Ubisoft Is Developing New PVP Battle Arena “Project Q”

JUST IN: Ubisoft has officially announced “Project Q” to be in early development, with registrations for the upcoming playtests for the gameplay going live.

https://twitter.com/Ubisoft/status/1517896643345108995

UPDATE: Gameplay footage of “Project Q” from the playtest has seemingly been leaked online, giving players the first-ever glimpse at the upcoming “innovative and modern PvP battle arena game” from Ubisoft.

The Original Report Before Release: Eight sources have confirmed the development of a new game being developed by French studio Ubisoft Bordeaux.

In new playtest emails that have been sent out these past couple of days, Ubisoft has described the game as an “innovative and modern PvP battle arena game.”

The game, codenamed ‘Project Q’ that was originally spotted by Eurogamer back in September 2021 from the leaked NVIDIA GeForce Now database but was later removed following a DMCA takedown from Ubisoft, has started its first-ever playtests today. Project Q has two game modes; one is called “Showdown,” which is the game’s take on a Battle Royale consisting of only four teams of two players. The second mode, named “Battle Zone,” is the game’s Battle Arena mode, where players need to reach 100 points in order to win with two teams of four players. The objective of Battle Zone is to control an area of the map for as long as possible, somewhat similar to Call of Duty’s Hardpoint game mode.

Players get to pick their heroes’ own weapons, abilities, and skills, with a player being able to pick three individual “Wonders” that can be mixed and matched. Weapons are not your typical assault rifles and submachine guns though. Weapons include the likes of a Deck of Cards, Fireworks, Hammers, Sticks, and Paintguns that will deal damage to your enemies. You also get to pick other unique abilities and skills too, including the likes of Icarus Wings that allow to you jump and fly in the air.

Footage of Project Q, which has been sent to me under the request of anonymity, shows the game’s art style as being similar to EA’s Knockout City or Activision’s Overwatch. This should give you somewhat of an idea of where Ubisoft is aiming to take this title. Keep in mind, that Ubisoft is also working on several other different Battle Royale games, including the unannounced Battle Royale Game, dubbed “Pathfinder.”

Ubisoft Bordeaux was founded in 2017 and has primarily acted as a support studio for Ubisoft Annecy, Paris, and Montepellier on various projects over the years. The studio has worked as a support studio on the likes of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Rainbow 6, and Beyond Good & Evil 2, but their website says the studio is also working on a “F2P PVP game, not yet announced”. This F2P PVP game is almost certainly Project Q, which has yet to still be announced.

From the first impressions of those that have played the game, it’s clearly still in very early stages of development and the game has been compared closely to the likes of Overwatch. Of course, opinions should always be taken with caution, but people have said the game is fun once you unlock more of the games Wonders.

As Project Q’s playtests continue, we’ll have more information on the game in the coming days.