Surrounded by the ruins of its studio closures and game cancellations, Ubisoft does not appear to be doing well. So it's time to start pumping out Assassin's Creed games.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot discusses Ubisoft's plan to become more reliable in a new interview with Variety – not long after union leaders have demanded he stop "screwing everything up." The way through it, Guillemot seems to have decided, is with more Assassin's Creed.
The executive says, "Under the 'Assassin's Creed' brand, several titles are in development, spanning both single-player and multiplayer experiences, with the ambition to further grow a community that exceeded 30 million players last year."
Ubisoft is also hoping to dip deeper into its successful Far Cry and Rainbow Six franchises. Guillemot adds that, "On 'Far Cry,' anticipation is high, and we currently have two very promising projects in development." He'll be relying on Ubisoft's new, franchise-focused Vantage Studios, which has his son Charlie as co-CEO, to make the magic happen.
"With Vantage Studios established," Guillemot explains, "we have early evidence that our new operating model better empowers our teams to be fully focused on their franchises, which, over time, will translate into both greater predictability in our pipeline and stronger engagement from our players."
It might also be easier for Ubisoft developers to be fully focused on their franchises if the company wasn't also, in Guillemot's words, undergoing "€200 million in additional cost reductions" – including the creeping threat of "selective restructuring across the company." But more Assassin's Creed is good, too.
