Ubisoft is in an interesting place right now. After successfully staving off a takeover from Vivendi, the French publisher continues to prosper. Several games are obviously in development, many of which remain unannounced, and a number of Ubisoft’s live service titles have done well at keeping up momentum. With new technology on the horizon, especially in the console market, Ubisoft is looking to mix things up a bit. Most interestingly, the company believes now may be the perfect time to invest in new IPs.
The company’s EMEA Director, Alain Corre, addressed this topic during a gamescom interview with MCVUK. He spoke of Ubisoft’s need to balance live services, while simultaneously attempting to grow the business elsewhere. Apparently, one solution in finding such a balance rests in hiring new talent.
Corre said,
It’s a challenge because we need a lot of talent to do that, so we are going to continue hiring talent in the studios, we plan to have more in the next five years. We cherish our fans that are following our brands like Assassin’s Creed or Ghost Recon going forward, but we feel that it’s also a good moment now to go onto investing in new IPs. There are lots of new technologies appearing; PC is still developing fast, there are new consoles coming next year, the streaming technology is there, cross-play is also something that will excite players, so we feel it’s the right time to create new genres, and new IPs for us. After all, if the sun can shine on these ones, we’ll have them for a long time to come.
Ubisoft’s initiative in this regard is already in plain sight, thanks to the early 2020 release of Gods & Monsters. The new action-adventure title from the AC Odyssey team aims to be a family-friendly affair, allowing Ubisoft to broaden its position on the market. When asked if Gods & Monsters may evolve into a new series, Corre replied, “That’s the dream of every publisher. We are going to feed this game with new things along the way. Ideally, if the fans respond positively, it can have a long life in the future.”
Beyond Gods & Monsters, Ubisoft’s new IP plans remain largely under wraps. Still, the near future looks bright. AC Odyssey continues to receive updates, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is out in October, and there’s a new Rainbow Six set to launch early next year.
[Source: MCVUK]
