing agreement with Criterion Studios, a UK-based game development house with a reputation for developing state-of-the-art PC games. Under the agreement, Ubi Soft will publish Criterion titles in all global markets except Japan.

The first title to be released under the agreement will be Sub Culture, a visually stunning 3D action adventure game for PC CD-ROM. Set in a miniature underwater world, gamers maneuver a one-man submarine through realistic aquatic environments to bring peace between two warring factions and ultimately save their subterranean home from human pollution. Scheduled to debut this fall, Sub Culture features real-time 3D graphics, sophisticated underwater special effects, accurate physics-based dynamics modeling that produces exceptional realism, and complex gameplay driven by a highly developed storyline.

# # #

Criterion is best known for developing RenderWare(r), the most popular library for real time 3D graphics development on PC. The company's first game, Scorched Planet, was released in 1996. Criterion Studios is a division of Criterion Software. Criterion Software is a division of Canon Inc. The company is based in Guildford, UK.

Ubi Soft Entertainment, founded in 1986 in France by the five Guillemot brothers, is a $60 million European-based software publishing and distribution company with a presence in 37 countries, notably the U.S., China and Japan. Ubi Soft entered the software development arena in 1993 after its continued success in software distribution, representing 35% of all entertainment software to the French market. The company now distributes software in Europe for more than 50 companies, including Lucas Arts, Konami, Broderbund, 7th Level, Blue Byte, Blizzard, Bayard Presse and The Discovery Channel.

In the U.S., Ubi Soft is best known for Rayman, a blockbuster action/adventure game for all ages that debuted in 1995. The company also has its own line of unique family-oriented entertainment and edutainment products, including a new sci-fi racing game called POD that is the first racing game to offer the option to link up to eight simultaneous players directly over the Internet.

[Main] [Back issues] [Feedback]