Ubisoft: New Consoles Help Creativity

[The Wooster]

Ubisoft: New Consoles Help Creativity

Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot reckons you need new consoles for new IP.

While Nintendo is venturing boldly forth into what is technically the next generation of consoles, Sony and Microsoft are still banking on the longevity of their current products. A few industry voices are growing impatient, including Ubisoft CEO and John Lithgow look-alike, Yves Guillemot.

"We have been penalized by the lack of new consoles on the market," he told Gamasutra. "I understand the manufacturers don't want them too often because it's expensive, but it's important for the entire industry to have new consoles because it helps creativity."

Guillemot rightly points out that new IPs tend to perform better when released earlier in a console's lifespan. He's previously claimed that Ubisoft is always keen to support new tech in its infancy, in order to test the market and produce "trendsetter" titles.

"Our customers are very open to new things," he said. "Our customers are reopening their minds -- and they are really going after what's best. ... At the end of a console generation, they want new stuff, but they don't buy new stuff as much. They know their friends will play Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed[/I] so they go for that. So the end of a cycle is very difficult."

He also had a few kind words for the Wii U, for which Ubisoft is currently developing an original IP called ZombiU.

"I think they've created something good, if the customer uses everything they have created, I think we can see a good success with that machine," he said. "That type of collaboration can be fun and also challenging at the same time. It's something has never been done before. ... Those guys are taking lots of risks with the games they create -- and they're extremely successful."

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/174498/Ubisofts_Guillemot_New_consoles_are_overdue]

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[Danceofmasks]

D'aww.

So someone has a roundabout way of saying "no progress = no progress"

 

[kajinking]

Seems like a pretty valid point, to me the idea of a new console is mostly exciting because of what new games may be on it. With each generation new things are possible and since there is less games or older established games to get in the way it's easier to get noticed. I'm not saying we should have new consoles every three years or so since that would just be insane but having new stuff does open up the chance for creativity since you aren't facing a massive library of old and more familar games people can turn to.

 

[praetor_alpha]

Ubisoft tried to go to PC and they "innovated" with always online DRM. Still boycotting Ubisoft.

 

[UnderCoverGuest]

"New consoles Help Creativity."

...really?

I wonder why...could it be the improved hardware removing restrictions and limitations in place due to old technology preventing the expansion and development of new ideas? The fact that old hardware establishes boundaries that prevent implementing creative solutions for technological advancements?

You know what else helps creativity? A PC. I'm a creative guy, and I make and use modifications that completely transform some of the games I play--and I don't own, work for, or am generally associated with a million dollar software development company. And I'm not gonna continue, cause I'm enjoying other things at the moment.

...wait, what the hell am I saying? Consoles don't inspire creativity--creativity inspires creativity. It's not consoles being restricted, it's all the creative people behind game development being restricted by monopolistic developers and distributors; big companies like EA and Activision, getting all the quality help for their next installment of unrealistic-modern-shooter-2013 or whatever. Argh. Gonna go read that article about cats.

 

[Lucem712]

Haha, Ubisoft's next gen title disproved that. "Zombi-U', which 'pparently is just a reboot of sorts of their game 'Zombi'. (Which, I mean, I love zombies and everything, but it's not exactly a fresh game concept.)

That certainly leaves a taste in my mouth, Ubisoft, but it doesn't taste like creativity.

 

[BBboy20]

In regards of what's possible, yes.
In regards of thinking up new gameplay ideas, both yes and (hell) no.

God, why can't these guys admit they're at the mercy of their shareholders? Seriously, Ubi keeps talking about innovation yet they make the same games instead of more Watch Dogs.

 

[Sis]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. This guy ... Is Un-FRACKING-believable.

But, seriously, let me make a quick comparison here:

"We have been penalized by the lack of new kind of TV's on the market," he told Hollywood Now. "I understand the manufacturers don't want them too often because it's expensive, but it's important for the entire industry to have new TV's because it helps creativity."

If it takes new consoles to raise your creativity, then you're in the wrong the business. Honestly, if that's what it takes to be creative, give up and retire already.

 

[viranimus]

Why does this sound a whole lot like ...



Batman AA/C
Bioshock
Crysis
Left 4 Dead
Mass Effect
Dragon Age

Just the first 6 off the top of my head of some of the biggest IPs created in this generation, that were NOT at the begining of a console cycle.

Im no longer supporting the notion that its not time for a new console generation as Unreal 4 has been officially announced. However, bullshit is bullshit and it needs to be called when it presents itself.

This is a big steaming pile of it.

 

[Reaper195]

So...we need new consoles for new game series? Clearly we need new forms to read for new books.

You don't need a new console, you need better writers and less focus on making as much money as possible. This is why so many decent developers have gone down in the last five years, and forced to make DLC for Call of Duty or The Sims...

 

[Death_Warden]

long console generations are bad IF you want great games anywhere near "the cutting edge"...which most gamers do...or you want to make great games anywhere near "the cutting edge"...which most developers do.

the above TV equivalence is nonsense. a TV only displays an image it doesn't render it.

a console is dependant on the internal technology for the quality of the final entertainment offered up.

around 5 years was always the standard length of a console generation.

the price to consumer argument is invalidated by the simple fact generations of gamers managed to deal with buying one console every five years or so quite adequately tyvm and i very much doubt you are poorer than those who came before you.

console generations being longer only benefits hardware manufacturers as they continue to shift units of ageing and quite honestly out of date hardware.

i mean ffs by next year or so phones will have more graphical processing prowess than the xbox 360.

the xbox 360 renders using the DirectX9 API. that's exactly the same DirectX API that's part of XP... windows 8 is now up to DirectX12 three iterations (and 10 years of development time) ahead and the only reason all games currently don't look like what DirectX 10/11 can deliver is because virtually the entire gaming industry is being held back by the requirement to develop games that can straddle an overly long in the tooth console generation.

xbox can't even render in true 1080p HD (it uses a hardware scaling chip to scale the image up from 720p).

get off the fanboy soapboxes; its well past time the industry got its arse in gear and moved on.

Im assuming that by "the cutting edge" you mean having better graphics, cause frankly that is pretty much the only thing a new console will ever allow for is better graphics; besides what Nintendo can seem to pull out of their arse I suppose. I could make a brand new game for the NES and it could possibly be a cutting edge game, the term is very subjective.

As for needing better graphics and needing a new console to help stimulate "creativity" go, I think both those argument are full of themselves. Better graphics will never make a good game and some of the best games I can think of never had amazing graphics such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Minecraft, Braid, and most other successful indie games.

Ubisoft the only reason "creativity" helped by a new console is because it makes it very profitable because will its probably one of the only games out for the bloody system so most customers feel forced to buy it. A truly great game will sell no matter when its released in a consoles lifetimes, however, I think most game companies are too lazy to even try any more.

 

[Squilookle]

If a dev can't make games worth buying on the current gen, doing it on the next gen isn't going to change anything.

 

[Dragonmaster3]

long console generations are bad IF you want great games anywhere near "the cutting edge"...which most gamers do...or you want to make great games anywhere near "the cutting edge"...which most developers do.

the above TV equivalence is nonsense. a TV only displays an image it doesn't render it.

a console is dependant on the internal technology for the quality of the final entertainment offered up.

around 5 years was always the standard length of a console generation.

the price to consumer argument is invalidated by the simple fact generations of gamers managed to deal with buying one console every five years or so quite adequately tyvm and i very much doubt you are poorer than those who came before you.

console generations being longer only benefits hardware manufacturers as they continue to shift units of ageing and quite honestly out of date hardware.

i mean ffs by next year or so phones will have more graphical processing prowess than the xbox 360.

the xbox 360 renders using the DirectX9 API. that's exactly the same DirectX API that's part of XP... windows 8 is now up to DirectX12 three iterations (and 10 years of development time) ahead and the only reason all games currently don't look like what DirectX 10/11 can deliver is because virtually the entire gaming industry is being held back by the requirement to develop games that can straddle an overly long in the tooth console generation.

xbox can't even render in true 1080p HD (it uses a hardware scaling chip to scale the image up from 720p).

get off the fanboy soapboxes; its well past time the industry got its arse in gear and moved on.

Im assuming that by "the cutting edge" you mean having better graphics, cause frankly that is pretty much the only thing a new console will ever allow for is better graphics; besides what Nintendo can seem to pull out of their arse I suppose. I could make a brand new game for the NES and it could possibly be a cutting edge game, the term is very subjective.

As for needing better graphics and needing a new console to help stimulate "creativity" go, I think both those argument are full of themselves. Better graphics will never make a good game and some of the best games I can think of never had amazing graphics such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Minecraft, Braid, and most other successful indie games.

Ubisoft the only reason "creativity" helped by a new console is because it makes it very profitable because will its probably one of the only games out for the bloody system so most customers feel forced to buy it. A truly great game will sell no matter when its released in a consoles lifetimes, however, I think most game companies are too lazy to even try any more.

No just no. Newer consoles do NOT ONLY bring better graphics, but a host of new features. Sure, graphics might be at the top of the list, but what people always fail to realize is that more processing power / better GPU means that developers have more room to work with. Instead of only 10 people in a town, they can now have around 50 people in a town. They can program the AI to become "smarter", imagine Skyrim with an even bigger world, etc. Do you get the point I'm making? Current consoles are indeed holding back game development, and it's about time MS / Sony started detailing their future plans regarding their consoles.

 

[Sis]

No just no. Newer consoles do NOT ONLY bring better graphics, but a host of new features. Sure, graphics might be at the top of the list, but what people always fail to realize is that more processing power / better GPU means that developers have more room to work with. Instead of only 10 people in a town, they can now have around 50 people in a town. They can program the AI to become "smarter", imagine Skyrim with an even bigger world, etc. Do you get the point I'm making? Current consoles are indeed holding back game development, and it's about time MS / Sony started detailing their future plans regarding their consoles.

Lolno. It's the developers that are holding back game development. They're too chickenshit to release new projects this generation when they can get the excuse that "OH BUT WE'RE JUST TRYING OUT THE NEW TECH".
The Last of Us and Watch Dogs are proof that this generation is far from tapped out.

 

[dimensional]

Well creativity comes from taking what your given and saying alrite what can we do with this in many ways the more restrictive something is the more creative you have to be to get what you want out of it. There is nothing to stop Ubisoft releasing these so called creative games on the current gen consoles its just there are more titles out so its less likely people will buy it which sounds to me like they dont have full confidence in these games they are supposedly thinking up anyway.

Unless they are intending to use some special new tech only found on the next gen consoles without which the game would not have been possible in which case I will let them off (such as a clever use of the WiiU screen controller thing).