Ubisoft Prepping Tom Clancy MMO

Following its purchase of the Tom Clancy name for all game-related properties, French publisher Ubisoft has revealed that it will be developing a Tom Clancy-branded massively multiplayer online game.

"We are ready and decide now to go for an MMO on the Clancy name," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in a conference call yesterday, according to Gamasutra.

It was not stated if if the MMO will be set within an existing Tom Clancy franchise, popular examples of which include Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six, or a new off-shoot.

Guillemot noted that Ubisoft had been considering a Tom Clancy MMO for some time, but had held off as it would have increased the company's annual royalty payments to Clancy. The company expects its purchase of the name to save at least 5 million euros (roughly $7.87M) a year in royalties.

"With the royalties we had, it was another barrier not to create the game, because the return on investment was diminished by that," Guillemot said.

While the CEO estimated that the MMO could cost up to $50 million to develop, he did not disclose specifics on target platforms, a release window, its genre, or the studio that will be working on the title.