In an interview with MCVUK, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot lamented the lack of new development platforms, going so far as to blame the lack of new home consoles for the entire industry’s fiscal shortcomings.
In the interview, Guillemot claims that Ubisoft has developed fewer new IPs of late because there is no more room for new franchises on this generation of consoles: Sequels rule the roost, and Ubisoft has plenty of established series to work with until PS4, Xbox 3 and Wii 2. That said, Guillemot wishes that the consoles would get an update so that the developer can move forward.
“When a new format launches, we look to use the new technology to bring new games and new ideas to our consumers. We would always hope to be more successful on new formats than our competitors… It is part of the DNA of the company. Each time there is new hardware it gives our creative teams more freedom and they don’t have to follow the same rules. They can try new things because the consumer expects and wants new things… and that’s part of the reason why the industry is in depression. Consumers like the current formats, but there is not enough creativity at the end of a cycle to really spark the business.”
This generation has had the longest life-cycle of any console generation to date. It’s been five years since the release of the PS3, and six since the 360 hit store shelves. On the other hand, Guillemot’s reaction is a self-fulfilling prophecy: Regardless of how the current generation is doing now, withholding new ideas will eventually cause this generation to become obselete. Do you think it’s time for a new set of consoles, or is the current generation still running strong? More importantly, do you think that developers should be holding back content for a new platform that, as far as we know, doesn’t even exist yet? [MCVUK]
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