Ubisoft open to Watch_Dogs/Assassin’s Creed alternating each year
Depending on the reaction to Watch_Dogs, Ubisoft’s new IP “could” alternate with Assassin’s Creed on a yearly basis.
VideoGamer asked creative director Jonathan Morin about the chances of the two franchises switching off each year. Morin was a bit hesitant to say anything either way, but left the door open to the possibility.
He said:
“Could be. I don’t know. Right now I’m focussing on Watch Dogs The Game, and we’ll see when it comes out and people can scream their reaction and afterwards we’ll see what happens. There’s no point in being hasty about those things afterwards. Let’s just wait and see and not be cocky about it.”
This year, Watch_Dogs and Assassin’s Creed IV will launch within just a few weeks of each other. Morin isn’t concerned about the two games negatively impacting each other’s sales, however.
“I think that Black Flag and Watch Dogs feel very different. If you had GTA, same thing. Those three are probably the biggest [and] they’re significantly different games, so from that perspective I’m not concerned. I mean, I’m not in control of what people will feel when the game comes out, but I’ve certainly played pretty much all of them and they feel pretty different in nature so I’m not concerned about it.”
“To an extent [Ubisoft] is [competing with itself]. But is it a bad thing? If I’m Yves [Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO], and I sit down and I look at a statement that says, ‘Okay, on the next-gen platforms the two biggest games at launch are two games from Ubisoft competing with each other,’ that’s more positive than negative as a statement. So no, I think it’s fine. I think they’re different enough, more than enough to sustain each other. Assassin’s Creed is a brand that’s been there for a long time so it makes sense that they have something for the launch, and us, it’s a new fresh thing, completely different. So I think it makes a nice balance between the two. It’s a good competition thing. I’m not too concerned about it.”
