You’ve likely heard that Ubisoft games have had their problems, to say the least. Ubisoft’s heard the same thing and according to Yves Guillermot, it’s turning over a new leaf – or selling what they’re making.
Talking with the Guardian, Guillermot discussed a variety of changes that the company’s resolved to make in the time since E3, including how they show off their games.
“With E3 2015 we said, OK, let’s make sure the games are playable, that they’re running on the target machines,” Guillermot said. “When we show something, we ask the team, make sure it’s playable, make sure gamers can immediately see exactly what it is. That’s what we learned from the Watch Dogs experience – if it can’t be played on the target machine, it can be a risk.”
Guillermot further discussed the inner workings of Ubisoft’s development cycle. In recent years, some of its games have sought to skip the pitch phase, with games such as this year’s Grow Home being made entirely in secret.
In other news, Guillermot also announced that while Ghost Recon: Wildlands wasn’t playable at this year’s E3 where it was unveiled, it will be playable at this October’s Paris Games convention.
Speaking on the issue of the criticism surrounding the release of last year’s Watch Dogs, Guillermot claimed the game was a valuable first step to a better franchise. The game, which moved over 4 million copies in its first week on the market, was notably lambasted for its comparably sub-par graphics to its original E3 debut.
“It’s a real challenge to create those types of games. When they come out, especially the first iterations, they are not perfect on everything,” Guillermot insisted. “We think we launched a good quality game for a first step in a new brand with a new technology. It’s just so complex – seamless multiplayer, connectivity with mobile and tablets, so many things – it was maybe a bit too much for a first iteration.”
Though a sequel to Watch Dogs has been rumored, it’s yet to be formally announced.
Via The Guardian