With the U.S. release of the PlayStation 4, and the impending worldwide launch of the Xbox One, launch titles have quickly been making their way into the public's eye. As with any console launch, the range in quality between the games is fairly wide. This is due mainly to resource management, a Ubisoft executive said.
"Right now, all publishers are transitioning their development resources," Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, told GamesIndustry. "For a [Ubisoft] game like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, most of the sales are still going to be on current generation platforms. We can't make a version for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One that's so wildly different that we can't market them together.
"So, for now, developers and designers are focused on making a game that works really well on all of the systems - but as we transition resources to the next gen, it's going to be more difficult to do that because the power of these machines is going to allow so much more creativity."
These factors, along with the competition in the holiday launch window, also led to the delay of Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's flagship next-gen title. Key said Watch Dogs is designed to be a long-term brand for Ubisoft, which fits well within the company's "franchise focus." That is, Ubisoft doesn't want to invest in any standalone titles, as the cost of creating games is too high to not have a franchise envisioned.
"We won't launch [Watch Dogs] until we know it's equaling the vision it can achieve," Key said. "We're playing the long game - and as a company, we know how important it is to get it right."
In a similar situation, Key told IGN that The Crew, another next-gen Ubisoft title, would benefit from forward thinking, as far as next-gen consoles are concerned. He said that the "immersion factor" is extremely heightened this time around, and that Ubisoft wants to make sure they're taking full advantage of that.
"There's so much more under the hood," Key said of the developers working on next-gen titles. "Give them just a little more time and you're going to see the difference start to build. The amount of innovation that's going to occur around these machines is really going to inspire the category.
"That's what we need: We need to bring excitement back to this industry."
Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for various outlets, and is reading Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. To hear how much he loves it, you can follow Mike on Twitter.
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"Right now, all publishers are transitioning their development resources," Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, told GamesIndustry. "For a [Ubisoft] game like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, most of the sales are still going to be on current generation platforms. We can't make a version for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One that's so wildly different that we can't market them together.
"So, for now, developers and designers are focused on making a game that works really well on all of the systems - but as we transition resources to the next gen, it's going to be more difficult to do that because the power of these machines is going to allow so much more creativity."
These factors, along with the competition in the holiday launch window, also led to the delay of Watch Dogs, Ubisoft's flagship next-gen title. Key said Watch Dogs is designed to be a long-term brand for Ubisoft, which fits well within the company's "franchise focus." That is, Ubisoft doesn't want to invest in any standalone titles, as the cost of creating games is too high to not have a franchise envisioned.
"We won't launch [Watch Dogs] until we know it's equaling the vision it can achieve," Key said. "We're playing the long game - and as a company, we know how important it is to get it right."
In a similar situation, Key told IGN that The Crew, another next-gen Ubisoft title, would benefit from forward thinking, as far as next-gen consoles are concerned. He said that the "immersion factor" is extremely heightened this time around, and that Ubisoft wants to make sure they're taking full advantage of that.
"There's so much more under the hood," Key said of the developers working on next-gen titles. "Give them just a little more time and you're going to see the difference start to build. The amount of innovation that's going to occur around these machines is really going to inspire the category.
"That's what we need: We need to bring excitement back to this industry."
Mike Mahardy is a freelance writer for various outlets, and is reading Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. To hear how much he loves it, you can follow Mike on Twitter.
More...
