Ubisoft has long been known for games such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon. More recently the firm has released its new IP, Assassin’s Creed, which has seen mixed thoughts across the board. With that in mind, just how important is it for them, or the industry as a whole to create new IPs instead of just sequels from the current ones?
Fabrice Pierre-Elien, Business Development manager mentions that creating new intellectual property (IP), is a very daunting task, but can really improve the quality of games.
"Just to churn out sequel after sequel, we have done that in the past as well, and we are still very keen on establishing franchises – but we take the time in between those sequels to make the best possible game, not just another title of which the previous edition was out twelve months ago," says Pierre-Elien.
"The more franchises you have, the more time you can take to make sure the next one is as good as it can be."
Furthermore, he goes on to explain their current efforts in regards to developing new IPs:
"One of our corporate goals is to create new IP, and we’ve been very successful in launching some of them in the past few years. It’s something we’re very keen on, at a global corporate level," he said.
"So our studios are creating new IPs, we’re also creating new IP with excellent partners – we feel it’s important to have some fresh air in the portfolio.”
Indeed, perhaps they should jump on the bandwagon and develop a MMO? We can only speculate, but it is always good to hear that developers is putting thought into bringing out new ideas instead of rehashing from older ones.
Ubisoft is currently developing the next entry in the Tom Clancy series, End War, for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.