CEO Yves Guillemot on Ubisoft’s upcoming portfolio, the future of Assassin’s Creed

Following the excitement of Ubisoft Forward at the beginning of June, we were able to sit down briefly with CEO Yves Guillemot to reflect on the tumultuous June exhibition season. Among other things, Guillemot discussed the future of Ubisoft’s video game portfolio, hinted at what’s to come from the Assassin’s Creed series, and reflected on the evolution of long-standing gaming genres and the industry itself.

What video game genres is Ubisoft currently focusing on?

Yves Guillemot: The open world action adventure genre is really something we continue to focus on as you can see Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Our game engines – Snowdrop and Anvil – have been adapted to this genre and we believe we can create some of the best experiences. And on the other side are our native games-as-a-service (GaaS) experiences. With games like Rainbow Six Siege, we’ve seen that listening to your community and learning from their feedback is the way to develop a GaaS game. Of course, you absolutely must have a vision, but the game is a joint construction with its players. If you listen to your community, you can create a best-in-class evolving experience for them.

Ubisoft has been a key player in the open world for many years. How do you ensure development and innovation with each new game?

YG: Technology is developing at such a pace that the possibilities for evolution are limitless. For example, in Assassin’s Creed Shadows we have a weather system that will affect its gameplay; for example, ponds that were once swimming can freeze over. Visually, we also see a big step forward for the series. I’ve also been very vocal about the potential I see in generative AI and how it can enrich NPCs to make them more intelligent and interactive. This could potentially extend to the animals in the world, to the world itself. There is still so much we can do to enrich these open worlds to make them even more dynamic.

What do you think Assassin’s Creed Shadows brings to the series that might attract players who haven’t played Assassin’s Creed yet or who have dropped out of the series?

YG: I think the fact that you’re in feudal Japan and you’re exploring such a beautiful world with two complementary yet different characters is a very enticing proposition. You can choose how to deal with any situation when playing as a shinobi or samurai, and you have very different experiences depending on your choice. I can’t wait for players, new and returning, to get their hands on it.

On the Assassin’s Creed front, we’ve had Mirage, which was a leaner homage to the series’ roots, and now Shadows, which is much larger in scope and more Odyssey/Valhalla-esque. Looking to the future, can we expect this continued diversity? Smaller games next to bigger ones?

YG: First, players can be excited about some of the remakes that allow us to go back and modernize some of the games we’ve made in the past; there are worlds in some of our older Assassin’s Creed games that are still extremely rich. Second, to answer your question, there will be a lot of different experiences. The goal is for Assassin’s Creed games to come out more regularly, but not for it to be the same experience every year. There’s a lot of good stuff coming up, including Assassin’s Creed Hex, which we announced, and it’s going to be a very different game from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. I think we will surprise people.

While some GaaS games have retained a significant loyal player base, we’ve seen a large number of publishers try and fail in this environment. What can Ubisoft bring to the games as a service market to ensure they stand out from the crowd?

YG: We must continue to listen carefully to our players and make informed decisions about where to focus our efforts, because if you succeed in GaaS, you can succeed in the long term. Let’s take a look at XDefiant. It’s a lot of work, but it managed to attract 11 million players in a short period of time. And that number will increase with all the work the team does to make sure the first season brings a lot more of the existing experience. It’s about making the right decisions and sticking to them.

What are your hopes for XDefiant going forward?

YG: Besides being constantly updated, with different experiences and optimized gameplay, I would like to see it as a serious esport. But really, for a game like this, there is no limit to its future. And we have a fantastic team in it that listens to our players~~,~~ and communicates with them, which is so essential. We’re off to a good start, but there’s still a long way to go and I’m excited to rise to the challenge.

Let’s quickly touch on Ubisoft’s Snowdrop and Anvil engines. What benefits do they bring to Ubisoft games?

YG: They are specialized and differentiate our games. We will continue to invest in our own engines; the creators of our engines understand what our games need and what our game developers need, and cater our engines to those needs. This is why we can constantly push our visuals and gameplay to new heights.

I’d like to end with a two-part question. Part One: What scares you about the gaming industry right now?

YG: One thing that worries me right now is the malicious and personal online attacks that have been directed at some of our team members and partners. I want to make it clear that we at Ubisoft condemn these acts of hate in the strongest possible terms, and I urge the rest of the industry and players to condemn them as well. I am proud to support the amazing work of our teams and partners and will always trust their creative decisions. We should all celebrate the hard work and talent that goes into making video games.

This is very clear. So the second part of the question: what excites you about the gaming industry right now?

YG: What excites me and always has excited me is new technology and the potential it can bring to our developers and of course our players. I would like to see the hardware develop even faster. The fact that games have been compatible with current and previous generations of consoles for some time now is a fantastic thing for our back catalog and our players, but it has held the industry back a bit when it comes to developing truly new experiences. If we as game developers can more quickly adopt and master technological advances such as generative artificial intelligence and the cloud, we will be in a much better position to create new, exceptional experiences for players.