In ”this part of the cycle” for consoles Ubi are ”cautious” about new IP. R.U.S.E. likely to be the last until the next cycle starts; sticking with stable.
”The games that are not triple-A are not profitable anymore,” said Ubisoft Europe managing director Alain Corre. ”And that’s changed in the last 18 months.”
”When you have a triple-A blockbuster it costs more money to develop, but at the end of the day there’s also the chance of a good return on it because there’s a concentration at the top of the charts.” Metacritic is practically an industry standard of quality measurement.
”With hardcore games that we’re not sure are reaching the right level, we stop work on them. And that’s why 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.”
R.U.S.E. is Ubisoft’s latest new IP creation and may well be their last until Microsoft and Sony come up with their new home consoles. Assassin’s Creed has had massive investment but is now paying off for the French publishing house.
”It is more difficult now. To launch a new IP you have to invest much, much more marketing to establish it, and if you add up the huge costs of development plus the investment in marketing you cannot be 100 per cent sure the target audience you’d expect, which is needed for the comeback on the investment,” continued Corre.
”Especially in this part of the cycle of the consoles, we are cautious now to introduce new brands. We’ll concentrate on the ones we have and make sure we bring them to the next level in terms of quality.” What does this mean for I Am Alive?
Ubisoft already have Assassin’s Creed 3 in the works, a new Splinter Cell, the reboot Driver: San Francisco, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 and more. They’ve plenty to tap.
