It also reportedly revealed a breakdown of the recent layoffs: Around 65 employees from Ubisoft Dusseldorf, 100 from Ubisoft Leamington and Reflections, and around 20 from Ubisoft Stockholm. Of these studios, Ubisoft Leamington was the only one that closed down.

The memo also talks about the reasoning behind the layoffs, which Production Zone 4 managing director Benedikt Grindel ascribes to wanting to improve the studios’ operational efficiency.

“I understand the uncertainty these changes will bring,” said Grindel. “We are committed to supporting everyone impacted during this transition. Let me assure you, these decisions were not made lightly. We believe they are essential to improve our operational efficiency and ensure the long-term sustainability of our studios, the zone and the company.”

Production Zone 3 and Ubisoft Stockholm managing director Thomas Andren had also spoken to the team, talking about the difficulty of the decision.

“We know this decision impacts more than just the studio and its projects; it impacts people – our colleagues, teammates, and friends. We deeply understand how difficult this is, and supporting everyone through this transition is our utmost priority,” he said.

“While difficult, the changes announced yesterday are targeted at us finding more efficient operating models and to ensure our long-term success,” continued Andren’s message to the team. “This is driven by a strong conviction: our ability to keep creating and operating unique, powerful, and popular brands that extend beyond video games.”

Ubisoft Leamington was originally known as FreeStyleGames and was responsible for titles like the DJ Hero franchise before being acquired by Ubisoft. After the acquisition, its name changed, and it became a support studio for major Ubisoft releases, including Far Cry 5 and Star Wars Outlaws.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site,” said Ubisoft in a statement about the layoffs. “Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

This move towards more “efficiency” might be a part of the rumoured plans between Ubisoft founders the Guillemot family and Tencent to forge a new venture. The company has also previously announced that it is hiring advisors to explore how more value could be extracted from the company’s various assets.

Ubisoft is currently gearing up to launch Assassin’s Creed Shadows on March 20. It will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and will launch alongside the Animus Hub, which will serve as the new home for the franchise. For more details about the game, check out the developers talking about Yasuke not having Assassin abilities, and learn more about the new accessibility features and options.

While games like Need for Speed and Forza Horizon have continued to exert their influences in today’s gaming landscape, franchises such as the likes of Driver have found themselves lying in a dusty old garage for far too long at this point. Once a juggernaut of the action driving format, Driver has largely been forgotten today – which begs the question, what the hell actually happened to Driver?

Developed by Reflections Interactive, Driver hit the PlayStation in 1999. The game sees player controlling series protagonist John Tanner who is an undercover cop on a quest to bring down a crime family. Set against the backdrop of four popular U.S. cities, Driver certainly had a lot to offer in terms of variety and the game’s scale was quite impressive for the time. Reflections Interactive wanted to capture the feeling of intense cop chases of action movies such as Bullitt and The Driver, which it did a great job at emulating. The game also featured a Director Mode, which allowed for a cinematic replay of the missions, adding to the feeling of being in an action movie.

Driver received great critical and commercial acclaim. The game stands at a rating of 87 on Metacritic and is reported to have sold more than 1 million copies in two months of its release. Driver would continue on to be ported to other systems such as Windows and Mac, along with a separate Game Boy Color version which was also well-received. An interesting point worth noting about the game is its infamous parking garage tutorial, which had legions of fans throwing away controllers in angst at the game. Easily the toughest mission in the game, Driver’s tutorial level is generally considered to be one of the hardest opening levels in all of gaming.

With the franchise’s debut being successful, Reflections Interactive quickly geared up for a sequel. Driver 2 released just a year later in 2000 on the original PlayStation. Continuing the adventures of John Tanner, Driver 2 changes up the backdrop to Chicago with a much more engaging storyline than the original. Players could now also get out of their car to get up close and personal with the environments, which while limited in its scope was a pretty big deal at the time – since open-worlds were starting to become a reality thanks to new technology making it possible to render complex and huge maps.

However, this ambition would prove to be too much for the puny PlayStation to handle. Driver 2 was a fine enough game, but suffered from major playability issues due to lackluster performance and awkward on-foot sections. Driver 2 stands at a score of a mediocre 62 on Metacritic, but was able to perform fine enough on a commercial front – with 4.7 million units reportedly being sold on the PlayStation.

As Reflections Interactive was preparing for a sequel, Rockstar North dropped the massively ambitious Grand Theft Auto 3. Featuring a vast and varied Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto 3 allowed players to explore this space on foot, cars, and boats. Rockstar’s offerings had better visuals, better missions, and an interweaving network of systems that were integral to simulating an open-world that Driver 2 tried to with last-gen technology.

For the next Driver, Reflections Interactive went all-out with trying to play catch-up to Rockstar’s imagining of an open-world. Publisher Atari poured extraneous amounts of money into Driv3r, hiring a star-studded cast along with what was the most protracted development cycle for an entry in the franchise.

Driv3r would be released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004, and was quickly panned by critics on account of being barely functional from both a technical and conceptual standpoint. The game was marred with horrible performance issues and a litany of bugs and glitches. Atari was accused of rushing the game to meet a June release, a claim which was proven to be true several years later in a press meeting. Most believe this rush was for delivering the final product to be due to Atari wanting to make it to market before Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which released later that year in October.

Driv3r was one of Atari’s biggest projects, and with a relatively meager amount of sales falling at around 3 million copies sold which while a respectable number fell quite short of Atari’s expected sales. Given Atari’s current financial status at the time, it was hard to continue developing more entries in the Driver franchise. Atari also found itself in a legal brawl with Reflections founder Martin Edmondson, which later cost the company millions of dollars when Edmondson sued the company in a legal capacity. In the aftermath of the disaster that was Driv3r, Atari sold off the Driver franchise and Reflections Interactive to Ubisoft. The publisher quickly set out to revive the franchise from the slumber after Driv3r, with Driver: Parallel Lines releasing in 2006 for the PS2 and Xbox. Parallel Lines toned down some of the more action-oriented parts of the Driver formula, and the game was met with a lukewarm reception. 

There was also Driver 76, a handheld translation of the Driver franchise for the Sony PSP – which was mostly met with mediocre to unfavorable reception on account of a boring gameplay loop. Driver: Renegade was also a similar attempt at adapting the Driver formula for the Nintendo 3DS, which was received pretty poorly by fans of the franchise – and stands at a rating of 48 on Metacritic. 

As can be understood from the narrative, the Driver franchise was continually struggling to find its footing in the market – with each entry falling short of its contemporaries and fan expectation in some way shape, or form. However, Ubisoft Reflections would be given another shot at revitalizing the franchise with Driver: San Francisco.

Much like Driv3r, San Francisco had a long and protracted development cycle – and the game had been delayed several times before releasing in 2011. Continuing over the predicament of toning down action established in Parallel Lines, Driver: San Francisco was first and foremost a driving game. Players could still take control of other cars, but that required the use of Tanner’s newfound psychic abilities – which of course, meant a lot of the core gameplay loop and associated systems had to change.

Coupling that with great visuals and writing, San Francisco was met with great critical reception upon its release. While Ubisoft never publicly revealed any sales figures, a financial report of that time reveals the sales to be better than expected. However, a source at Ubisoft told VG247 that the sales were “lacklustre” – which puts the series in a wobbly position.

In 2013, the studio announced that it was working on a new game – which later turned out to be The Crew – which was a collaborative effort between Ubisoft Reflections and Ivory Tower. Ubisoft president at the time Laurent Detoc also revealed that the studio was once working on a new game associated with the Driver license, which ultimately morphed into Watch Dogs – developed by Ubisoft Montreal under Jonathan Morin.

However, what exactly happened to Driver remains a tough mystery to crack. Watch Dogs was born out of a vision for a Driver sequel, which has been going strong. Ubisoft Reflective has been stripped down to support roles for many major titles under the publisher’s belt – including Watch Dogs 2, The Crew 2, and The Division. Whether this change of roles within the hierarchy was at Ubisoft’s behest or the studio’s is anyone’s guess, but the penchant of big-name publishers to strip down underperforming studios into support roles definitely skews the balance to the former. Either way, the Driver brand has been dormant for a long time, and it seems highly unlikely that those engines will ever rev again.

Not all games that come out of Ubisoft are meant to be triple-A, open world titles with check lists of stuff to do. Some of them, like Ubisoft Reflections’ Ode, are simpler but equally charming. From the team that developed Grow Home and Grow Up, Ode is meant to be a musical platformer of sorts. Check out the launch trailer below to see how it plays.

Essentially, you roll around in a ball across a unique, vibrant landscape searching for objects that help make music. The overall tone is playful but still incredibly mysterious – we can dig it. If you want to pick up Ode, it’s currently available on the Uplay Store for PC at £4.49.

If you’re curious about Ubisoft Reflections’ other work, then check out our review for Grow Up here. The development team also brought us the unorthodox multiplayer shooter Atomega which is currently 50 percent off on Steam.

A sequel to Ubisoft’s Grow Home, Grow Up is an open world platforming game that takes you on a hell of an adventure through its rather zany world. The game, with its Pikmin-esque premise of trying to recover all parts of your spaceship, and net it new abilities that can help you further in your adventures on the planet, engages the player, and ensures that they always have something they should be doing.

But it’s just open enough, and sometimes, just hard enough, that sometimes, you can be stuck, at a loss of what you should be doing, or how you should be doing it at any rate. If that’s you, then don’t fret- you’re in the right place. This video walkthrough for Grow Up, which you can watch below, will take you through the entire game, so that your days of being stuck are over. Of course, as always, be mindful of the fact that the walkthrough will have spoilers, so be careful with how you watch it.

"Grow Up does add a whole bunch of new things to further encourage exploration and survival in this height oriented adventure."

With the success of Grow Home, it only seemed a matter of time before Grow Up came about. The lovable B.U.D. is back and the mission this time is to collect pieces of M.O.M. after it enters an asteroid field and separates into various locations on a completely alien planet. From the outset, Grow Up throws in a lot of the signature “wacky” humour that Ubisoft is known for. Much of this is supplied by P.O.D., a drone-like assistant that teaches you about the various mechanics in the game world. P.O.D. can even act as your eye in the sky to examine a map of the planet and set waypoints. Teleportation points, which also act as respawn points, are scattered throughout the world, both ensuring a healthy number of checkpoints and a decent fast travel system for getting around quickly.

If you played even a few minutes of Grow Home, then Grow Up will be incredibly familiar. B.U.D. starts out with the ability to jump and essentially climbs up surfaces with the left and right bumpers/triggers. It takes some getting used to, especially when you’re trying to make great haste, and you can only jump off said surface by releasing those triggers. On the one hand, it creates an extra thrill as you’re not sure if you’ll execute the jump perfectly. On the other hand, when a game like this demands some level of precision for its challenges, more intuitiveness wouldn’t have been a bad thing. That’s just me nitpicking of course.

Grow Up does add a whole bunch of new things to further encourage exploration and survival in this height-oriented adventure. B.U.D. can absorb the DNA of flora forms in the environment and thus create planets to provide different advantages. There’s a miniature pollen geyser which launches you in the air, a bouncy mushroom, a tall stalk that slightly droops when planted vertically and much more. Over time, some of the flora forms tend to mix together in terms of functionality – like the flower pod that’s more compact than the pollen geyser but serves the same function – but they’re each generally useful in their own right.

"The issue arises when the camera starts clipping into objects or suddenly swinging in a different direction."

B.U.D. also receives quite the array of new abilities. The jetpack is unlocked pretty early on and gives way to gliding, rolling around and much more. Special suits can also be equipped for different purposes like bumping up your gliding speed. Those are usually earned by completing the various P.O.D. challenges scattered throughout the world. A number of crystals can also be discovered throughout the world which subsequently power up your abilities further.

Here’s the thing though – Grow Up is a little too similar to Grow Home at times even with all the different mechanics thrown in. At times, I would ignore the flora forms and just maneuver Starplants into energy rocks to soar high enough to collect pieces of M.O.M. This isn’t to say flora forms are useless but they’re not quite as game changing as some of the new abilities.

It’s also worth noting that the fundamental gameplay of Grow Up could have used some excessive fine-tuning. Precise jumps and landings are required, especially in a height-focused game like this, but the movement tends to feel a bit too floaty. Even when B.U.D. is clasping on to things, his movement can get a bit janky. The animation looks less than fluid in those cases. And while generally tumbling around on the ground while walking isn’t a big issue, the movement becomes a problem when you overshoot jumps or fall down a significant distance, thus necessitating a slow climb back up. Also, who in the world decided it was a good idea to invert the controls when controlling a Starplant’s growth? Even after growing it out numerous times, it still took getting used to.

The camera is also not very helpful. To properly ascertain jumps or points to go, you’ll find yourself re-adjusting it regularly. Which isn’t even the main issue, by the way. The issue arises when the camera starts clipping into objects or suddenly swinging in a different direction. The latter never really arose much but the times it did happen confused me to no end. Throw in the odd movement and you have a pretty good amount of frustration to deal with during some of the P.O.D. challenges.

"This isn’t Assassin’s Creed Syndicate or The Division by any means and yet, Grow Up tends to stutter every now and again with its frame rate."

Thankfully, even with the similarities to Grow Home, Grow Up‘s world still looks fairly stunning. Each flora form is unique and never feels out of place on this colourful planet. Growing Starplants and watching several attachments, mushrooms and other flora take shape in the process is cool. It’s also incredibly fun to just gaze down at the world, especially when taking a huge dive off of a mountain top and gliding around. For all the simplicity of its art style, Grow Up achieves a strong visual presentation.

That’s why the slight frame stutters and drops are all the weirder. This isn’t Assassin’s Creed Syndicate or The Division by any means and yet, Grow Up tends to stutter every now and again with its frame rate. Granted, it’s nowhere near as bad The Division’s stutters but again, when the visuals are this simple, it shouldn’t really be that big of a problem on the Xbox One to begin with.

Grow Up is an intriguing adventure for both those who haven’t played Grow Home and those who relished the original. Veterans will appreciate the quirky humour and new mechanics despite the overtly familiar gameplay, technical issues and annoying movement. New players will find a relatively short game that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, presenting a pretty world and a simple premise that will carry them through some decent main missions. There won’t be much reason to return beyond that, unless you want to torture yourself with P.O.D. challenges. Overall, Grow Up comes across as a Ubisoft sequel following the experimental opener – it’s typically enjoyable enough if you keep your expectations low but requires much more polish.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

Though not a monumentally hyped release like its other efforts in the past year, Ubisoft’s Grow Home has proven to be a quirky, fun and altogether intriguing new platformer from Ubisoft Reflections. It’s currently available on PC though, leaving many console games to hear about its great gameplay rather than being able to experience it for themselves.

That could change if Grow Home is successful on PC though. According to art director Jack Couvela on Twitter, “Want to see Grow Home on consoles? We have to prove ourselves on PC first, so tell every PC gamer you know they have to buy it!”

It also won’t be on iPad due to being designed specifically for controllers or Mac, again due to PC sales justifying said version. Regardless of whether one wants to see it on PS4, Xbox One, etc. it’s still worth one’s time and money.

Would you like to see Grow Home on consoles? Let us know in the comments.

Following the trend of Ubisoft allowing AAA designers to work on smaller, more creative titles, Ubisoft Reflections has announced Grow Home, a procedurally generated physics-based game. Players will control a robot that must climb back into orbit to reach its spaceship, echoing the classic fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. Check out the teaser trailer for the game above.

You’ll control the robot with the left and right triggers in order to climb. The shape of the growing plant can be influenced by players using different tools like parachutes and teleportation devices. The game’s tone and atmosphere, while not directly related to Child of Light or Valiant Hearts: The Great War, certainly fits into that offbeat creative niche that Ubisoft has been getting pretty good at.

Grow Home will be releasing on February 4th for PC via Steam but there’s a chance it could come to other platforms. What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments.

The Crew is not your average racing game, Ubisoft has put the work into making this the first viable massively multiplayer racing game. In GamingBolt’s interview with Game Director Stephane Beley the game was called an MMORPG, and the inspiration shows. It certainly fits the criteria required to be one, with it’s wide variety of cars, parts, and trims available to players, as well as the persistent world with hundreds of players all racing at once. It was immediately evident to me after only an hour of playing just how big this game potentially was.

"A more familiar gameplay edition is the Burnout style crash cam whenever you wreck your vehicle. But don’t worry, you won’t be searching for a garage to make your repairs, instead your car has a real time regenerating frame. It was great to watch my car repair itself automatically on the fly as I demonstrated my most carnal demolition derby urges."

The beta starts out with players assuming the role of Dayton (Voiced by veteran voice actor Troy Baker), a character framed for the murder of his brother by a crooked FBI agent and the leader of the nationwide smuggling outfit, the 5-10’s. In a Fast and Furious style turn of fate he is let out of jail to track and take down these two and the 5-10 smugglers along with them.

To do this he must infiltrate the gang in Detroit by proving himself good enough to get the 5-10 ink. It is admirable that the developers have included a story portion in this game but I can’t help but feel like this was maybe an afterthought. Regardless, it serves as a good way to tutorialize the player and introduce them to the vast world of The Crew.

Players can compete in many challenges and races throughout the country, each with their own requirements and levels of difficulty. Challenges range from driving through increasingly smaller checkpoints on a busy highway, to seeing how far a ramp jump can take you. Races seem to be the standard fare of competing with other drivers on a closed track.

A more familiar gameplay edition is the Burnout style crash cam whenever you wreck your vehicle. But don’t worry, you won’t be searching for a garage to make your repairs, instead your car has a real time regenerating frame. It was great to watch my car repair itself automatically on the fly as I demonstrated my most carnal demolition derby urges.

The real nuance in The Crew comes from the extensive vehicle customization options available as you level your skills. Like an RPG, you collect gear with varying stats and perks along the way, and can only be applied while equipping your car with certain trims. Trims are akin to classes in an rpg, having different strengths and weaknesses.

"I said above that the world in this game is massive, and I was not being hyperbolic when I said that. Now, I am no racing game expert but this has to be the largest open world ever envisioned for one."

The Sport trim is great for open world travel and street racing, while the Off-road trim is great for just what it sounds like, off road racing and exploration. There seems to be 4 other trim types in the beta, but I only got the chance to experience these two due to level and money restrictions. One thing was clear to me however, there is a real difference between trims and knowing when to utilize each one will become important in the latter parts of the game.

I said above that the world in this game is massive, and I was not being hyperbolic when I said that. Now, I am no racing game expert but this has to be the largest open world ever envisioned for one. I decided I would test my theory so I grabbed a stopwatch and went to work. I started in Detroit Michigan with the goal of seeing how long it would take to drive across the entire map east to west.

The first thing I had to do was get to the east most point of the map, so I looked and saw that Washington D.C. would be a good starting point, I clicked on my stopwatch and set the in-game GPS. This journey from Detroit to Washington D.C. took a full 15 minutes to complete. This was way longer than I expected, and the scenery along the way was varied and interesting with little to no repetition of buildings or areas. From there I restarted my stopwatch and set out on my cross country journey to San Francisco California.

"During my trip I experienced the real time dynamic lighting and weather effects the game has to offer, I can honestly say that this is one of the best looking (and best optimized) PC games Ubisoft has produced to date."

What I expected was a long stretch of Rt 50 highway and traffic but what I got was a winding trip through the country with lots of great regional American scenery ranging from the midwest’s cornfields and silos, to the snowy mountain regions further north. I encountered small towns, and back roads, dark tunnels, and lush forests. It really was a beautiful trip and firmly cemented that the developers truly care about creating a faithful representation of America, even if on a much smaller scale.

When I finally arrived in the Bay Area, my stopwatch read 45 minutes. It felt a lot longer but I still can’t think of a single open world driving game that took that long to clear the map, and of course this was only east to west in the straightest shot possible.

During my trip I experienced the real time dynamic lighting and weather effects the game has to offer, I can honestly say that this is one of the best looking (and best optimized) PC games Ubisoft has produced to date. My only complaint would be that the game is natively locked to 30 frames per second on PC. This is a dealbreaker to some, but thanks to a few savvy PC gamers a work around was discovered in the game’s configuration files to allow for 60fps. Hopefully once the game launches there will be a simple menu option to allow for this, as for a lot of people it is an absolutely crucial component to PC games.

All in all The Crew is shaping up to be a formidable competitor in a genre that has stagnated with yearly Need for Speed and Forza releases. Maybe in the absence of a Need for Speed game this year, The Crew will take it’s place in the throne room in November.

This game was previewed on the PC.

GamingBolt got the opportunity to speak to Stephane Beley who is the Game Director of The Crew and we were able to ask a variety of questions ranging from adding new worlds and damage simulation to the various technologies they have used in the game. Check out Stephane’s response below.

Rashid Sayed: The Crew almost sounds like a car role playing game. The idea sounds absolutely fantastic but do you think the game will feel restricted since the player will still be confined to his/her vehicle?

Stephane Beley: THE CREW is an open world driving RPG, and in that regard, your car will be your avatar. Every car is a 20-piece puzzle that you can customize and upgrade at will as you unlock body and performance parts along your progression. Regarding possibilities, hundreds of thousands of different tunings are available.

So with a massive Open-World of 5000km² to explore on and off-roads, collaborative and competitive gameplay, and an unprecedented amount of tunings we believe players won’t feel too confined in their multiple vehicles.

"When exploring the world in free-drive mode, there are absolutely no barriers preventing players from going where they want and discovering new places. Even when playing a mission (may it be a race, a time attack or any other type of mission) players can still decide to turn around at the very beginning and drive away."

Rashid Sayed: The Crew did not start its life as a PS4 and Xbox One title. Have you reused the assets from last gen or is it a complete revamp from your original vision?

Stephane Beley: We began developing the game on PC several years ago but were never able to fulfil our vision. We adapted our base technology and reworked all the assets of the game (VFX, lighting, landscape etc…) to adapt to the new generation of console when we had the opportunity to start developing for it.

Rashid Sayed: The Crew takes place in this vast open world where there are multiple routes to approach a situation. Are you restricting players in anyway by providing rails or barriers so that the essence of racing ismaintained?

Stephane Beley: When exploring the world in free-drive mode, there are absolutely no barriers preventing players from going where they want and discovering new places. Even when playing a mission (may it be a race, a time attack or any other type of mission) players can still decide to turn around at the very beginning and drive away. This definitely won’t lead to a victory or the mission’s completion but it’s one more example of how free the players are in THE CREW.

However we maintained the essence of racing in various other ways. First, through a checkpoint system.Players who deviate too much from the race’s path won’t reach the checkpoints and won’t be rewarded for finishing the race. Additionally the spec system, with classes of vehicles better suited for specific types of driving, provides a natural “barrier”. Level design was thought out in a way that encourages players to follow the most natural and efficient path for the spec they are using.

But keep in mind that not all missions are races in the game. Several of them will actually let you build your own path entirely. Simple examples are our delivery missions, where players have to drive from A to B with specific constraints (take no damage, as fast as possible, picking up someone or something on your way …). Exploration and discovering your own best path then becomes a key element of those missions.

So there’s still room for creative driving of course but the boundaries making the essence of racing are present to allow for a compelling competition when it’s needed.

Rashid Sayed: Being a RPG at its core, what kind of car abilities, customizationand skill system can players expect in the game?

Stephane Beley: At the core of THE CREW’s promise are “all the adventures of driving”, a variety in experiences that our spec system allows us to fully embrace. Just like you’d pick a class based on your play style in a traditional MMORPG, you’ll be able to pick a spec for you vehicle. For example you can take your Chevy Camaro and put it in Perf spec for a long highway race, but you could also put it in Raid Spec for an off-road takedown. Vehicles behave differently in each spec allowing you to tackle all the aspects of driving efficiently.

Like we said earlier every car in the game is a 20-piece puzzle. 9 of these pieces are purely cosmetics (body parts) while the other 11 are technical parts (engine and chassis) that will affect your vehicle’s stats and how it handles. It’s up to you to get new parts to customize your vehicle’s looks and enhance its performances.

You’ll be rewarded with experience and money for every activity you take part in, and missions and skill challenges will also earn you parts for your cars. Note that these parts’ quality will vary based on your performance in the activity you earned it from. With experience, you’ll be levelling up and unlock new missions to progress in the main storyline. With money you’ll be able to buy new cars at a car dealer and buy new parts at a car tuner.

Additionally to all the car customization, players will be able to choose from a set of perks that will grow as they progress through the game. Perks have effects ranging from enhancing your car’s performance to boosting cash and XP earning or granting abilities to make your experience more convenient.

"Whether we should include engine breakdown or not in the game is actually a topic we’ve been pretty divided on at the studio. In the end we decided not to include it as we thought it was a very simulation oriented feature that didn’t fit that much into our vision of the driving experience."

Rashid Sayed: Tell us about the weather system? Will it have a direct effect on the physics and car handling?

Stephane Beley: Being set in the entire USA, one of our main goals in developing THE CREW was to recreate the atmosphere of each region. We identified several eco systems defining the landscape throughout the country and built each area around one of them. The game, of course, features a day / night cycle but lighting and weather are also different from one region to another. You’ll feel the sun heating your car’s body in the desert around Vegas, its warmth inNappa Valley and the biting cold and snowflakes falling in the snowy mountains of Colorado.

As far as affecting your driving goes, each terrain will affect how your car behaves, encouraging players to switch spec or car depending on where they are. Weather elements like snow will also impact your driving, making vehicles much more slippery, on and off road, and requiring players to be much more careful. And we’re definitely looking to further develop this aspect once the game releases.

Rashid Sayed: I am wondering if you are planning to put dynamic simulations like puncture and engine breakdown. The races are going to be pretty long after all.

Stephane Beley: As you hit vehicles and decor elements throughout the game your car will become more and more damaged but it won’t directly affect your handling. Whether we should include engine breakdown or not in the game is actually a topic we’ve been pretty divided on at the studio. In the end we decided not to include it as we thought it was a very simulation oriented feature that didn’t fit that much into our vision of the driving experience.

But although, at the current moment, the game doesn’t feature it, it’s definitely something we’d consider putting back should the community ask for it.

Rashid Sayed: Can you explain how infiltrating criminal groups will work in the game? Can players form their own criminal group, if yes, how?

Stephane Beley: The infiltration of a criminal organization is the base of THE CREW’s story. Every mission in the game will allow the player to get closer to his goal within those organizations. We won’t reveal too much about the story for now but you’ll learn more about it soon enough.

Players can form their own Crew to play cooperatively in every mission or to enter some Crew VS Crew races in PvP mode. All they need to do is to group and select the kind of activity they want to go for. This won’t make them a criminal organization per se but will make them progress together and earn rewards based on their collective performances.

"THE CREW is truly designed as a seamless social experience, letting you apprehend it the way you feel most comfortable with. It is freedom above all else."

Rashid Sayed: The single player will last roughly 20 hours. How will it be different from the multiplayer component? Different modes perhaps?

Stephane Beley: THE CREW is an MMORPG and as such, lets player evolve in its open world either alone or as groups. Whichever you chose, you’ll never be bound to this choice for the rest of the game. If you want to start out in solo and later, play with friends, it will be possible. And just the same way if your friends can’t keep playing with you and you want to keep progressing alone, you can move-on with the campaign missions in solo again.

Basically, every mission in the game can be played in single player or cooperatively. You can also free-roam and explore the world with whoever you want. PvP will of course offer several races that can only be played against other players, and even skill challenges will feature “ghosts”, allowing you to compete with your friends even when they’re not around or to observe and learn from the best players in the world.

THE CREW is truly designed as a seamless social experience, letting you apprehend it the way you feel most comfortable with. It is freedom above all else.

Rashid Sayed: With the launch of the beta, how will the feedback you receive shape the final retail version?

Stephane Beley: With the beta, our plan is to let players get their hands on the game as soon as possible to stress test some of our online infrastructure, but also get bug reports and of course, feedback regarding gameplay elements.
We’ll take into consideration all feedbacks and do our best to apply the changes our community judges necessary.

Rashid Sayed: We know that the game will take place across the United States. Are there any plans to add more land/country post launch?

Stephane Beley: The game is currently set in the entire USA and that is an unprecedented scope. We’re definitely entertaining the possibility of adding more regions later on but we’re confident players will have their hands-full for quite some time with what the game currently offers.

Rashid Sayed: How many cars can we expect in the final build of the game?

Stephane Beley: THE CREW will offer a large variety of vehicles featuring revered constructors. From the mythical Lamborghini Aventador to the iconic Chevrolet Impala, expect the best from most of them. And with 6 specs to choose from, an unlimited amount of driving experiences is at reach. Because, at its core, that’s what THE CREW is all about!

Rashid Sayed: The game is already confirmed to be running at 1080p and 30fps on PS4 and Xbox One. Any specific reason why you guys did not pushed for 60fps?

Stephane Beley: The reason is pretty straightforward. Building such a massive playground and filling it to make it a living-breathing world requires a lot of resources. Our choice is to offer the most compelling gameplay experience possible and for that, we preferred a solid 30 FPS rather than a flimsy 60 FPS.

"We use a deferred engine to render the game. It allowed us to work with an almost unlimited amount of lighting as well as multiple ambient occlusion modes. This is at the very core of how we give each area of the game a specific mood."

Rashid Sayed: Can you talk us about the lighting and Anti-aliasing solution that you have used for the PS4 and Xbox One versions?

Stephane Beley: We use a deferred engine to render the game. It allowed us to work with an almost unlimited amount of lighting as well as multiple ambient occlusion modes. This is at the very core of how we give each area of the game a specific mood.

Rashid Sayed: It’s kind of remarkable that you guys have been able to achieve parity between the PS4 and Xbox One versions. We have spoken with several developers who have claimed that the eSRAM is simply too small to output 1080p. How did you guys manage this development situation?

Stephane Beley: The team at Ivory Tower is a very senior team with designers and programmers with over 15 years of experience in the driving genre. They’ve been optimizing game on PS1, PS2, PS3, Xbox and Xbox360 before that so it was a challenge for them but nothing wildly unknown. We’ve also benefitted a lot from Microsoft allowing developers that don’t need Kinect that much to use the extra ~ 5% CPU that were originally allocated to it.

Rashid Sayed: Is there anything else you want to tell us before we take off?

Stephane Beley: Thanks for interviewing us. We hope everyone enjoys the game as much as we enjoyed working on it, and remember to join our Beta.

It’s always intriguing to know the technology powering behind AAA games and with The Crew aiming to set new standard for open world racing, it is expected that Ivory Tower will be using new tech to power their car role playing game. In our interview with the game’s director, Stephane Beley, GamingBolt asked about the lighting solution that they are using in the title.

“We use a deferred engine to render the game. It allowed us to work with an almost unlimited amount of lighting as well as multiple ambient occlusion modes. This is at the very core of how we give each area of the game a specific mood,” Stephane revealed to GamingBolt.

The Crew is expected to release on November 11th, 2014 in North America and November 14th, 2014 in Europe across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. For more on the game, check out our wiki here or our hub page here.