Ubisoft has revealed a new Ubisoft Scalar cloud technology that will allow them to create games that will completely change the gaming industry.
Ubisoft Stockholm CEO Patrick Bach, technical director Christian Holmqvist and CTO/engineering director Per-Olof Romell discussed the technology, called Ubisoft Scalar, during a GDC presentation taking place. on Thursday. They say it will allow Ubisoft to create game worlds larger and more complex than ever before, which can be updated in real time and absorbed by a wide range of players, creating new social experiences.
Following a reveal video that can be viewed below, Scalar product manager Romell began the Q&A portion of the presentation by explaining what the technology is all about. “Ubisoft Scalar is part of the underlying technology that enables Ubisoft games to use the power of cloud computing. In essence, it is really a big change in the mindset of the game industry. Try to look 10 years into the future and imagine where games will go, what their gameplay might be, and what you can expect from games and how you make them, …”
Bach, general manager of Battlefield studio DICE before joining Ubisoft, said that when the Stockholm studio was founded in 2017, it was “on a mission to break out of the stereotypes we know about how to make games and as well as push the technology further”.
He said: “How do you reimagine what games should and can develop in the future? And then start building in that direction to create a new experience, because in general, current titles often repeat from projects that have been done before. We wanted to get out of that and build something really big and different.”
Romell said that Scalar was born with the main meaning of creating a game that will no longer be constrained by the limitations that the hardware platform places when developing. “That limitation will always exist as long as we continue to develop the game. In fact, what we’re really good at is hiding those limitations and working around them, that’s really our expertise. Now, what Scalar really allows us to do is remove those restrictions entirely instead of removing their boundaries.
“That presented us with a whole new set of challenges, which was that we needed to rethink and relearn how to develop to create the experience we really wanted, so Scalar was completely transformative. everything.” Romell says Scalar’s cloud technology should not be confused with the online gaming capabilities of current cloud services. “Game streaming is a distribution model, it improves the accessibility of games, but it does not change the nature and quality of the titles. Now, what Ubisoft Scalar is all about is quality and the possibilities it opens up to us as game developers.”
He also said Scalar is not a new game engine. “I don’t think it makes much sense to rebuild game development tools the way we see games today. Scalar technology itself is an alternative and an option for existing game engines to use for cloud acceleration both in terms of production and real-time experience.”
So what can players expect from games made with Scalar? Holmqvist says: “A very important aspect of Scalar is that you always have services available to experience. The game will always run and always automatically update the patch during gameplay, so developers can create very rich worlds that can evolve and change the player’s experience, it will link more closely between players and game developers. ”
“I think in general what we should expect from this breakthrough in cloud technology is that first of all there will probably be more players, which I think will create immersive experiences,” said Bach. a new kind of community that we’ve never seen before. “You can also create a simulation game world on a larger scale that has never been seen before. Now we can build even bigger worlds for players to participate in.”
Scalar is a decentralized technology available on Ubisoft and their Stockholm, Kiev, Malmo, Helsinki and Bucharest studios are currently working on it. “Ubisoft Stockholm is working on a brand new IP developed in parallel with Scalar and of course their goal is to take advantage of all the possibilities of this new technology, but it’s a bit early to talk about that right now. now,” Bach said. What do you think about this Ubisoft Scalar technology, don’t forget to leave a comment about your thoughts below.
