The dreams of many gamers are about to become real; the major game developer Ubisoft has signed a major contract with 3D printing software development company Mixed Dimensions.
Ubisoft is a major video game company that has more than three decades of expertise. With its headquarters in France and consistent worldwide growth, it is known for creating acclaimed video games such as Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy,s, Watch Dogs and Rayman among others.
Mixed Dimensions has been working since 2009 to offer a software platform that connects the virtual and the physical world together by bringing the possibility of getting any 3D file fixed and ready for 3D printing. They do this through online tools, partnerships and plugins.
We can imagine Mixed Dimensions’ joy at signing a partnership that covers most of Ubisoft’s titles, including Assassin ´s Creed, For Honor, Beyond Good and Evil, Watch Dogs and many more.
Mo Taslaq the CEO of Mixed Dimensions said,
“We are excited to offer our innovative 3D printing service to Ubisoft. This new partnership further demonstrates the power of our GamePrint technology and continues our mission to enable gamers from around the world the ability to purchase customized gaming avatars, wargear, and vehicles that historically only lived in the virtual gaming space.
“Partnering with Ubisoft gives us an amazing selection of gaming platforms that we can leverage to showcase the power of our GamePrint technology and reach new gaming audiences.”
Mixed Dimensions CTO Baha Abunojaim stated that,
“Our technology makes it extremely simple for game developers and publishers to offer high quality personalized and unique collectibles to their fans that not only makes the process seamless but also enables gamers to own a physical replica of their favorite characters and creations.”
Ubisoft’s Senior Director of Retail Development Robert Donsky mentioned that,
“Our players are very passionate when it comes to their favorite Ubisoft icons in game. So we are happy to provide joy to our players by partnering with Mixed Dimensions to provide our fans a way to bring these icons into the real world.”
This union can bring the possibility of using 3D printing technology to allow gamers to create a replica of their favorite characters, vehicles, and dioramas.
Through Make Printable, Mixed Dimensions offers a platform to repair and optimize 3D files so that users with little knowledge of 3D printing are able to translate 3D files into high-quality 3D printable files and Gcode. More advanced users can use MakePrintable to speed up workflows and save time and money.
Although this collaboration brings lots of opportunities and enlighten the future of gaming collectors it raises some questions as well. After the 3D printing of the piece, there is still some craftsmanship to be done. I am curious to know how this issue will be solved by both companies or if it might be something for the collector to finish.
This partnership might steer the direction of merchandising how we understand it today. The replication of characters and other gaming features is a market that moves billions of dollars nowadays. MakePrintable may very well be the firm that acts as a window between players, partners and 3D printed goods. On the other hand, several companies have tried to open up the 3D printing game merchandising market over the past years and so far none have made millions of objects. This is where the opportunity lies, there are now by some counts as many as 2.2 billion gamers (if you count all that have gamed). We don’t know how many will want to print their in-game characters but this in game printing could be huge for 3D printing and for Mixed Dimensions.