Ubisoft Scalar is Ubisoft’s next step into the future. A newly created development environment that harnesses the power of the cloud for games of the future. It is not a new graphics engine. This is not a video game streaming system. It is a tool on which they want to create the open worlds of the future.
Few developers in the video game industry have been able to create massive worlds like Ubisoft. Every title in the company starts from the same pattern, and the truth is that each surpasses the previous one. If there are richer or denser open worlds, Ubisoft’s formula works.
However, the evolution of the gamer industry, and especially integrating games as a service into the industry standard, reduced the size of traditional development tools. And the limitation of the current hardware also poses a limitation for the developer when creating these worlds.
This is precisely the problem that Ubisoft seems to have solved. The company showcased a new cloud-based development environment at GDC Ubisoft Scalar that allows developers to create richer, more powerful worlds by breaking down the barriers of current physical hardware. Or at least on paper.
Ubisoft Scalar is not a New Game Engine nor a Streaming Service.
Ubisoft Scalar is not a development engine. It is an environment in which, taking advantage of current drivers, such as snowfall Where Anvil, offers greater flexibility and development power by using the power of the cloud.
According to the company, this directly responds to the growing need to reduce player dependency on hardware and opens up new game development and player experience possibilities.
Scalar also breaks some of the current constraints of development environments, according to Ubisoft, and offers greater flexibility. How? ‘Or’ What? Instead of working as a whole, Scalar uses a microservices architecture, making them semi-independent.
This lets developers update key game components in real-time without patching the entire engine. And without interrupting the game.
Independent services, so you don’t have to stop the game.
The framework allows changes to be made to components such as AI or physics without the need to modify other parts of the game. This means that changes can be implemented in online games or games as a service (change weapon damage or alter the storyline) without updating the entire game. It also allows for adding new features to a game without interrupting the user’s game.
Additionally, being a cloud environment, Ubisoft says Scarlar allows developers to create more prosperous and powerful worlds than would be possible with players’ home hardware.
This technology can harness infinite computation and run anything from vast virtual worlds too much deeper simulations and environments.
It’s unclear when we’ll see the first game to take advantage of Ubisoft Scalar. And if we will see it soon. However, the company has confirmed that its Stockholm studio is working on a new IP that will harness the power of this innovative technology.
Either way, we welcome any tools that, in a world of constant updates, meaning you don’t have to wait for the game to update or quit the game.
