Ubi Soft Winches Largo
Publisher licenses another French comic book we've never heard of
Ubi Soft has signed a five year licensing deal with Dupuis Publishing to develop video games based on their comic book series Largo Winch, which was created by Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Francq and has apparently sold some 2.3 million issues worldwide since its inception in 1990. The comic has also spawned a TV series, which was broadcast in France last year and should arrive elsewhere in Europe this autumn. Of course, it goes without saying that none of us have ever heard of this comic and as far as we know it's fairly obscure outside of its native France and other strange countries like Quebec. So for the benefit of those of us who don't have a clue what the comic is all about, here's a brief run down on the story so far. Largo is a Yugoslavian orphan adopted by the world's wealthiest man, who conveniently dies some years later, leaving the multi-billion dollar Winch Corporation to Largo at the tender age of 26. Apparently this "plunges [him] headfirst into a new, unexpectedly vicious world" which somehow makes Largo "the epitome of the ultimate hero .. his adventures packed with action and supense". To be honest we didn't think that corporate restructuring and hostile take-overs were quite so exciting, but Ubi Soft seem to believe that "the world of Largo Winch lends itself perfectly to video games". Some of you may be experiencing a slight sense of deja vu at this point, as some eighteen months ago Ubi Soft signed a five year licensing deal with Dargaud Publishing to develop video games based on their comic book series XIII, which was created by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance and has apparently sold some 6.5 million issues worldwide since its inception in 1984. Again though, the comic is relatively unknown outside of French speaking countries, and since the deal was signed we have heard absolutely nothing about the PlayStation 2 game which was supposed to be based on the license. Signs are that Largo Winch has a better chance of seeing the light of day though, as Ubi Soft are promising that an adventure game (with "a significant financial element" - the mind boggles) will be released as soon as September on PC, PS2 and Xbox. So far all we have to go on though is one "screenshot", which consists of what looks suspiciously like a pre-rendered skyscraper with a dodgy washed-out photograph as its backdrop. Hopefully the final product will look somewhat better... Related Feature - UbiSoft goes shopping for comics
