14 DAY TRIAL // The introduction of new home consoles and the rise of free-to-play gaming on the PC will introduce a number of big changes to the world of video games, according to one of the leaders of one of the biggest publishers in the industry.
Yves Guillemot, who is chief executive officer at Ubisoft, has stated, “With next gen consoles, it’s going toward bigger games, and yes, we will make less of them. But with free-to-play games, the teams aren’t as big so we can try different things and find subjects that are of interest to consumers.”
He added, “What I like about the FTP model is that you are with your consumers all the time – you can spend six months refining the gameplay and then put it in another environment, another title, because you automatically know it works well.”
Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed 3 will be one of the launch titles for the Wii U and the company apparently has long-term plans for the next generation of home consoles from Sony and Microsoft.
The company is also making a free-to-play push on the PC, introducing a number of games like Heroes of Might & Magic or Mighty Quest for Epic Loot.
The company also took the major step of dropping all Digital Right Management security features from its PC games, only requiring a onetime activation via the Internet.
Also in the PC space, Ubisoft has announced that it might add third-party games to the uPlay store and make it a competitor to Origin from Electronic Arts and Steam from Valve.
Guillemot also wants to see more integration in the near future, allowing a player to use any kind of device he wants in order to play a game and pick up where he left off when he changes platforms.