French studio behind racing game The Crew has been acquired by Ubisoft. Ubisoft has confirmed that the Lyon, France-based team is now “officially part of the Ubisoft family” via the Ubi blog.
Founded in 2007 by ex-Eden Games members Ahmed Boukhefila, Stephane Beley, Emmanuel Oualid, The Crew was Ivory Tower’s first game. Ivory Tower worked on The Crew with the assistance of now fellow Ubisoft driving specialists, Reflections.
Ivory Tower is home to 100 people, who have developed a recognised expertise in driving, building massive open worlds and creating games with strong online and ‘games as a service’ components, all of which will be huge benefits for Ubisoft as a whole, read the Ubi blog.
“We’ve always enjoyed a very positive relationship with Ubisoft,” said Ivory Tower MD Ahmed Boukhelifa in the statement. “Working together on The Crew, and celebrating its success, made us both understand that we have huge potential in continuing to work together in the future. By joining Ubisoft, the team at Ivory Tower will continue to benefit from Ubisoft’s infrastructure, support, tools, technology and vision.”
The Crew enjoyed over three million players worldwide, and this year sees the launch of an expansion, The Crew Wild Run which will be available from 17 November, but a closed beta will be out on PC later this month.