Launch games often do not live up to the potential of the new consoles. Fortunately, Ubisoft exec Tony Key knows the reason why.
Ubisoft senior vice president of marketing and sales for the U.S. Tony Key spoke with GamesIndusty International and explained:
“Right now, all publishers are transitioning their development resources. For a game like Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, most of the sales are still going to be on current generation platforms. We can’t make a version for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One that’s so wildly different that we can’t market them together. So, for now, developers and designers are focused on making a game that works really well on all of the systems — but as we transition resources to the next-gen, it’s going to be more difficult to do that because the power of these machines is going to allow so much more creativity.”
“It’s heartbreaking to be so coveted for launch and not be able to deliver it at launch, but from a business perspective, it’s not a difficult decision to make. Watch Dogs is designed to be a long-term brand for Ubisoft. We won’t launch it until we know it’s equaling the vision it can achieve. … We’re playing the long game — and as a company, we know how important it is to get it right.”
It is a shame the most studios cannot concentrate 100% on new games for the new consoles. If that was possible, we would have some amazing games that would truly blow us away at launch. Unfortunately, from a business perspective this does not make sense. They need to release games on the old platform that most people have and therefore the next-gen versions are often disappointing. Luckily, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is still an amazing games on both the old and new platforms, even if it doesn’t look as good as it potentially could.
Let me know in the comments if you think that studios should focus on the new consoles instead of the old ones. Would you have liked Black Flag to have been a PS4 and Xbox One title only?
