Future Talent Empowerment
Future Talent Empowerment
Ubisoft’s Future Talent Empowerment represents our commitment to share knowledge with talents of today and tomorrow. Ubisoft supports young talents early on, guiding them while becoming professionals in the games industry. Our Future Talent Empowerment expertly blends theory and practice as we collaborate with teaching institutes from schools to universities.
Together we offer insightful and exciting opportunities tailored towards pupils, students, teachers and career starters. For an overview on what it means to work in the games industry and develop AAA games, check out a collection of essential info below. Offers specifically designed for students and pupils are available via the respective links here:
Working in the Games Industry
AAA videogames – the biggest projects in game development – are developed by large multidisciplinary teams and require a lot of work and special knowledge. Hence, our development teams consist of talented people with a diverse set of skills and tasks that all work together to create unforgettable video games experiences. If you want to know more about how we make videogames and what kind of different jobs contribute to AAA game development, you can find an overview on this page. By the way: game development ranks among the most cosmopolitan industries in the world. Therefore, the industry’s common language is English – this also goes for our studios and teams.
Game Development Areas
To give you an overview, let’s start with the main disciplines of game development. This is only a high-level outline, and each area is home to many specialized jobs and occupations. For starters, here is a list of job examples for the first discipline “Game Art”: Concept Artist, Level Artist, Tech Artist, 3D Artist, Environment Artist, Prop Artist, UI Artist, Character Artist, Gameplay Animator, SFX Artist etc. This level of specialization mostly applies to AAA game development, which requires a great number of talents from specific fields of expertise. If you are interested in working at a small Indie studio instead, you will learn that these tend to look for people with a more generalist education. Hence, you will have to carefully consider where you want to work in the future and decide on your path of education from the very beginning. A good source to learn more about specific jobs and possibilities to pursue a career in the German gaming industry is the gamecampus by the German video game association game e.V.
Game Art
Game Artists cover visuals for a game. They shape the appearance of characters, props, and environments, and are in charge of building the menus and user interfaces. Animators bring characters to life by designing their individual movements, gestures, and facial expressions.
Game Design
Game Designers define the rules of a game and create its flow, story, and gameplay. They decide what the player can do and what happens in the game.
Game Programming
Programmers are responsible for setting up the controls of the game and coding the actions that the players can take with their in-game characters during gameplay. Also, they allow players to experience the visual assets and may also build digital tools for the further development of games.
Production
Producers oversee the entire process of game production by scheduling tasks and keeping timings, budgets, and the quality of the game in mind. They bring the different teams together to have a finished game in the end.
Audio
The audio department is responsible for the soundtrack of a project, which means the music for a video game is being made here. They are also in charge of all the sound effects you can hear in a videogame.
Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance teams make sure the game has no bugs, is running smoothly, and fun to play. They are testing the games and are in constant feedback exchange with developers.
Marketing
After (or even before) a game is finished, potential players need to know about it. This is where Marketing comes into play: they advertise the game and make sure that the target group (the people who we think might like the game) have the right impression straight away and are interested in playing the game.
Operations
For a large company to run, you need people working behind the scenes who take care of everything that actively supports the main business (in our case: video game development). We have different departments like Human Resources, Finance, Workplace & Property, Communications, Marketing Art, IT, and also Public Affairs handle administrative tasks required to keep the company running.
How we make games
How games are being made, how big the teams are, how long it takes to get them to market – this all varies between projects. At Ubisoft, we are developing AAA games, the biggest productions in our industry. Hence, we need a lot of people with very specific skills to all work together to create video games. As each game is unique, so are the teams behind them as is their development time. However, roughly speaking, 3-5 years are a good rule of thumb for how long it takes to develop a AAA game. At Ubisoft, we mainly use in-house technologies and engines, which are developed and maintained by dedicated teams. Some of them are developed at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, such as Snowdrop and PES. The creative process of making a video game entails numerous phases, ranging from conception over production to Operations – when the game can finally be played. If you are interested in the single steps each game project at Ubisoft has to pass and the technology that is used to make them a reality, you can have a look at this page:
FAQ – Working in the games industry
How long does it take to develop a videogame?
This is different for every game and depends on many factors. How big is the game or how many hours of gameplay does it have? How many people are working on the game? What type of game is it and are new technologies being used or ones that the team already knows inside out? There is no general answer to this question. For big AAA games, however, you can talk about 3-5 years.
Which programming languages are used?
Mainly C++
Can I do an apprenticeship or a dual study program at Ubisoft?
We occasionally offer apprenticeships for IT specialists (system integration, application development). However, there is currently no large-scale training program. Vacancies can only be found on our Careers website. We cannot accept unsolicited applications.
Can I do an internship at Ubisoft?
Open internship positions for e.g. students (at least 6 months) are only advertised on our Careers website. We cannot accept unsolicited applications.
How do you become a game tester at Ubisoft?
Anyone over the age of 16 can register with us as a game tester here. Anyone under the age of 16 needs parental consent to take part in a playtest. Depending on who is wanted for a test, you will then be notified.
