Ubisoft detailed their quarterly financial report today, and boy there’s a lot to unpack here!
Yves Guillemot, CEO of the French publisher, reported strong success in terms of ”player engagement,” citing Rainbow Six Siege’s multiplayer focus as a particularly good example. The notion of ”games-as-service” has been kicking around for years, and at least in terms of the mainstream space it looks like it’s here to stay. The increasing cost of AAA development ensures that a single $60 purchase is no longer enough to maintain the business, and larger publishers like EA and Ubisoft will increasingly look to make sure that players continue to keep playing (and pouring money into) their games long after the initial purchase.
Guillemot also said that ”the upcoming releases of Far Cry Primal and The Division should confirm these trends.” While the Division’s multiplayer focus makes the connection obvious, Far Cry Primal is a single-player only game, which suggests to me that either an extensive DLC plan is in the works, or it may be the last single-player-focused game that Ubisoft puts out for a long time.
Which brings us to Assassin’s Creed! We heard rumors that there wouldn’t be a new entry in the prolific franchise this year, and that is now confirmed. This will mark the first time in seven years that the series goes through a holiday season without a new sequel. The decision not to release a new entry is ”in order to give the brand a new dimension,” which given Ubi’s current emphasis, probably means we should expect a strong multiplayer component at the core of the next sequel. The stealth-based multiplayer introduced with Brotherhood was surprisingly fun, but it remains to be seen if something like that can carry the weight of an entire product. And at this point it will be great to see something that isn’t just another Assassin’s Creed. Last year’s Syndicate was one of the better entries in the franchise, but it was just crushed under the weight of sequel fatigue, and the report noted it had “a slower launch than expected.”
In the next fiscal year, Ubisoft intends to release the multiplayer medieval melee game, For Honor, the next South Park RPG, the Fractured but Whole, and the cocaine-driven new Tom Clancy shooter, Ghost Recon: WildLands. Along with those already announced titles, they’re planning the ”next instalment of Watchdogs,” which I’m pretty excited for. The first game wasn’t great, but it had a bunch of cool ideas that could be refined into something truly special for a sequel. In addition to all that, they’re planning to reveal ”a new high-potential AAA brand with strong digital live services,” so expect another crazy E3 demo where it zooms out to reveal that it’s been multiplayer the whole time.
A lot of interesting stuff here, but probably the biggest takeaway is the increasing death of single-player. I’m not exactly happy about it, but given the absurd expense of AAA development, it’s not surprising to see. Hopefully smaller and mid-tier indie developers at least can keep that dream alive.
