Speaking to CVG, creative director Julian Garrity talks about how Ubisoft is skipping the Wii U in favour of other next gen consoles. Is it a question of hardware, network functionality or sales? According to Garrity, it’s all of the above.

“It’s a combination of those factors and to be honest it’s not even a Wii U question, it’s more an issue of current gen as well. I’ve been on the project for the last two years and it’s got a history beyond that, and the target platform was always high-end PC in order to realise our visualisation of what the game should be and what it could offer.

“It’s a nice coincidence for us in many ways that the next-gen consoles have come along at the time that they have and that they have the architecture they have because it’s allowed us to make a pretty smooth transition to them.

“But honestly I think it was really an issue of the number of compromises we’d have to make on a number of platforms, not just Wii U. It would have been: ‘Well, we could do this but what would the impact be and what would that take away from what we were originally visualising?’ That’s really the reason behind it. It’s a shame but, you know, things move on.”

Which seems fair enough but then why isn’t it coming to current-gen consoles, which are currently nearing the end of their respective life cycles and thus at their peak efficiency?

“I think the approach both of the manufacturers have taken in terms of the core of their systems has been a big help. I remember the days of people tearing their hair out at the thought of having to port to PlayStation 3 in the early days and I’ve not experienced any of that this time around.

“There are always challenges, for sure, with a multi-platform release but there’s a much greater consistency in terms of not only what the machines are capable of but also how the machines operate. It’s not been so bad for us but I think the key to that was the fact that for as long as I’ve been on the project we’ve led on PC, and we’ve seen that with a lot of people now.

“A lot of people are saying, well, regardless of what the sales platform may be, by taking that approach and leading on PC you’re going to put all of the versions on a very good platform and then from there you can look at what each one offers you and how you can push to maximise what that machine can do.

“But it’s been a good start for us and, you know, we’re not releasing until next year so we’ve still got some time to push those versions even further now that the specs have become more stable.”

Will that be enough to make The Crew a must-buy title? We’ll find out when it releases in Q1 2014 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.

“Nosgoth is not an MMO. It’s a competitive online multiplayer experience (…with a bit of a twist). Nosgoth will not be an MMORPG and Nosgoth doesn’t look or play anything like Dota 2 or LOL [League of Legends]” adding that the “closest comparison is probably Unreal Championship 2.

“Not sure if Nosgoth is all that similar, but I suppose it’s closer to that than a traditional LoK game, an MMO or a MOBA.”

Also, for those looking for a brand new Soul Reaver single-player experience, despite Legacy of Kain being an inspiration for Nosgoth, it will not be playable offline nor will it be open world. It will debut on PC first but might head to other platforms laterr.

“We announced the game early and gave details on its context, but I’m afraid there’s gonna be a bit of a gap between now and the time we release screenshots etc. Right now, we’re all heads-down and nose to the grindstone in the preparation phase, getting all the various materials in place etc, and we want to make sure that the game feels right before speaking about it more plainly and openly.”

Stay tuned for more. It’s going to be a long wait.

Ancel stated that, “I think [on current platforms] Beyond Good & Evil 2 was possible, but it’d be painful. It’s always possible to do anything on any kind of console, but sometimes you need to spend your energy not on the optimizations or things like that.

“Now that we have the [new] consoles around the corner we’re working on them. We’re trying to see how we can get the power out of those consoles because there are still things we need to understand on those consoles, but yes, Beyond Good & Evil is a project I always have in mind and I hope good things will come for this project very soon”.

Does this mean we’ll be seeing it on the PS4 or Xbox One in the near future? If Mirror’s Edge could return after a long wait, then why not? Keep the hope alive, people.

After all, Ubisoft does have a few positions listed, include one for a gameplay engineer on a “action-adventure shooter on current- and next-gen game consoles, and PC”. The game has also been described as the “next AAA, cutting edge multiplayer game”. An online Rainbow Six game or Ghost Recon Online 2? Stay tuned for more details.

Source: Siliconera

On top of this, names for “Mirror’s Edge 3” can also be seen. If EA simply registered the domains, it’s one thing, but these have also been transferred to the publisher’s DNS. Are there long-term plans to include a third game already, or will we be hearing about it along with news on the second game?

As always, E3 2013 will be the place for answers. We are going to attend the event and bring you all the latest news. Stay tuned from June 10th onwards for more.