Mumbai: Ubisoft has acquired Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based visual effects studio for cinema, television and advertising.

Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 80 team members. The studio’s many projects include films as 300, Frank Miller’s Sin City and the Spy Kids series.

Ubisoft will work closely with Hybride to share technology and to develop tools in order to optimize the creation of both video games and visual.  At the same time, Hybride will continue to work with its film partners while also bringing its expertise to leverage Ubisoft’s intellectual properties for the movie industry.

"The future of our industry depends on our ability to create brands that captivate audiences and to extend those brands to other forms of entertainment," said  Ubisoft chief executive officer Yves Guillemot.  "The acquisition of Hybride falls directly into the strategy that has already led us to open a digital creation studio in Montreal and to acquire the Tom Clancy brand for video games and ancillary products.  The exceptional quality of the team at Hybride and the expertise of our Ubisoft teams will allow us to create one of the best 3D animation studios in the entertainment industry."

"This alliance is a true first for the industry," continued  Ubisoft Montreal chief executive officer Yannis Mallat.  "Ubisoft and Hybride share the same vision of entertainment convergence and a common passion for innovation and creativity."

"It is the quality and innovation of our artists that made Hybride into one of the most successful studios in cinema and the most important visual effects producer on the North American East Coast," stated Hybride Technologies founder and chief executive officer Pierre Raymond. "The sharing of technological and creative expertise between Ubisoft and Hybride will position the two companies at the head of the pack in an entertainment industry in rapid evolution."

In addition to bringing its technological knowledge and its collaboration to Ubisoft’s brands, Hybride will continue to work with its external partners.  The forecast is that this visual effects creation activity for cinema, television and advertising will initially generate sales of approximately 6 to 7 M€ and a current operating income of about 10 per cent of sales.