The Ubisoft machine is continuing to chug along, with multiple major releases looming on the horizon. The likes of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Rainbow Six Quarantine are surely going to be huge moneymakers for the publisher (and let’s not forget the inevitable Assassin’s Creed 2020), while current on-going titles like Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor don’t look like they’re going to die down anytime soon.
But Ubisoft is also looking to invest in new IPs. With the likes of Gods and Monsters and Roller Champions in their schedule for upcoming releases, it seems like the publisher is investing in new IPs for a long time. And it’s no co-incidence either. According to Ubisoft, the time is right for them to do just that.
“It’s a challenge because we need a lot of talent to do that, so we are going to continue hiring talent in the studios, we plan to have more in the next five years,” said Ubisoft EMEA executive director Alain Corre while speaking with MCV. “We cherish our fans that are following our brands like Assassin’s Creed or Ghost Recon going forward, but we feel that it’s also a good moment now to go onto investing in new IPs.”
Corre feels that with newer technologies popping up and opening up new avenues for accessibility and design, Ubisoft feels like investing in these new properties and genres can be profitable in the long-run, especially if they, too, end up becoming long-living franchises.
“There are lots of new technologies appearing,” he said. “PC is still developing fast, there are new consoles coming next year, the streaming technology is there, cross-play is also something that will excite players, so we feel it’s the right time to create new genres, and new IPs for us. After all, if the sun can shine on these ones, we’ll have them for a long time to come.”
Gods and Monsters is due out February 25, 2020 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Stadia. Meanwhile, the free-to-play Roller Champions is currently scheduled for an early 2020 PC launch.