14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft has shared its thoughts on the upcoming Nintendo Wii U platform, promising that it will once again become the number one third-party publisher for that device, just like it became a leader in terms of games for the Kinect, Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation Vita.
While it may not be as big as Electronic Arts or Activision, Ubisoft is present on all sorts of platforms thanks to an array of diversified franchises.
The French company has brought forth a lot of games onto a variety of platforms and considers itself a leader when it comes to devices like the Kinect sensor on the Xbox 360, the Nintendo 3DS, or the PlayStation Vita.
In terms of the upcoming Nintendo Wii U, Ubisoft is feeling quite confident, saying that its special relationship with Nintendo meant it got developer tools earlier than other companies, which translated into more time spent experimenting with them.
"Our intention is to be the number one third party on Wii U, just like we were on Kinect and just like we were on 3DS," Ubisoft’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Tony Key, told Gamasutra.
"We've always had a really close relationship with Nintendo so I'd venture to say that we did have an advantage in getting dev kits earlier than other people. I'm not saying we got them earlier than everyone, but I do think we got them early."
Ubisoft’s general strategy is always geared towards future platforms, according to Key, who says that experiments are always underway at its various internal studios that might be applied when it comes to games for new consoles and platforms.
"We've always had this affinity for new hardware," the executive added. "We're always trying to figure out what we would do on that next system. What we're trying to figure out is: what will it probably be? What will the specs probably be?"
"When we finally get a dev kit or some specs from the hardware company, we're hoping that we were right. For example, we were working with cameras long before the Kinect SDK showed up, so we had a lot of ideas already in play. It let us be very strong on Kinect."
Among the first big games for the Nintendo Wii U from Ubisoft is Assassin’s Creed III, which already received a few details about its support for the console’s controller.