Ubisoft Blue Byte facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Ubisoft Blue Byte GmbH

Formerly	Blue Byte (1988–2017)
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	October 1988; 36 years ago (1988-10) in Mülheim, Germany
Founders	Thomas Hertzler Lothar Schmitt
Headquarters	Düsseldorf , Germany
Number of locations	3 studios (2020)
Key people	Benedikt Grindel (managing director)
Products	The Settlers Battle Isle Anno
Number of employees	780 (2023)
Parent	Ubisoft (2001–present)
Divisions	Ubisoft Berlin Ubisoft Düsseldorf Ubisoft Mainz

Ubisoft Blue Byte GmbH is a German company that makes video games. It used to be called Blue Byte until 2017. This company is owned by Ubisoft, a very big video game company.

Blue Byte was started in October 1988 by two people, Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt. They became famous for making popular game series like Anno and The Settlers. In 2001, Ubisoft bought Blue Byte.

Over time, Blue Byte grew. Another game studio called Related Designs joined Blue Byte in 2013. Later, in 2018, a third studio was opened in Berlin. Since 2019, Ubisoft Blue Byte has been the main company for Ubisoft's three German studios. These studios are now known as Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Mainz, and Ubisoft Berlin. By 2020, the name "Blue Byte" was mostly stopped being used for the individual studios.

History

How it Started and First Games (1988–1993)

In 1988, Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt left another game company called Rainbow Arts. They decided to start their own company, Blue Byte, in October of that year. They borrowed money from Hertzler's parents to get started. Their first office was in the attic of Hertzler's home in Mülheim, Germany.

Blue Byte's first game was a tennis game called Great Courts. It was released in 1989 by Ubi Soft, which is now known as Ubisoft. Blue Byte's first big hit in Germany and Europe was Battle Isle. This was a turn-based strategy game, meaning players take turns making moves. It came out in 1991. Battle Isle was inspired by a Japanese game called Nectaris. It became so popular that Blue Byte made many extra parts and sequels for it. One of these was a World War I game called History Line: 1914-1918.

The company's next huge success came in 1993 with Die Siedler. This game was known as The Settlers in other countries. The Settlers also had many sequels and became the most famous game series made by Blue Byte.

Big Projects (1994–2000)

Over the years, Blue Byte made and published many new games. Some of these included Chewy: Escape from F5 and Albion. However, most of these games were not very successful outside of Germany and parts of Europe. Blue Byte tried to become popular in America, often with help from a company called Accolade. But their success mostly stayed in Germany.

In 1995, a businessman named Julian Pretto helped Blue Byte open an office in North America. After a game called Battle Isle 2020 did well in the United States, Pretto left the company. Three years later, Blue Byte moved its American office from Chicago, Illinois, to Austin, Texas.

The popular turn-based strategy Battle Isle series from the early 1990s became a cult classic, much like Settlers. But when Blue Byte updated it in 1997 to a 3D game called Incubation, it was very different. It was more like X-COM: UFO Defense. Then, in 2001, Battle Isle: The Andosia War tried to mix turn-based and real-time strategy games. These changes made some fans of the original Battle Isle games unhappy.

Joining Ubisoft (2001–Present)

In February 2001, Ubi Soft (now Ubisoft) bought Blue Byte. Ubisoft wanted Blue Byte to focus on its two most popular game series. At that time, Blue Byte had 64 employees. They had offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.

Around 2013, Blue Byte worked with another company called Related Designs on games like Might and Magic Heroes Online. Ubisoft bought Related Designs in April 2013. After that, Related Designs started working closely with Blue Byte. In June 2014, Related Designs officially joined Blue Byte, becoming its second internal studio.

In 2014, Blue Byte developed The Settlers: Kingdoms of Anteria. In 2015, the studio worked on Anno 2205. In 2016, they changed The Settlers: Kingdoms of Anteria into a new game called Champions of Anteria. This new game had different gameplay from the original The Settlers series. By late 2017, the studio also helped with games like Skull & Bones, For Honor, and Rainbow Six: Siege. In 2018, Blue Byte announced a new The Settlers game, which was the eighth in the series. The studio also developed Anno 1800 and is working on Beyond Good and Evil 2 with another Ubisoft studio.

In 2017, Blue Byte changed its name to Ubisoft Blue Byte. They showed a new logo just before the Gamescom event in August. A third Blue Byte studio was announced in Berlin in April 2017. This new studio was set up in a building that used to be a bank. Istvan Tajnay, who managed operations at Ubisoft Blue Byte, became the manager of the new Berlin studio. Even though it was part of Ubisoft Blue Byte, it was specifically named "Ubisoft Berlin."

Ubisoft Berlin started working in early 2018. Its official opening was on September 25, 2018, with 60 employees. At the same time, Blue Byte's Düsseldorf studio had 230 employees, and its Mainz studio had 100. At Gamescom in August 2019, Ubisoft Blue Byte announced a new way of naming its studios. They were renamed Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Mainz. This change was meant to attract more employees. Ubisoft Blue Byte hoped to grow from 520 staff members to 1,000 by 2023. All three studios are still part of the Ubisoft Blue Byte company. By December 2020, the "Ubisoft Blue Byte" name was mostly phased out for the studios themselves. However, Ubisoft Blue Byte still remains the main company for its three studios.

Games Developed or Published

Pro Tennis Tour series

Battle Isle series

Settlers series

Anno series

Other Games

See also

In Spanish: Ubisoft Blue Byte para niños

• List of companies in Germany
• List of video game developers