“Ubisoft Scalar is a fundamental new technology that allows Ubisoft titles to use the power of the cloud so that developers are not limited by time or hardware, but by their imagination. The result could enable bigger, more social and richer game worlds than anything seen so far from Ubisoft.“, explains Ubisoft, which is working on this technology from its Stockholm studio, in collaboration with Ubisoft Massive, Ubisoft Redlynx, Ubisoft Bucharest and Ubisoft kyiv.
Not to be confused with in-house engines like Anvil and Snowdrop, Scalar is a tool that works in addition to the engines in question and intends to eliminate the technical constraints with which developers have always had to juggle. “Once we remove them, what do we really want to create?“, rightly asks product manager Per-Olof Romell. A good question that no one answers, but at least we know that a new license is in the works to fully exploit the possibilities offered by this technology.
“A very important aspect that Ubisoft Scalar brings is that the services are always available. The game is constantly running and it is always possible to update certain elements. Developers can create very rich worlds that can grow, evolve, and change as players play through them. This creates a much closer bond between developers and players“, adds technical director Christian Holmqvist.
“It will become possible to have more players in a single shared world, which I believe will introduce new social experiences that we have never seen before. It will also be possible to create world simulations on a scale and with a complexity never seen before. If you add this to one of Ubisoft’s pillars and strengths – world building – it allows us to build bigger and richer worlds for players“, ensures for his part Patrick Bach, general manager of Ubisoft Stockholm.