After 5 long years of work, STARLINK: Battle for Atlas, Ubisoft Toronto’s first unique AAA intellectual property has gone gold. To celebrate the upcoming release of the game, I was invited to try it out and celebrate this momentous achievement with the game developers. During the event I was able to conduct a short interview with Daniel Ebanks, Art Director for the highly anticipated game. We discussed inspirations, Star Fox and more!

This is the first triple A IP that’s been developed by Ubisoft Toronto. What was the development process like for creating a completely new game such as this one for the first time?

“I’m extremely excited about the process and proud of my team’s achievement. The game’s concept began with a small LEGO prototype of what looked like a spaceship, and the team was inspired to create our own version of a Space Opera. The universe was built from this crudely made prototype and went through many iterations before settling on the final products we see coming with the game.”

The game looks to have an intended audience of children. Was this always the case?

“While the team’s intended audience for the game was kids, they never took that audience for granted. We’re all from triple-A backgrounds, and we gave this game the triple-A approach. There were no cut costs, and the aim of the game was to engage not only kids but adults as well, with fun gameplay and a compelling story.”

Would it be possible to elaborate on the partnership with Nintendo when including Star Fox characters and ships into the game?

“I’m very excited about the addition of Star Fox characters in a special version of the game for the Nintendo Switch featuring Fox McCloud and the Arwing fully featured in the game. Nintendo really liked the concept of the game and wanted to include their iconic character in the Switch version for their fans to enjoy.”

The team was very enthusiastic about the launch. Some of the guests even had their kids with them, who could only say good things about the game. Starlink: Battle for Atlas will be released on October 16, 2018 for the Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and Xbox One!