14 DAY TRIAL // There's no doubt that Ubisoft latest triple-A titles like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and The Division 2 aren't bad games, but they're not great either. In fact, they are generic as they can be. Since Vivendi laid eyes on Ubisoft, the French company has decided that the best defense against an aggressive takeover is to rethink its well-established franchises.
Now that Ubisoft has freed itself from Vivendi's clutches, it plans to expand its portfolio of franchises with new IPs. In an interview with MCVUK, Ubisoft's EMEA executive director Alain Corre confirmed that his company wants to try new things now that it's regained its freedom.
"We cherish our fans that are following our brands like Assassin’s Creed or Ghost Recon going forward, but we feel that it’s also a good moment now to go onto investing in new IPs. There are lots of new technologies appearing; PC is still developing fast, there are new consoles coming next year, the streaming technology is there, cross-play is also something that will excite players, so we feel it’s the right time to create new genres, and new IPs for us. After all, if the sun can shine on these ones, we’ll have them for a long time to come."
One of the new IPs that Ubisoft has already revealed – Gods & Monsters, developed by the team behind Assassin's Creed Odyssey, will release in March 2020. Although it's not yet a full-fledged franchise, it could very easily turn into one if it will be successful.
Although Ubisoft forgot to come up with original games (i.e. Child of Light, Valiant Hearts), there's one thing that the French company is good at: regrouping after failing and learning from mistakes. The Assassin's Creed series is proof that Ubisoft can breathe new life in obsolete franchises, so the fact that it's now ready to bet on new IPs once again can only make us happy.