Super Nintendo Land is open at Universal Studios Japan and it's on the way to several more Universal theme parks...eventually. Lovers of all things Nintendo, and video game fans especially, are excited for an entire land dedicated to their favorite games. But one game developer has now upped the ante, as Ubisoft, the company behind the Tom Clancy game franchises and the Assassin's Creed series, recently inked a new deal that could see an entire theme park dedicated to its game constructed in North America.
According to Blooloop, Ubisoft has signed a new deal with a California based firm called Storyland Studios to design and develop themed entertainment experiences, including putting together a concept for a full Ubisoft theme park. Storyland Studios has previously worked with clients including Universal Studios, Legoland, and the Wynn in Las Vegas, and is currently planning the Storyville Gardens park in Tennessee, so perhaps some of this new entertainment could end up there. Storyland's executive director is Jim Clark, a former Walt Disney Imagineer.
Beyond the full theme park concept Storyland is working on an indoor attraction of some sort that would be 2-3 hours in length. As such, this wouldn't be any sort of ride or show you might expect in a traditional theme park. It would likely be some sort of stand alone attraction that could be constructed anywhere, and could potentially be copied in multiple places so that people could experience it anywhere.
Ubisoft is a major video game publisher with some major franchises, and so it's little surprise there's interest internally in creating themed entertainment. This isn't even the first time Ubisoft has tried to build a theme park. In 2015, it was announced there were plans to build an Ubisoft theme park in Malaysia but those plans never went anywhere.
Ubisoft is best known for "sandbox" style games and also a major game industry sexual misconduct scandal. Nearly every game from the studio uses a similar architecture, where players have the ability to roam freely in an open world, with a map full of icons showing the various activities and missions that players can engage in. Most themed entertainment offerings are much more linear. It's unclear if the focus of the designs will be in adapting these open world games for more traditional theme park experiences or if the plan is create experiences that lend themselves to the open world concept.
Other plans to expand the Ubisoft IPs have proved less than successful. The Assassin's Creed live-action movie was a certifiable flop. There are new plans to turn the IP into a Netflix series. And plans to turn the urban warfare shooter The Division into a movie are, as far as we know, still active, but things have been quiet on that front for some time.
While we're still very early in the process, concepts from this partnership are set to be revealed at the IAAPA Expo in November. So in just about two months, we'll have a much better idea just what to expect from this new venture.
