Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon series has become “too dry” for the likes of many at Ubisoft and the company is now looking forward to a much slower tempo with Future Soldier. This is all according to the UK brand manager Matt Benson, who said Ubisoft is happy to let EA and Activision duke it out this Christmas, then bring out Future Soldier next year.
Talking to OXM, Matt Benson talked about how Future Soldier has learned to be more “intuitive and fun” like its competition and what they have learned from the Ghost Recon series.
I still play Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, it’s still a great online experience with your mates, and we still want that to translate through to Future Soldier. The team have worked really hard to balance that out.
We’re not competing directly with Call of Duty and Battlefield, we’re not. Let’s let those guys duke it out this side of Christmas. For me, post-Christmas, Future Soldier is the kind of game that changes the tempo slightly. It’s not a twitch shooter.
That’s probably why the various 11 and 12 year olds who play Call of Duty are so good at it, because they have lightning-fast reflexes an old git like me doesn’t have. Whereas Future Soldier is all about teamwork, and building innovations on the battlefield, like the suppression system.
It’s finding the balance between demanding war simulation and Hollywood movie blockbuster. I’ve seen the Modern Warfare 3 trailer – it has Michael Bay written all over it, it’s great. Huge, cinematic… but with all respect to them, I’d play Call of Duty anyway. We all do! For some people Ghost Recon was just that bit too demanding, and a bit too dry.
A beta will be coming in January for Future Soldier and hopefully Ubisoft can find a good balance that hits home for gamers.
