Ubisoft buys Trackmania dev

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 6th October 2009
Comments (14) Stumble
Ubisoft buys Trackmania dev

Ubisoft has announced that it has bought out Nadeo, developers of Trackmania, for an undisclosed sum.

Ubisoft has announced that it has bought out the Paris-based developer of the Trackmania games, Nadeo, for an undisclosed sum.

According to Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft has been very impressed with the developer for getting more than 700,000 unique users online every month despite having only ten full-time employees.

700,000 is just where the figures are right now too - it total, Nadeo has accrued more than 10 million players and 15 million user-made tracks for the Trackmania games.

Nadeo previously announced that it was working on Trackmania 2 as a PC-exclusive racing game and while it seems that it will still be the studio's focus, it's unclear how the purchase may affect the upcoming title.

Confusingly, while the upcoming game is titled as the second Trackmania game, it's actually the fifth game in the series, which has been running since 2005. The other Trackmania games include the free-to-play Trackmania Nations Forever and a DS port of the original Trackmania.

If you've not played any of the Trackmnaia games then the best way to understand them is to watch some of the Trackmania Projects, which show what's possible with the game.

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Quote mi1ez 6th October 2009, 12:28
OH NOES!

I can only see this being a bad thing...
Quote AshT 6th October 2009, 12:30
I agree buyouts can be pretty bad, but Ubisoft had a name for originality in its early days ... maybe this could be good?
Quote Orionche 6th October 2009, 13:55
If they leave them alone to do what they do best, Ubisoft can only gain by this. On the other hand, expect Trackmania 2: Revenge of the <insert something witty here>, within 6 months after T2 is out, T3 in 2010, T4 in 2011, etc. :)
Quote DeathAwaitsU 6th October 2009, 14:02
No more free version i bet :/
Quote delriogw 6th October 2009, 16:03
i agree with orionche, if this is purely an injection of funds and the devs will be left to do what they do best just with the support that comes from being part of a bigger company then this will be a good thing,

i'd be a lot more worried if it were EA
Quote proxess 6th October 2009, 16:58
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeathAwaitsU
No more free version i bet :/

+1
Quote Ghys 6th October 2009, 17:00
they were impressed a 10 person team could do so well. Now they will invest money to make their lives easier and they will expect even better results from them. It doesn't necessarily mean they will rebuild the whole thing... although I doubt they will ever release another free version :)
Quote NikoBellic 6th October 2009, 18:06
I suspect that they may have bought em out cuz they need a little help with thier Driver title which I believe Ubi have owned the rights to since 2006, and since its been 3 years and nothing has come out of the Newcastle based reflections studio, I think Ubi must need some help...
Quote fathazza 6th October 2009, 18:34
im still surprised they havent rolled out trackmania onto xbox live... theyd make a bundle :)
Quote proxess 6th October 2009, 20:27
Getting TMNF to work with the XPad 360 gave me a bit of trouble (on Windows). I couldn't use the DPad in game, so I had to get an old version of Xpadder to make it work.
Quote impar 6th October 2009, 20:33
Greetings!

:(
Quote HourBeforeDawn 6th October 2009, 21:22
UGH why dont people realize less companies mean less competition which means higher prices >< I am getting sick of all these buy outs going on in all fields, especially in the cell phone market were already screwed as it is >< ugh...
Quote Orionche 7th October 2009, 02:31
And you gotta realize the devs are people too and while they sympathize with your opinion and would prolly say the same thing, they'll most likely go the other route. They all got a truck load of money with that buyout. I'm guessing they have bills to pay, families to support. Plus, if Ubisoft is giving them some other project, it means a steady income for a whole year probably (if not more) and job experience. =)
Quote delriogw 7th October 2009, 16:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by proxess
Getting TMNF to work with the XPad 360 gave me a bit of trouble (on Windows). I couldn't use the DPad in game, so I had to get an old version of Xpadder to make it work.

if you're using the D-Pad to drive you might as well just use a keyboard.
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