Assassin's Creed Creator Says Nobody Cares About Discs Anymore

[Andy Chalk]

Assassin's Creed Creator Says Nobody Cares About Discs Anymore

Patrice Desilets says blockbuster videogames will be profitable again once gamers accept that the future is "digital all the way."

A powerful stink was raised by gamers when Microsoft revealed its vision for the future at its E3 press event, with a sort-of-always-on Xbox One that relied heavily on the cloud for its functionality. The furor was enough to force Microsoft to step back from that vision - which has of course inspired a backlash of its own from people who believed that Microsoft was set to lead us into a great and glorious future.

Speaking at the Gamelab conference in Barcelona, Desilets, formerly of Ubisoft and THQ (and then Ubisoft again) said the famously-struggling [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123150-Square-Enix-Faces-10-Billion-Yen-Loss-in-Restructuring-Efforts] triple-A development industry can and will be profitable in a digital future - and that fighting that future, as so many gamers did with the Xbox One, is essentially a waste of time.

"Yeah, games come on disc, and I get it guys, you were really pissed off," he said. "But, deep down, nobody cares about not having CDs any more. The future is digital, and there's nothing you can do about it."

But the industry also needs to expand its scope beyond the usual fare, he said, noting that he's been to four E3 events and they've been dominated by the same things every time. "We all like space marines and shooters, but come on, we need to talk about something else," he continued. "Make games with a cultural point of view. We did a game, somehow, about the Muslim faith. We did a game about the Italian renaissance. [Ubisoft] did a game about the American Revolution. Having a cultural point of view will become more and more important. There is something about where I come from in the game I was making [1666: Amsterdam]. I think that will change the entire industry."

Desilets was working on 1666: Amsterdam for THQ when the company went under, and both he and the game ended up in Ubisoft's hands as a result. He was lawsuit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123826-Ubisoft-Fires-Assassins-Creed-Creator] earlier this month seeking to have the rights to the game returned to him.

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-06-27-desilets-eventually-aaa-games-will-make-money-again]


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[Ninmecu]

Hi there dick, has your mouth recently been introduced to a size 10-ish foot? It has? Well, that explains a lot. As for the cultural impact of things, yes, that would be more relevant and would certainly improve several games. However using pre-existing franchises to do so isn't always the best way. I'm native, I've read native beliefs. Yes, Connor was a bit overly stoic by, well, most peoples ideals, but his people value stoicism to the highest degree. Was the scene where he had to fight that one rather close dude a bit underwhelming? Most certainly. Is Connor meant to be an Assassin? No. He should have had his own game without the IP of Faffing About Creed looming over with a big neon sign saying "we tried to tie this shit in together somehow" and don't get me started on that desecration you guys called an ending to his arc.

Also, is it just me or do a lot of "higher up" people keep saying a lot of really stupid things lately or is it just my imagination?

 

[mechalynx]

Until today, he had my sympathies for what Ubisoft did. Now he can just fuck off together with Orth and his ilk. I like the discs, I like to not be tied to the whims of my ISP, . I also like the nice look of my shelf that clearly displays my gaming history, secure in the knowledge that the games will still be there if the server that hosts the digital copies dies one day.

If this is what he thinks the consumers want, I'll be giving 1666 a pass. There's no telling how much stupid he might pack into it.

 

[Absolutionis]

As a PC Gamer, I really don't care about discs.

Notably, as a PC Gamer, I really don't care about Ubisoft either considering how much they don't care about me.

It's a bit of mutual apathy. It's hard to appeal to the population that doesn't mind digital while simultaneously alienating them.

 

[AgentLampshade]

Fuck him, I far prefer hard copies. I'd be out of a hobby if all games were digital.

 

[AntiChri5]

Digital is the future. But that future isn't here yet. Hence why we call it the future and not the fucking present. Stop trying to force it.

But there will always be people who prefe to actually have a disc in hand. The numbers may change as time goes on but they will never go away.

 

[Vault Citizen]

You're right, nobody cares about physical media anymore, we just reacted with outrage and open hostility to the Xbox One because we were bored and Drop Dead Diva's fifth season hadn't aired yet.

 

[wooty]

I care about discs. The day gaming goes fully digital is probably going to be the day that I get a new hobby, or start searching for a new girlfriend.

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

So all that outrage at E3 over not being able to purchase physical copies of games anymore was just for our health?

Believe it or not game industry, digital can be more harmful to us as customers. Games may contain corrupted data, servers may crash and content may be lost, a console can fail and we'd lose all your data in the process. Going all digital means we have the same kinds of risks that PC gamers have to deal with. The reason for physical disks is so that we can have a back up in the even something happens

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

I totally agree that all-digital is inevitable down the line, but why is everyone pushing it in the industry such a dick about it?

The whole xbone digital fiasco revealed a really good statement: Digital is a cool thing and we're headed that way, but trying to force it to be now is a really stupid thing. IMO the people whining (and it is, the complaints aren't calm and barely rational) are just angry that they may not be active in the industry when it happens. All digital is a good 50-100 years down the road. To arrive at it we need Star Trek levels of infrastructure across the globe. We can buy products off Amazon from space but it takes me several minutes to load my friggin' email on broadband in the nation's capital.

 

[MiskWisk]

I'm nobody
who are you?
Are you nobody to?

Hey Nobody! Fancy seeing you here!
It's me, Nobody.

OT: Guess I can add him to the box of people I'm not going to listen to in the future.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Notably, as a PC Gamer, I really don't care about Ubisoft either considering how much they don't care about me.

He doesn't work for Ubisoft. In fact they fired him.

 

[Innegativeion]

I'm nobody
who are you?
Are you nobody to?

I'm about four shelves and two plastic tubs worth of nobody, personally.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Well fuck you. Games can go all digital the day games go drm-free. No joke, I'll pay a premium for drm-free games but until then I'm not investing a bunch of money in digital service that could go under in 10 years

Edit: and I certainly couldn't give less of a fuck about how profitable the triple AAA industry is. Go out of business for all I care, there will always be marked the for video games and someone will figure out how to make it profitable again

 

[Roxas1359]

I guess I'm a Nobody...great now help me find my Heartless so then I can be whole again.
I didn't know I was a Nobody though...mainly because there is no 'X' in my name. XD
Unless I'm just one of these ones:

OT: Yeah, that's not true at all good sir. I loved having the physical copies of the discs more than a digital copy.

 

[jFr[e]ak93]

I love discs.

Sure, I also love Steam, but I also back up my GOG purchases on disc... and I to only buy cds... and I'll even get a collectors box when I can find it. I like pretty stuff. Discs usually come in pretty stuff (BioShock: Infinite's reversible cover)

 

[Saulkar]

i care.

No you don't. You only need to look deep down into your beautiful heart to realise that you are lying to yourself and hurting not only the industry but more importantly yourself as well.

 

[Imre Csete]

While I like my discs on the bookshelf, I'm just baffled how every criticism against console bricking DRM and lack of ownership flew right by them, and now they say the whole X-box One PR disaster was our fault because we can't face the digital future.

Not really the right way to get our hard earned 500 bucks from our wallets guys. For that you need to start to actually listen.

 

[klaynexas3]

You can keep telling yourself that if you want. Microsoft kept insisting they couldn't just change their console to be offline, didn't make it any less bullshit.

There are few games I lack a physical copy of, and those are typically ones I bought either A: on steam, or B: when I was too young to buy M rated games at a store. Believe me, I'd re-buy most of those games to get the physical copy.