Following the recent video game showcase season, Ubisoft had an interview with its CEO Yves Guillemot. The interview covered a variety of topics including the focus on Ubisoft’s portfolio, the current state of the video game industry, and what’s next for Assassin’s Creed which will reportedly include multiple remakes such as the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag remake.
Yves Guillemot says that Ubisoft is currently focusing on two genres at the moment, action=adventure open-world and Games as a Service. “The action-adventure open-world genre is really something we’re continuing to concentrate on, as you can see with Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Our game engines – Snowdrop and Anvil – have been adapted to that genre, and we believe we can create some of the best experiences out there.”
Guillemot contained, “And on the flip side of that are our Games as a Service )GaaS) native experiences. We’ve seen with games like Rainbow Six Siege that listening to your community and learning from their feedback is the way to grow a GaaS game. Of course, you absolutely need to have a vision, but the game is a co-construction with its players. If you listen to your community, you can create an evolving, best-in-class experience for them.
Last year, it was reported that Ubisoft was in early development of remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. However, according to Guillemot, it’s not the only remake of a past Assassin’s Creed title, more are seemingly on the way.
When talking about what’s next for the future of Assassin’s Creed, Guillemot said, “Firstly players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we’ve created in the past and modernize them; there are worlds in some of our older Assassin’s Creed games that are still extremely rich.”
Guillemot also talked about how there will be a variety of different Assassin’s Creed experiences continuing with what they have done recently with the more focused, leaner homage to the series roots in Assassin’s Creed Mirage and the expansive titles in Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, and the upcoming Shadows.
“Secondly, to answer your question, there will be plenty of experience variety. The goal is to have Assassin’s Creed games come out more regularly, but not for it to be the same experience every year. There are a lot of good things to come, including Assassin’s Creed Hexe, which we’ve announced, which is going to be a very different game from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We’re going to surprise people, I think.
Yves Guillemot also discussed the good and bad of the video game industry at this point in time. “One thing I am concerned about right now is the malicious and personal online attacks that have been directed at some of our team members and partners. I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms, and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too. I am proud to support the amazing work of our teams and partners, and I will always trust in their creative choices. We should all celebrate the hard work and talent that goes into making video games.”
Guillemot continued, “What excites me, and what has always excited me, is new technology and the potential it can bring for our developers and, of course, for our players. I’d like it if hardware evolved even faster. The fact that games have, for a while now been compatible with both the current and previous generation of consoles is a fantastic thing for our back catalog and our players, but it’s held the industry back a bit when it comes to developing truly new experiences. If, as game makers, we can adopt and master technological advancements like generative AI and the cloud more quickly, we will be much better positioned to create new, stand-out experiences for players.”