[GameSpot] - Ubisoft Announces Plans To Make A Theme Park, Despite Initial Plans Stalling Out

[343iBot]

Despite initially stalling out on plans to make Ubisoft-branded theme parks years ago, the Assassin's Creed publisher hasn't given up on this. In fact, the Paris-based company this week announced a partnership with Storyland Studios to create a pitch for a "full-scale Ubisoft theme park."

The news comes by way of Theme Park Insider. Storyland Studios boss Ben Thompson said Ubisoft's franchises are "iconic and globally recognizable," making them a good match for a park.

"The settings within Ubisoft's game worlds are a perfect tapestry for physical world creation--whether historic, real life, city-based, under the ocean, or on a different planet," Thompson said. "For an experience designer like Storyland, it's an incredibly exciting sandbox to play in. We're thrilled to have been entrusted with this opportunity."

Storyland is a design company that counts Universal Studios and Legoland as some of its clients, so the company is indeed a force inside the theme park industry.

Ubisoft's Mathilde Bresson said, "Video games and themed parks have a lot more in common than we think. We are excited to join forces with Storyland to continue exploring the potential for synergies and design immersive, innovative and unforgettable experiences based on our catalog of worlds."

According to the report, the concepts that Storyland is coming up with for Ubisoft will be "primarily indoor" attractions and could be applied to multiple parks around the globe. The first of these concepts will be unveiled at the IAAPA Expo this November.

In 2015, Ubisoft announced that it would create a "next-generation" theme park in Malaysia featuring the company's brands. This never happened, and a spokesperson for Ubisoft told reporter Stephen Totilo that "theme parks are complex projects... [not all] get fully realized." The spokesperson said Ubisoft amassed a "wealth of knowledge and experience" from its stalled park in Malaysia that it will apply to its new deal with Storyland. GameSpot has followed up with Ubisoft in an attempt to get more insight on the company's plans to get into the theme park business.

While Ubisoft's theme park might still be some time off, Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan opened earlier this year, and similar parks in Orlando and Hollywood are currently being constructed.

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