Ubisoft: Ask creators to explain why their game is special
The creators have to convince Ubisoft that their game is special and will not be another one on the market. They want to stop releasing clone games.
For years, Ubisoft has been accused of "releasing the same game year after year." The success of Assassin's Creed 2 led to the company releasing games on an annual basis, and the success of Far Cry 3 led to the company using the tower-based, open-world formula in all of its games. They did well for a while, but now it seems they won't be continuing that trend for much longer.
Ubisoft is now asking for games to be special
The recent shareholder report specifying that The Division 2 and Ghost Recon Breakpoint haven't sold well served as a significant warning to Ubisoft: simply releasing games repeatedly is no longer enough. It's safe to say the goose that laid the golden eggs has run dry, and now it seems they'll be releasing fewer games, but with much bigger impact.
That's what's implied by a recent episode of Kotaku Splitscreen, in which Jason Schreier discussed how Ubisoft has changed the way it greenlights and funds games to get off the ground. Developers now have to pitch their games, giving them an idea of what they're going to be like and explaining what would make them unique and special.
This has caused the climate in the French company to change enormously in a very short time. Now they can no longer make a living from taking games from a large franchise but have to create and think about special elements for games, with the risk that it is rejected. This may indicate that in effect, we are going to stop seeing Ubisoft releasing so many games similar to each other, although to notice their effects we will have to wait a couple of years.
Source: Reddit
