Ubisoft Barcelona was founded in 1994 by María Teresa Cordón. Initially, it operated as a distribution subsidiary of Ubisoft, and in 1998 the studio opened its doors as Ubi Soft Barcelona. It was renamed Ubi Studios España, becoming a video game development studio.
From then on, the studio began developing video games and became renowned for researching and developing new peripherals, consoles, and technology. Some of the first most popular titles developed are Monster 4x4: World Circuit, launch title for the Wii, Your Shape the first USB camera enabled game for Wii with motion tracking, and MotionSports, a launch title for Microsoft's Kinect peripheral for Xbox 360.
The studio was renamed to Ubisoft Barcelona in 2004. Since then it has worked on its own projects, such as motion-tracking technology for the Wii, and it has been involved as a support studio on famous franchises such as Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege or Star Trek: Bridge Crew on virtual reality.
The first major project the studio co-developed was Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for March 2006, working alongside Red Storm Entertainment and four other Ubisoft studios to bring the game to PC and consoles. The game received a score of 90/100 on Metacritic and won BAFTA awards for Best Game of the Year and Best Technical Achievement. They also collaborated on the development of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 in March 2007.
In October 2013, Just Dance 2014 was released. This rhythm game from the Just Dance series was developed by Ubisoft Paris in collaboration with Ubisoft Barcelona and four other Ubisoft studios. The game received a Metacritic score of 79/100 and a rating of 8/10 from IGN, Vandal, and 3DJuegos.
On September 24, 2013, Ubisoft acquired the Barcelona division of the American company Digital Chocolate, rebranding it as Ubisoft Barcelona Mobile, a studio dedicated to developing mobile video games.
In November 2014, Assassin's Creed: Unity was released. This action-adventure stealth game from the Assassin's Creed series was developed by Ubisoft Montreal in collaboration with Ubisoft Barcelona and ten other Ubisoft studios. The game won Outstanding Performance in a Video Game at the ACTRA Awards, Best Character Animation in a Video Game at the Annie Awards, and Best Technical Achievement and Best Art Direction at the NAVGTR Awards. It received an overall score of 72/100 on Metacritic and an 8.5/10 from IGN.