14 DAY TRIAL // Jade Raymond, the leading developer working at the Toronto Ubisoft studio, says that the gaming industry only has place for around ten high-profile, successful launches in one year and that publishers should acknowledge this economic reality.
VG247 quotes the executive as saying, “I think there’s still room for really great triple-A games that can, despite the budget, retain the classic model of expecting people to pay in one big chunk. There’s still room for that.”
Raymond was addressing the rise of the free-to-play business model and the way that many players now spend more time with their mobile devices than with their home consoles or their PCs.
She added that, “the big publishers have to be honest with themselves – there’s only room for let’s say ten successful titles a year on those sorts of budgets. So you have to go all-in on those; you have to be sure you’ll have a hit, and when you make it you have to invest everything to make sure it’s amazing.”
Publishers need to make sure that they appeal to the growing audience of video games without focusing too narrowly on the hardcore crowd.
During 2012, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 remained the biggest entertainment launch of the year, but analysts say that sales have dropped off faster than for previous installments in the series.
At the same time, a number of high-profile titles, including the new Medal of Honor from Electronic Arts, have failed in spectacular fashion.
Jade Raymond served as producer on the first two Assassin’s Creed video games, which have created one of the most successful franchises ever for publisher Ubisoft.
At the moment, she is heading the Toronto studio and working on the new Splinter Cell title, called Blacklist, which will be launched during 2013.
The studio has also suggested that other unnamed projects are in development.