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Ubisoft execs take the Ice Bucket Challenge as Rabbid looks on
No one is immune to memetic charity, which is why Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and Ubisoft EMEA executive director Alain Corre are seen below the break enduring a frigid deluge in front of Notre Dame cathedral. Guillemot and Corre are taking part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a stunt in which the notable (and not so notable) video themselves having ice water dumped over their heads and/or donate money to the ALS Association, a non-profit dedicated to battling Lou Gehrig's Disease. Since this is an Ubisoft production, however, the two executives tapped some of the publisher's most famous characters to join in the footage, including Watch Dogs lead Aiden Pierce and Assassin's Creed: Unity protagonist Arno Dorian. And of course, there's the Rabbid who is doing an admirable job of behaving, despite his species' tendency toward chaotic, madcap hijinks. In keeping with tradition, Guillemot and Corre have nominated three others to film their own Ice Bucket Challenge videos: Sony Computer Entertainment president and Group CEO Andrew House, Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison and legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. [Image: Ubisoft]
Ubisoft 'not ruling out' Rayman Legends for 3DS
Just because Rayman Legends has already launched on most modern platforms doesn't mean you should rule out its eventual jump to the 3DS, Ubisoft executive Alain Corre told CVG last week. "When you look at Rayman Legends you see it's a very big game with a lot of levels," Corre said. "It takes time to squeeze everything and downsize it into other formats." Corre's statements toward a 3DS version were more of a musing than a confirmation, however, as he added that Ubisoft can't "say anything for the moment, but we can't rule the format out." The 3DS version of Rayman Origins launched six months after the game's initial launch on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Considering Legends just launched weeks ago, Ubisoft has plenty of time to follow suit with its hypothetical port to the 3DS.
Ubisoft: Next-gen pre-orders of Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed 4 beating current-gen
Pre-orders for next-gen versions of Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag are higher than current generation versions, Ubisoft's European chief Alain Corre told MCV. "The fans are really excited to get their hands on the new technology," Corre said. "It has been eight years without a home console from Sony or Microsoft so we feel a lot of excitement from our fans for Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed 4. The pre-orders we are getting are much bigger on our next-gen games." This comes nearly a month after EA's Peter Moore noted that pre-orders on current-generation sports games for the publisher were notably soft. "So we feel that the transition might be quicker," Corre added. "There is a real appetite for change." We'll have a better idea of just how hungry players are for new consoles when the Xbox One and PS4 launch this holiday season.
Ubisoft cautious over new IP, remains focused on established franchises
Ubisoft Europe managing director Alain Corre isn't one to parse words -- for instance, he told GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview, "The games that are not triple-A are not profitable anymore. And that's changed in the last 18 months." He admitted that "we are still releasing some new franchises," citing Ruse as a calculated aberration. "It's a niche so we know the size of the market for real-time strategy games ... with niche games it's possible to have a hit more than in the triple-A space, especially in the fourth and fifth year of the console cycle." To Corre, it's a question of investment risk. "To a certain extent it becomes less risky to invest more in a single game or franchise than spreading your investment between three or four games," he explained. "If those three or four games are not at the right quality level, you are sure to lose money. So the business model has changed and we're changing our way of making hardcore games." He said we might not see a new IP push from Ubisoft until the next generation of consoles, which he foresees to be "less than five years" from now. Oddly, he doesn't bring up Ubisoft Toronto -- a studio headed by Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond -- that's said to be working on both "AAA-game" and new IP. Nor did he address the fate of the scantly brought up I Am Alive, supposedly coming out next spring. Based on Corre's statements, we've at least managed to come to the conclusion that Beyond Good & Evil 2 (not a new IP) should be getting a release date during this console cycle. That's ... something?
Ubisoft may release franchise titles every 12-18 months
Speaking to GI.biz, Ubisoft's European Managing Director Alain Corre made it clear that the company plans to begin releasing new iterations of its major franchise titles every 12 to 18 months. Corre noted that his company is working toward the strategy, but stressed that each title "needs to be different enough from the previous SKU to make sure you're not tiring the franchise or the consumers." Corre pointed to the Call of Duty series as the best example of consistent releases and consistent quality, saying, "They never compromise on quality, which is exactly what we're trying to do with our brands now." His remarks strike a familiar chord, as Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot shared similar comments during a financial conference call earlier this month. Guillemot then stated the company's goal of releasing more games more often, though he was careful to say that it still plans to invest in creating better game engines and development tools in order to avoid the franchise fatigue that seems to pervade certain titles. If any of that translates to more Beyond Good & Evil, we're all for it.
Ubisoft's collaboration with Q Entertainment likely to be a music game
So far, all we've known about "Codename Eden," the project Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment is working on with Ubisoft, is that Mizuguchi is involved, and that Ubisoft didn't think it was worth cutting into its E3 press conference's Cameron Time to bring Mizuguchi up to talk about it. As a result, all we got was a brief mention of the project and an awkward wave from Mizuguchi's seat in the audience.In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft executive director Alain Corre offered substantial hints that the new project may be a music game. First, he described Q as "very advanced and specialised in how to exploit the music genre." GI followed up by asking about Ubisoft's interest in entering the market and competing with Guitar Hero and the like. "We have been researching the music genre a lot," Corre said. "We know some iterations of music games are working very well in the music category. There are a lot of new things to invent in the future with voice or dance, so we're very much looking at what we can do in that respect."This is no absolute guarantee that "Codename Eden" is some kind of music game, but the proximity of the two statements is interesting. And the prospect of a new music game from the creator of Space Channel 5 and Rez is wonderful.
Ubisoft: E3 timing 'not appropriate'
Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Ubisoft's Alain Corre said that the location and timing of this year's E3 was "not appropriate" for the event -- he wants it earlier (as in, back in May) and bigger. Basically, back the way it was, where Ubisoft could get a spot on the massive show floor and put on a glorious gaming spectacle. The overemphasis on glitz and glamour is pretty much why they ditched the old format in the first place.Corre doesn't delve into specifics about what exactly the show should be, beyond being bigger and earlier. However, he does mention the lack of retail presence, which publishers would use to establish plans for the remainder of the year. According to Corre, having the event in July digs too deep into the year, and holiday plans can't be made as effectively. However, there still needs to be "reasonable limits as to noise, attendees or whatever."What do you think? Has E3 settled into a nice groove this year, or do you wish the "funfair" atmosphere made a return in some form?
