The famous Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is opening its doors after years of restoration work. The video game world is also celebrating. Ubisoft has announced several initiatives to honor the reopening of the Gothic icon and provide a digital immersion in its history.
April 2019: The burning of Notre-Dame de Paris
On the evening of April 15, 2019, a fire started in the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris. Within minutes, the flames had eaten through the roof, causing the crossing tower to collapse. For days, the emergency services were busy with the evacuation work. People worldwide are shocked and collect donations to finance the reconstruction. In the end, over 800 million euros were collected.
Gamers were also shocked by the partial destruction of the French capital’s landmark. As we reported at the time, many fans of Assassin’s Creed Unity dug out their old discs again and honored Notre-Dame in their own way.
Ubisoft itself also participated in the reconstruction of the cathedral. The company not only donated 500,000 euros, it also launched a charity run and provided the French authorities with a 3D model of the church. At the same time, it announced its intention to publish a VR game about the building.
VR education with Ubisoft
This VR experience is now available for free on the Meta Store under the title“Notre-Dame de Paris: Journey Back in Time” With the help of a VR headset, interested parties can experience a detailed replica of the cathedral. This virtual model is based on the elaborate reconstruction that Ubisoft created for the video game Assassin’s Creed Unity, which was released in 2014. For the VR experience, these representations were revised and enriched with new details.
In addition, Ubisoft is working with the Institut Français and the Micro-Folies network to make the VR experience accessible in museums and cultural centers worldwide. This collaboration highlights the cultural significance of Notre-Dame as a global symbol and combines historical heritage with modern technology.
The app for your visit
Ubisoft is going even further, providing exclusive 3D illustrations to the new official Notre Dame visitor app. These show both historical and inaccessible areas of the cathedral as they appear in the game. These additions make it possible to explore the cathedral in a way that has never been possible before – both on-site and digitally.
In an accompanying Twitch stream, Caroline Miousse, Associate Art Director, and Maxime Durand, Authenticity Director, talked about the challenges of recreating Notre-Dame for Assassin’s Creed Unity as accurately as possible. Their detailed understanding of the architecture has helped to preserve the cathedral in the digital realm and make it accessible for new experiences.
The celebrations emphasize how modern technologies can contribute not only to entertainment, but also to the preservation and communication of cultural heritage. With these initiatives, Ubisoft once again demonstrates how video games can build bridges between history, culture and innovation.
