Former Battlefront 2, Horizon Zero Dawn creative director joins Ubisoft to help right the ship

Ubisoft has a new editorial VP, former Dead Island 2 design director Bernd Diemer. Ubisoft has been focusing on the social aspect of games in recent years. Games like Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 are meant to create a community of gamers, similar to other online titles. To continue down this road, Ubisoft has enlisted the help of Diemer.

Diemer previously worked on games like Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Battlefield V, and Horizon: Zero Dawn. He said in a statement he is honored to join Ubisoft and collaborate with its “talented global team” on the company’s social experiences.

He said: “They’re known to be catalysts for dynamic and diverse communities, enabled by innovative features and powerful brands that allow players to come together. I am excited to partner with the group’s teams around the world to bring social experience in our games to new heights.”

Ubisoft has been going through a challenging time as of late. The company was accused of having a sexist and toxic work environment a few years back—and employees have continued to speak out against Ubisoft within the last few months.

In Oct. 2022, employees said the company had done next to nothing to meet their demands, which were:

• Stop promoting abusers
• Give employees a seat at the table
• Form an agreement with other studios to create a set of ground rules to prevent abuse
• Involve employees and union reps in creating new rules

Ubisoft’s PvP game, formerly referred to as Project Q, was also canceled. “We can confirm we will no longer support the development of Project Q in order to focus on priority projects, to which our teams are being reallocated,” a Ubisoft spokesperson stated earlier this month.

Leaks of the game showed it had similarities to Fortnite. This makes sense since Ubisoft has been attempting to move into the service genre. For now, the company is still working on Project U, a co-op shooter from Ubisoft Annecy. The addition of Diemer will be a continued effort to patch up Ubisoft’s workforce and move towards service games.

According to Ubisoft’s senior VP of studio operations, Marie-Sophie de Waubert, gamers want virtual spaces where they can “build connections and share meaningful experiences.”

Ubisoft’s strategy is to reach these new audiences and create places where “every player can be their authentic self and find their community.”