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It’s been quite the week for Ubisoft: after fending off Vivendi and partnering with Tencent, the company has now announced the opening of two new studios in Mumbai (India) and Odesa (Ukraine), with the aim to hire 160 members of staff in their first two years of existence.

Ubisoft Mumbai will be closely linked to the firm’s other Indian studio in Pune and will report to its managing director Jean-Philippe Pieuchot (pictured right). The studio will hire up to 100 employees within two years, focusing on finding programmers and artists, with a partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and Intuit Lab. It is due to open in June this year.

Pieuchot, now MD for both Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai commented: “I’m very excited to see our presence growing in the country. Opening a studio in one of the world’s biggest and most dynamic cities will open the doors to a new pool of talents. Our ambition is to contribute towards the development of the Indian video game ecosystem by partnering closely with top schools and institutions.”

Meanwhile in Ukraine, the Odesa studio is already up and running, having opened earlier this month. It’s still looking to hire up to 60 people within two years and is headed by Ubisoft Kiev’s studio manager Adrian Serbanescu (pictured left). The new Ukrainian office joins a pool of seven Ubisoft studios working on the Ghost Recon franchise.

Sébastien Delen, MD for Ubisoft’s Eastern European Hub studios (Romania, Ukraine and Serbia) said: “Ubisoft first came to Kiev 10 years ago and since then the team grew and took on challenging projects, but alongside Kiev, we have always been interested in Odesa and thus the perfect occasion for us to show this was by opening an office there. We are really glad to see the industry evolving in Ukraine and to see so many people who are passionate about game development.”

The recruitment process for both studios has already started – if you’re interested, head to Ubisoft’s website.

Executive director of Ubisoft’s worldwide studios Christine Burgess-Quémard added: “This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ubisoft’s presence in India and in Ukraine. Our commitment to both countries is now strengthened by these expansions to Mumbai and Odesa. I am proud to see how our production presence is growing, and strongly believe that it is by investing and expanding our knowledge and expertise internally that we will be able to keep delivering the high quality entertainment experiences of the future.”

Ubisoft is having a good year so far, having also recently acquired French developer 1492 Studio and US-based studio Blue Mammoth Games.