Ubisoft Moving Focus Away From Multiple Games, New IPs

Alain Corre, European managing director of Ubisoft, has said the non-AAA games are no longer profitable for the company and that Ubisoft probably won’t be producing much more new intellectual property over the next few years.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Corre said that because of changes in the market within the last 18 months, it has become “less risky to invest more in a single game or franchise than spreading your investment between three or four games.” He argues that because companies are forced to “spread thin” their investments overs those three or four titles, the overall quality decreases, with a single, more focused title having a better “concentration at the top of the charts.”

“The games that are not triple-A are not profitable anymore,” said Corre.

Ubisoft will also begin focusing on the larger franchises as opposed to new IP. Corre said that “we concentrate more on key franchises, because that’s what the market wants – something new with huge quality production behind it. The market is not supporting the full range of product that it used to anymore.” He said that Ubisoft’s upcoming RUSE may be the last original IP until the new set of home consoles.

He said that Ubisoft were “cautious” about introducing new brands because of the risk involved in development and marketing. “You cannot be 100 per cent sure the target audience you’d expect, which is needed for the comeback on the investment,” said Corre.

Interesting comments, and certainly not a good thing for gamers wanting to see some new, fresh franchises or games. The last year has felt like a real “sequel year”, with only a few new titles really getting going. Things like All Points Bulletin by the now defunct studio Realtime Worlds shows the risk of putting all your eggs in one basket, however. With a $100 million budget and very little to really in show in terms of review scores, it shows the risks that developers have to take when trying out new, big budget IPs.

In the end, it’s just a shame that game companies like Ubisoft will end up chucking out Assassin’s Creed 8 and not making new titles. Yes, it makes sense from a “business perspective” but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will result in interesting games.