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Ubisoft Reflections

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Ubisoft Reflections Limited
Formerly
  • Reflections (1984–1998)
  • Reflections Interactive Limited (1998–2006)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Founders
  • Martin Edmondson
  • Nicholas Chamberlain
HeadquartersPartnership House,
Newcastle upon Tyne
,
England
Key people
Lisa Opie (managing director)
Products
Number of employees
240+[1] (2018)
Parent
Websitereflections.ubisoft.com

Ubisoft Reflections Limited (formerly Reflections and later Reflections Interactive Limited) is a British video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Founded in 1984 by Martin Edmondson and Nicholas Chamberlain, the studio focuses on racing games and it is best known for creating the award-winning Driver series. Reflections was acquired by GT Interactive in 1998 – which later turned into Atari Inc. – and sold to Ubisoft in 2006. The company worked in close cooperation with sister studio Ubisoft Leamington, until its closure in 2025.

History

[edit]

Martin Edmondson and Nicholas Chamberlain started developing games for the BBC Micro under the moniker "Reflections" in 1984.[2] Their first game was a Paperboy clone called Paper-Round that took two years to develop but was never released.[3] While working on that game, they started Ravenskull which would be their first published game, released in 1986 by Superior Software. This was followed by Codename: Droid and an Acorn Electron conversion of Stryker's Run in 1987.[3]

The name Reflections was first used for their 1989 hit Amiga game, Shadow of the Beast, published by Psygnosis which spawned two sequels. The original Amiga game was partially written by Paul Howarth,[4] and started out life as a parallax test of the blitter of the Amiga's Agnus chip; Paul later went on to work for Deep Red Games, a UK video game company based in Milton Keynes. A number of other Amiga and Atari ST games followed including Ballistix (1989), Awesome (1990) and Brian the Lion (1994). In 1995, they became known for Destruction Derby, which was critically acclaimed for its realistic physics and destruction, which later become Reflections' specialty. Due to the success, the game had four more sequels over the years.

On 9 January 1999, it was announced that Reflections had been acquired by GT Interactive in 1998, for a reported 2.7 million shares of common stock, which was valued at around US$14.17 million.[5][6] Reflections became well known for the game Driver, which was inspired by '70s cop shows like Starsky and Hutch and movies like Bullitt and The Driver. It has been followed by four sequels and four spin-offs. The company was subsequently renamed Reflections Interactive.

In 2004, studio founder Martin Edmondson left Reflections after the concepting stage of Driver: Parallel Lines, and sued Atari due to "constructive unfair dismissal as a result of Reflections alleged repudiatory breach of a contract of employment that necessitated Mr. Edmondson's resignation."[7] Martin's brother, Gareth Edmondson, took his place as the studio manager. In July 2006, Atari announced that it had transferred all of the staff and most of the assets of Reflections Interactive Limited, including the intellectual property and technology rights to the Driver series, to Ubisoft for US$24 million.[8]

Studio manager Gareth Edmondson, left Reflections after more than a ten-year presence at the studio in November 2011, two months after the launch of Driver: San Francisco.[9] It was announced in February 2013, that Pauline Jacquey had been hired as new managing director.[10]

In May 2013, Ubisoft Reflections announced that it was working on a new game, and that Ubisoft planned to announce the game at E3 2013.[11] On 10 June 2013, during Ubisoft's press conference, it was revealed that Reflections was working with developer Ivory Tower on the racing game The Crew.[12]

Reflections then started to take on more support work for other developers' games. In February 2014, it was announced that the studio would assist Ubisoft Massive in the development of Tom Clancy's The Division.[13] Watch Dogs, released in May 2014, from Ubisoft's Montreal and Toronto studios, began life as a new entry in the Driver series before becoming an original IP. Reflections provided development support, handling the game's driving missions, among other elements. The studio returned for the 2016 sequel.[14]

In 2015, Reflections released Grow Home, a procedurally animated climbing game originally developed as a side project by members of the team.[15] A sequel, Grow Up, was released in 2016.[16]

In January 2017, with the acquisition of FreeStyle Games, Richard Blenkinsop was named managing director of Reflections and the newly-renamed Ubisoft Leamington.[17] In March 2018, it was announced that Reflections, and six other studios, would work on The Division 2.[18]

In February 2020, following the studio's transition to a support team, Reflections reported a 10% in revenue.[19] In July, the studio expanded to a third floor at it's headquarters in Partnership House.[20] That September, Ubisoft announced that Red Storm and Reflections would be working on Oculus VR games based on its Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell franchises.[21][22] However, the Splinter Cell VR game was later cancelled in 2022.[23] Assassin's Creed Nexus VR was released in November 2023.[24]

Blenkinsop retired in 2021 and was replaced by Lisa Opie as managing director of both studios that May.[25]

In January 2025, Ubisoft Reflections was downsized. At the same time, the Leamington office, which Reflections frequently collaborated with, was closed. When combined with layoffs in Düsseldorf and Stockholm, 185 employees were affected.[26]

Games developed

[edit]
Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
1986 Ravenskull Acorn Electron, BBC Micro Superior Software
1987 Codename: Droid Acorn Electron, BBC Micro
Stryker's Run Acorn Electron
1989 Ballistix Amiga, Atari ST Psygnosis
Shadow of the Beast Amiga
1990 Shadow of the Beast II Amiga, Atari ST
Awesome Amiga, Atari ST
1992 Shadow of the Beast III Amiga
1994 Brian the Lion Amiga
1995 Destruction Derby MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn
1996 Destruction Derby 2 MS-DOS, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
1998 Thunder Truck Rally MS-DOS, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows
1999 Driver macOS, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows GT Interactive
2000 Driver 2 PlayStation Infogrames
2002 Stuntman PlayStation 2
2004 Driv3r PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Atari
2006 Driver: Parallel Lines PlayStation 2, Xbox
2007 Wii, Microsoft Windows Ubisoft
Driver 76 PlayStation Portable
2008 Emergency Heroes Wii
2009 Monster 4x4: Stunt Racer Wii
2011 Driver: San Francisco[27] macOS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360
Just Dance 3 PlayStation 3
2012 Just Dance 4 PlayStation 3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
2013 Just Dance 2014 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
2014 Just Dance 2015 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
The Crew PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, Xbox 360
2015 Grow Home[28] Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4
2016 Grow Up Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Just Dance 2017 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Wii U, Microsoft Windows
2017 Nintendo Switch
Atomega[28] Microsoft Windows
Ode Microsoft Windows

References

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  1. ^ "Studio profile" (PDF). ubistatic-a.akamaihd.net. 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Which Games are Made in the UK?". Kotaku UK.
  3. ^ a b Profile, A&B Computing, October 1988
  4. ^ Kenreck, Todd. "Why 'Shadow of The Beast' Is A Massive Cult Hit". Forbes.
  5. ^ "GT Interactive adds another software developer to its stable". ARN.
  6. ^ "GT Buys UK Dev House".
  7. ^ Gibson, Ellie (27 February 2006). "Atari reaches settlement with ex-Reflections boss". GamesIndustry. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  8. ^ Carless, Simon (13 July 2006). "Atari Sells Driver, Reflections To Ubisoft". Gamasutra. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  9. ^ Rose, Mike (14 November 2011). "Gareth Edmondson Leaves Ubisoft Reflections After 10 Years". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  10. ^ Cocke, Taylor (28 February 2013). "Watch Dogs Dev Hires New Managing Director". IGN. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  11. ^ "Ubisoft Reflections Working on a Unannounced Game, Reveal at E3". Joystiq. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  12. ^ "Ubisoft Reveals the Crew a New Racer From Ivory Tower and Reflections at E3". Edge Online. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  13. ^ Makuch, Eddie (7 February 2014). "PS4, Xbox One game The Division not in trouble, dev insists". GameSpot. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  14. ^ Peel, Jeremy (24 May 2021). "Inside the Driver game that died so that Watch Dogs could live". VG247. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  15. ^ Puga, Lauren (23 January 2015). "Ubisoft Announces Procedurally Animated Climbing Game Grow Home". IGN. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  16. ^ Donlan, Christian (13 June 2016). "Grow Home's sequel Grow Up lands in August". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  17. ^ Romano, Sal (18 January 2017). "Ubisoft acquires FreeStyle Games". Gematsu. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  18. ^ Palumbo, Alessio (9 March 2018). "Ubisoft Massive Explains Why They Went With The Division 2 Instead of Updating The Current Game". Wccftech. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  19. ^ Ford, Coreena (3 February 2020). "Newcastle games developer Ubisoft Reflections boosts revenues with collaborations". Business Live. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  20. ^ Ford, Coreena (28 July 2020). "Computer games firm Ubisoft Reflections expands in former Northern Rock HQ". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  21. ^ Statt, Nick (16 September 2020). "VR Assassin's Creed and Splinter Cell games are coming". The Verge. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  22. ^ Parlock, Joe. "Ubisoft Announces New 'Assassin's Creed' And 'Splinter Cell' Games Exclusively For Oculus VR Devices". Forbes. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  23. ^ Baker, Harry (21 July 2022). "Ubisoft Cancels Development Of Splinter Cell VR". UploadVR. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  24. ^ Kamen, Matt. "'Assassin's Creed Nexus VR' Makes the Case for Immersive Gaming—Finally". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  25. ^ Partis, Danielle (18 May 2021). "Lisa Opie appointed managing director at Ubisoft Reflections and Leamington Studios". Gamesindustry.biz.
  26. ^ Phillips, Tom (27 January 2025). "Ubisoft announces studio closure as it lays off 185 staff". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  27. ^ "'Watch Dogs' reportedly started as 'Driver' reboot before Ubisoft intervened". NME. 24 May 2021.
  28. ^ a b Shoemaker, Richie (28 June 2022). "Time for Reflections: A chat with Ubisoft's Lisa Opie". MCV.
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