On October 30, 2019, publisher Ubisoft held its Q2 earnings call, relaying information about its financial results to investors. While most of the call focused on specific financial stats, an interesting tidbit came from CEO Yves Guillemot, in which he noted that he wants cross-play to be added to all Ubisoft games that feature PvP. With cross-play functionality becoming more prevalent, it also a feature that can extend the life of a game by combining system playerbases into one.
However, it isn’t entirely up to Ubisoft when it comes to allowing cross-play on a specific platform. Historically, Sony has been apprehensive about allowing the feature to be implemented across games on PlayStation 4. But the company has been coming around, allowing cross-play in games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Fortnite, and PUBG, and finally opening up cross-play to all developers early in October. At present, the only Ubisoft games with cross-play functionality are fighting platformer Brawlhalla and Just Dance’s World Dance Floor mode.
Guillemot said on the company’s Q2 earnings call:
Our goal is to put cross-play on all the PvP games we have, over time. That’s well on the way.
As illustrated by our announcement last week, we are continuing to take decisions in the interests of Ubisoft’s long-term future. It is as a result of this approach that we’ve been able to significantly and successfully transform our business model in recent years and create major shareholder value.
Ubisoft’s prospects are particularly promising. Our numerous growth vectors going forward include the arrival of the next generation of consoles, the opening up of the Asian market and our partnership with Tencent for launching our franchises on mobile. All of these are strong value creation drivers for the medium term.
Last week’s announcement referred to here is regarding delays on three of its upcoming marquee titles: Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods and Monsters, and Rainbow Six: Quarantine to focus on quality. The focus of cross-play for all PvP (and presumably online) games is another focus on the longterm futures of Ubisoft products, something the company has been smartly adapting to.
What Ubisoft games would you like to see feature cross-play functionality?
[Source: Games Industry]
