14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft has talked about its future games that will appear for next-generation consoles and confirmed that the main factors that'll differentiate the PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720 editions of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag or Watch Dogs from the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions would be graphics and social aspects.
Next-generation consoles are expected to be released at the end of the year, despite the fact that Sony hasn't even presented the design of its PlayStation 4, and that Microsoft isn't even commenting on any Xbox 720 rumors.
Even so, Ubisoft has several next-gen games already in development, including Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, and Watch Dogs, both of which set to appear for the PC, PS3, Xbox 360 or Wii U, as well as for next-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Ubisoft Montreal's Yannis Mallat revealed that the main differentiating factors between the current and next-gen editions of the two titles are graphics and social aspects.
"Let's state the obvious: the easy and immediate thing is going to be the graphics," he said. "There are some mind-blowing graphics right now on our next-gen technology, both on Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed. That will be the entry door for anyone, even for the mainstream. It's really going to be amazing. Trust me on this one."
"That being said, the connected aspects and the social components will be what will define the difference between a next-gen experience and a current-gen experience. And we're eager to be able to talk about that and show that when we're ready."
According to Mallat, Ubisoft didn't want to wait for Sony and Microsoft to give it dev kit editions of their consoles, so the company built PCs with the possible specifications of the next-gen platforms.
"First off, we need to understand it's been a very long cycle with the 360 and the PS3," Mallat added, "much longer than we were anticipating and hoping. We are more used to a five year-ish cycle. So we had no other choice but to rely on our own vision of what next-gen could be, from our point of view.
"We didn't wait for first parties to describe their systems or deliver test kits. We already invested some time and effort on high-end PC, and we relied on our [creative designers] to dream the dream and envision what the next-gen could be."
Assassin's Creed 4 and Watch Dogs are expected to appear at the end of the year for current and next-gen platforms.