When Jade Raymond left Ubisoft, it didn’t come as a big surprise to many- a lot of developers are leaving their jobs at big publishing houses to pursue independent game development these days. However, what did come as a shock was Raymond’s decision to pursue game development with EA- she had effectively jumped the brigade from one big publisher to another. What was the point? Why would she do that?
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Raymond states that she chose to work at a bigger publisher, rather than opting to pursue independent game development, because of her fond memories working on Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed- two brands she helped cultivate during her time at Ubisoft, the latter of which is arguably one of the biggest brands on the market today.
“Thinking about times I was happiest, what I enjoy doing, and what I will ultimately be happy having done five or 10 years from now, what I really love doing is creating these big franchises–getting to work with the team to create Assassin’s Creed and how big that’s gotten, then working with the team at the beginning of Watch Dogs–creating those new franchises that then become culturally impactful.
“People know about them all over the place, and having that opportunity to do it again and think about how we make sure we’re honoring that opportunity to impact people’s lives in a positive way, making something that’s moving the medium forward and enriching things. All those objectives are what’s most important to me, and they line up well with EA’s objectives,” Raymond said.
That’s certainly as good a reason as any- and it is also encouraging to see someone choosing to stick with AAA game development, as opposed to leaving to pursue smaller scale development. With the AAA scene facing a contraction as massively as it is, it needs all the familiar hands on board that it can get.