Home Gaming Ubisoft donates €500,000 to Notre-Dame restoration, offers up Assassin’s Creed Unity for free

Ubisoft donates €500,000 to Notre-Dame restoration, offers up Assassin’s Creed Unity for free

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There have been numerous reports this week in the wake of the unfortunate Notre-Dame fire, that Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Unity was going to be used to help rebuild the cathedral. This has me rankled because they all cite the same source, which offers little more than speculation.

In truth, there’s no need for the voluminous, exceptional work done by Ubisoft and Caroline Miousse in meticulously mapping Notre-Dame for Assassin’s Creed Unity, because there are high resolution, millimetre accurate laser scans that are far more suitable for the purpose. It’s a nice little story that makes gamers feel warm and fuzzy and helps validate gaming, but it’s unnecessary.

That’s because Ubisoft is helping, by donating half a million euros to the restoration and reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.

“As the smoke clears on the events that unfolded on Monday at the Notre-Dame de Paris, we stand in solidarité with our fellow Parisians and everyone around the world moved by the devastation the fire caused. Notre-Dame is an integral part of Paris, a city to which we are deeply connected. Seeing the monument in peril like this affected us all,” says Ubisoft in a blog.

“In light of Monday’s events, we will be donating €500,000 to help with the restoration and reconstruction of the Cathedral. We encourage all of you who are interested to donate as well.”

On top of that, they’re letting people experience the building’s majesty in “the best way we know how.” By giving away Assassin’s creed Unity, for free. You can download it now for Uplay PC here: http://assassinscreed.com/unity-notredame/.

“Video games can enable us to explore places in ways we never could have otherwise imagined. We hope, with this small gesture, we can provide everyone an opportunity to appreciate our virtual homage to this monumental piece of architecture.”

While the game was a buggy mess when it launched, numerous patches made it worth playing. I ended up enjoying Unity quite a bit, but that’s probably largely because I’ve always been fascinated by that period in history.

Last Updated: April 18, 2019

20 Comments

  1. Kromas

    April 18, 2019 at 10:32

    Now that is two free Ubisoft games I got this year I won’t be playing.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Hype Train

      April 18, 2019 at 10:57

      xD

      Reply

  2. Magoo

    April 18, 2019 at 10:57

    Spend a billion dollars to fix a building so that we can go inside and pray for the poor.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Hype Train

      April 18, 2019 at 10:57

      Yeah, poor form (excuse the wording)

      Reply

  3. Nikola

    April 18, 2019 at 11:04

    Nice gesture from Ubisoft. I must say they games have been on point lately so I am glad to support a company like this.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Hype Train

      April 18, 2019 at 12:02

      +1

      Reply

  4. Pariah

    April 18, 2019 at 10:06

    What a cool gesture from Ubisoft. That’s another notch in their belt.

    Reply

  5. Original Heretic

    April 18, 2019 at 10:43

    This is a Catholic church, right?
    So then why isn’t the Vatican footing the bill. They’re only one of the richest organisations in the world, after all.

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      April 18, 2019 at 10:51

      “The French Ministry of Culture owns Notre Dame and is responsible for its maintenance.”
      Google is your friend

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Hype Train

        April 18, 2019 at 10:57

        I think he was asking if it was a Catholic church, not who the owners are

        Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          April 18, 2019 at 10:57

          well it’s more of a tourist attraction than a church. It’s actually Paris’s #1 tourist attraction so even if it was originally Catholic it surely is no longer their responsibility. Unless France wants to give the Vatican all the income it receives from it?

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            April 18, 2019 at 11:04

            Regardless of what kind of use it has, it’s a Catholic icon.
            If the Vatican is apathetic to the rebuilding of it, well…

          • Gavin Mannion

            April 18, 2019 at 11:10

            well what? Should we let Stone Henge fall because the original builders no longer care, what about the pyramids or the Voertrekker monument?

            Notre Dame is a world icon and helping rebuild it doesn’t take anything away from anyone. This culture of complaining about people banding together to save something makes me sick

          • Original Heretic

            April 18, 2019 at 11:11

            Who’s complaining about people banding together to save something? Personally, I laud Ubisofts attitude.
            But so far I have yet to hear of the Vatican even offering anything to the rebuilding. That’s what I’m commenting on. If a major icon of a religious organisation is damaged, it seems logical for that organisation to assist in the rebuilding.

          • Gavin Mannion

            April 18, 2019 at 11:21

            assist yes, you originally said foot the bill.

          • Original Heretic

            April 18, 2019 at 11:21

            Rushed choice of words. I always meant just as a contribution.
            I mean, they’re an extremely wealthy organisation. They should be able to contribute significantly.

          • Gavin Mannion

            April 18, 2019 at 13:09

            they should be burned to the ground if I had a choice…

    • HvR

      April 18, 2019 at 14:23

      Quite a complicated and interesting history culturally and religiously. Presently I would say 33% church, 33% tourist attraction/art gallery and 33% heritage site.

      During the French Revolution it went from Catholic cathedral to and atheist “church” then a type of diestic church and then Bonaparte restored Catholicism.

      Any case it is government owned and insured by the government and also the contractors that was busy with the restoration was also covered by an insurance policy so I’m not sure if all the donations are necessary.

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        April 18, 2019 at 14:23

        Very good point.
        The contractor wouldn’t even have been able to start working on site until they had the correct insurance cover in place.
        So…where are all these donations going to go?!

        Reply

        • HvR

          April 18, 2019 at 14:30

          I think it is probably just public pledges being made if there is any kind of shortfall or maybe get it done faster and not actual money being transferred.

          From what I’ve heard on news broadcasts the investigation first needs to be completed to establish the cause of the fire which will determine which insurer needs to pay etc.

          Reply

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