Yearly Assassin’s Creed releases have been a regular thing now. That doesn’t mean Ubisoft would stick to the schedule if it’d mean sacrificing quality, however.

Ubisoft’s North American president Laurent Detoc told IGN that the publisher would hold back an Assassin’s Creed game if it doesn’t meet its expectations. Bringing out a “70 percent Assassin’s Creed game” would hurt the IP’s brand, Detoc said.

His comments in full:

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Ubisoft says Watch Dogs’ engine was originally built for Driver

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

North American Ubisoft president Laurent Detoc North American shared an interesting Watch Dogs development tidbit while speaking with IGN as aprt of a new interview.

According to Detoc, Watch Dogs was originally built for the Driver series. The initial project was initially scrapped after Ubisoft wasn’t satisfied with its direction. Eventually, the company took some of the work that had been used for the cancelled game’s driving engine and used that for Watch Dogs.

Detoc’s comments in full:

“Watch Dogs wasn’t started as Watch Dogs. They were working on a driving engine, working on something. We had the Driver license. This was years ago. Then we were thinking, ‘no, this is not the way we want to go with a driving game,’ so we cancelled that and restarted. It’s not like Watch Dogs started as Watch Dogs. The Watch Dogs project was initially another game. At some point it changed. That’s at least three years ago, and then the Watch Dogs project reused some of the work that had been done on this driving engine.
It’s not that Driver became Watch Dogs, so much as the driving game we made was a driving game. The decision was made that there was another driving game being made and this one should be an open-world game where the guy comes out of the car and does other things. Then the team decides to reshuffle itself entirely. A few other people come in, a new creative director, and then they start a new game. I wouldn’t say that Driver became Watch Dogs, because that’s not true. That’s not really what happens. What happens is that a game gets cancelled, and then you take pieces of that game to make a new one. We could have had another driving engine from another team in another place, and then it would have been used by the Watch Dogs team.”

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Ubisoft further discusses Watch Dogs delay

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 1 Comment

Ubisoft has once again discussed the decision to delay Watch Dogs. The publisher’s North America president, Laurent Detoc, spoke about the move as part of an interview with IGN.

He said:

“It’s a very intense decision. I think one of the fascinating things about this industry is that you can go from genius to idiot in an extremely short time frame. These are some of those moments, where you’re riding sky high on Watch Dogs or Rayman, and then suddenly you have to break it to the outside world, and sometimes even convince the inside people. Not everybody agrees. You have to say, ‘this is in the best interest of the product, to do this,’ because at the end of the day we’re going to be able to do this extra fine tuning.”
“Some games, you just can’t make them that much better because of how they’ve been progressing. Part of the decision to delay Watch Dogs is also that,” he said. “We know it’s not where we want it to be. Can it get there? What will it take to get there? That’s why it takes a longer process. But in August we really thought we were going to have that game at launch.”

Watch Dogs was originally slated for a November launch. However, Ubisoft announced a new spring 2014 release window back in October.

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Ubisoft talks game delays

Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments

Ubisoft’s holiday lineup was dealt a huge blow after the publisher announced a delay for Watch_Dogs. Originally slated for November, the title was pushed to Q2 2014.

As is always the case when a game is moved back, fans were disappointed with the news. Ubisoft North America president Laurent Detoc mentioned to Examiner, however, that having the extra time for development “will ensure we launch a better game.”

He said:

“There are definitely times when we have to make tough decisions, such as moving a launch date, as it initially upsets some in our community but ultimately will ensure we launch a better game.
“A great game, such as Far Cry 3 last year or Rayman Legends this year, has to have the time and resources to make sure it’s done right. We’re proud of how far we’ve come and see this next-generation transition as another opportunity to grow, gain market share and create amazing experiences for our fans.
“We believe that ultimately, it’s our fans that help influence our franchises, our business and our success. If we create compelling experiences, listen to our fans and make smart business decisions with them in mind, we will win the race.”

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