From humble match-3 games to working on powerhouse AAAA titles, Sashi Menon paints a picture that’s nearly 16 years in the making to show us what it means to go from prototyping a dream at an interview to realizing it in the day-to-day running of a full-fledged studio. In this interview, Sashi gives us a glimpse into the fascinating world of production and co-development at Ubisoft Mumbai.
Hello Sashi, can you take us on a brief journey through your career in the gaming industry and how you navigated to where you are today?
It’s been around 16 years since I’ve been working in the gaming industry. Coming from a mechanical engineering background working at an FMCG plant, it was a big jump when I dived into gaming as a programmer. I started at a time when we used to work on Java-enabled feature phones back in 2007. Back then, clearing a coding test on making a Puyo Puyo game was a turning point for me and before I knew it, I was a programmer working on AI, gameplay and multiplayer aspects for Nintendo consoles. Subsequently, I moved into a Producer role working on mobile titles for the emerging iOS and Android smartphones which was a wonderful experience as we were now going from game conception to releasing games such as Big Bond Theory, PoP Classic, PoP Shadow and Flames. Later, as a Production Director for Mobile we established live operations which required us to now adapt to the Free-To-Play market. Aside from our in-house games such as Care Bears Belly Match, we also operated multiple titles such as Trials Frontiers, Rayman Adventures, and Just Dance Now to name a few. This was a great learning period as we would continuously release updates, analyze player data, engage with our community while also build business partnerships with the likes of KTM/BMW for instance. I was also involved into some console games porting such as Far Cry 3 at around this period.
By this time, Ubisoft Pune had gained enough experience and talent, that I had witnessed growing from 5 to over 1,000 members; we were ready for our next chapter. With these projects in our bag, in 2018 we started Ubisoft Mumbai where I moved along with the core team for our next chapter. Today, we stand tall celebrating our 5th anniversary of the studio working on large-scale projects.
Ubisoft prides itself on the success of its co-dev model. Could you, in just a few words, explain how the model works and how it manages to bring AAAA dreams to fruition?
When we talk about AAAA games, they usually require more than 500+ developers which in turn translates to multiple studios working together. Different studios across the globe have different strengths, talents, and specializations and bring some form of diversity to the product we work on. Despite this, we have a one-team-one-mindset approach, aligning towards a common creative vision. Each of us is equally responsible for the features that we’re in charge of and equally accountable. We don’t look at a task-based approach, rather we take the reins with a development team mindset. We have very strong processes in place to address time zone issues via robust Agile methodologies. Having an open culture for raising questions, meeting our peers face-to-face via studio visits has helped build a strong cohesive bond between the teams.
The recent release of Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR is a great example of our co-dev functioning. Our team members worked on multiple functions – art, animation, programming, design, and more, and by the end of the development cycle, they had acquired more knowledge than before. Access to subject matter experts, organized approaches to development and the ability to craft AAAA games are all key facets of our co-dev process.
Ubisoft Mumbai celebrates its 5th anniversary this year. What do you think are the success factors for any game development studio?
There are three key parameters that I would keep in mind for the success of a game development studio. One is getting the best talent, the second would be grooming the existing talent and lastly creating a strong culture within the talents at the studio.
Ensure that your core team is very strong. When you set your starting benchmark high, it automatically has a domino effect on the rest of the talents to come. Based on this, you define the kind of expectations you have from newcomers in your recruitment process.
It’s important to have a robust onboarding and L&D program for all newcomers, which takes time but is essential. We have created repositories for knowledge transfers, and we conduct sharing sessions between our projects. This helps groom your team members and deliver their best.
Finally, culture plays a very vital role in deciding your team’s cohesiveness. We promote a healthy exchange of knowledge within varied skillset areas and not just that we encourage people to celebrate their personal journeys, adventures, and experiences. Your workplace should not be completely opaque to what you do on a personal level.
Most importantly, recognize your colleagues. Celebrate the little wins as well as major successes. Keep communications open whether you’re a veteran or a newcomer – make sure you’re approachable by everyone to encourage cross exchanges. An open-door policy to support employees can make the workplace flourish.
What are the advantages of setting up a studio in Mumbai?
Being the entertainment capital of India, the city not only offers a lot of talent in Art, Animation, Design & Programming but also some niche specializations such as VFX, Script Writing, Audio Design and much more. Furthermore, thanks to the presence of very established education institutes in the city we are able to tap into promising talents. This coupled with the proximity to our Pune studio enabled a lot of healthy exchanges and co-development opportunities. That aside Mumbai also doubles as the financial capital of the country and with the booming growth being witnessed in the gaming industry, the city is uniquely positioned to create many major business possibilities and opportunities.
How do you encourage your team members to unwind in this fast-paced industry?
We create a space where we have room for open exchanges and encourage cross-knowledge sharing between teams on many days. We have a concept called Eazy Fridays where any topic can be picked up by individual members and be spoken about. Whether it’s on the professional front itself or even life skills and personal experiences. Some of our members have even spoken about book publishing, exciting career paths, taking adventurous solo trips, healthy habits in addition to of course the latest tech/tools and games deconstruct. We also have a dedicated gaming zone in the studio where members can simply pick up the controllers and play games of all kinds. We are extremely conscious about maintaining a healthy work-life balance and have a hybrid work culture in place to encourage the same.
Recently, we saw your insightful panel discussion on Offshore Development Centers: The Next Innovation Hubs at the India Game Developer Conference. Where do you think India is headed in terms of game development and production, this day forward?
If you look at India in the past 15 to 20 years, we have grown by leaps and bounds when it comes to game development. The Indian market is expected to grow up to $8.6bn in revenue by 2027 as per Lumikai reports. What we’ve seen so far is just a precursor for things to come. The mobile gaming market is huge here and India leads in terms of downloads with over 2 billion. The number of gamers has increased to more than 400 million and this in turn is going to generate a lot more interest in the space. India also has a lot of quality talent to further fuel this space. Local schools are also focusing on game development, and this is going to boost the ecosystem more. We’re very excited to see what India holds for the future of gaming and the gaming market.
Game development has been a very exciting space. The different challenges, projects, titles, game modes, talents to work with, dynamics and so much more only keep game developers hungry for more. If you’d like to join this exciting field and start your career at Ubisoft, check out our job openings here. Join us and become a creator of worlds.