Ubisoft had a massive few months at the back end of 2020, with titles such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Immortals Fenyx Rising being big sellers. However, it appears the company is looking to move away from that model in the future, shifting a heavier emphasis on free-to-play and premium experiences.
As discovered by IGN, in a recent earnings call that discussed Ubisoft's results for Q3, company chief financial officer, Frederick Duguet, stated that three to four AAA games will be released between April 2021 to March 2022. Not only that, but going forward it will be moving away from that model to cater to more free-to-play games, which it believes is a model the gaming industry is heading towards.
"We said for a number of years that our normal template is to come with either three or four AAA games, so we'll stick to that plan for fiscal 2022. But we see that we are progressively, continuously moving from a model that used to be only focused on AAA releases to a model where we have a combination of strong releases from AAA and strong back catalogue dynamics, but also complimenting our program of new releases with free-to-play and other premium experiences."
"In fiscal 2022, we will continue our evolution from a AAA release-centric model toward a model where AAA stands alongside new premium and free-to-play innovative experiences across platforms. These diverse experiences will feed on each other through complementary gameplay and business models."
Ubisoft's upcoming roster of games seems to boast a wide selection of titles, ranging from big budget blockbusters such as Far Cry 6, to smaller multiplayer focused games such as Roller Champions. Hopefully the company's reliance on free-to-play games in the future will not stop creative single-player games being developed.
What do you think about Ubisoft's thoughts on free-to-play gaming? Let us know in the comments below.
[source ign.com]
Comments 6
Sounds horrible but I mean their AAA games are already filled with free to play type microtransactions, now they’re just going all in.
It’s a shame, I’m playing Immortals and it’s genuinely quite brilliant, to think something like that may not get made in favour of a ‘premium free to play’ game hurts.
I'll hold my applause.
Grotesque. Get ready for the genshin impact ubiclones.
Ah well, Ubisoft was already down this path with there very formula-like gaming worlds, right?
Free games are garbage. If it’s free I avoid it at all costs.
Well that doesn't sound good. They had their best ever quarter with their AAA games. They released one of their best, and now one of my favorite games of all time with Fenyx. So their takeaway from that is......let's do more F2P and chase Fortnite?!
Yves has done a lot of good in the industry, but it feels like he flails about trying to find any trending business model in very awkward ways. It was about AAA. Then it was about smaller family experiences. Then it was about AAA. Then it was about streaming. Then it was about subscriptions. Now it's about F2P. They seem to make money, so who am I to question, but it seems to me they don't really focus on a plan, they just shuffle around to whatever business model is on a rising trend, then move on to the next one when that busts.
Tap here to load 6 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...