Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat recently spoke to the Guardian about “connected experiences” that next gen consoles like the Xbox 720 and PS4 will offer.
“We have to understand that it is intrinsically linked to how we see the market. We used to say that we’re not competing against other games, we’re competing for leisure time. We have to craft our experiences around the way people are now consuming entertainment.
“For example, with the online multiplayer aspects of a game, we can say – and this is true already of Watch Dogs – that the next generation will help us to blur the lines between on and offline play and between single and multiplayer. It will be a totally new way to play.
“I think we showed that last year with the Watch_Dogs trailer and also the live demo we did in February at the Sony PlayStation 4 event. Essentially it will be possible for friends to jump in and out of each other’s games without completely changing the experience or becoming an essential part of the storyline that players craft for themselves.”
Will that warrant an always online console though? And will it lend support to such a console? Time will tell, especially considering the controversy surrounding rumours of an always online Xbox 720.