Bear in mind Ubisoft’s announcement final October it was at present within the “exploration part” of a brand new Rayman challenge? Properly, it appears full growth has now been given the go forward, with a latest job itemizing indicating the writer is at present staffing up on a “AAA” Rayman sport.
To rewind a bit, all this happened following experiences final 12 months that Ubisoft had assembled a small group of builders – together with round a dozen members of its now-disbanded Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown workforce – to work on a remake of Rayman. Considerably unusually, Ubisoft did not instantly attain for the ‘doesn’t touch upon rumours or hypothesis’ button, as an alternative confirming that, sure really, it was form of true. “We’re happy to substantiate Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan have not too long ago began an exploration part on the Rayman model,” it stated on the time. “The challenge continues to be in its early phases, and we’ll share extra particulars later.”
There was a way, then, that nothing may come of the challenge if that “exploration part” did not convey encouraging outcomes. However it now seems these preliminary experiments confirmed adequate promise, as a result of Ubisoft Milan is at present in search of a 3D gameplay animator to work on a “prestigious AAA title for the Rayman model.” There’s additionally a second, barely much less particular job itemizing trying to find a senior sport designer to “work on the Rayman model”, nevertheless it appears probably each positions are associated to the identical challenge.
In order that’s some encouraging information for Rayman followers, significantly given Ubisoft Montpellier and Milan’s traditionally stellar output. Between them, the studios have launched the acclaimed likes of Mario + Rabbids, the gorgeous Valiant Hearts collection, Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown, plus Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends – two completely gold-standard 2D platformers.
The one troubling component of Rayman’s revival is final 12 months’s controversial admission by Ubisoft that unique Rayman creator Michel Ancel had been drafted in as a advisor. Ancel departed the writer in 2020, allegedly following an investigation into worker complaints accusing him of poisonous management, and his involvement with the brand new Rayman challenge was reported to have “raised some issues amongst workforce members”. It’s, nevertheless, unclear if Ancel continues to be serving as a advisor now Ubisoft’s preliminary “exploration part” seems to be full.
Indicators that Rayman could also be making a “AAA” return come at a difficult time for Ubisoft. The writer has confronted a tumultuous few years amid tumbling share costs and quite a few high-profile flops, leading to a string of layoffs and studio closures. As a part of its makes an attempt to proper the ship, Ubisoft introduced it was launching a brand new subsidiary devoted to its huge three IPs – Murderer’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry – earlier this 12 months. With these sport underneath a brand new banner, Ubisoft itself will think about quite a few key areas, together with “nurturing the event of iconic franchises” – which is presumably the place Rayman is available in.
