Ubisoft vague on the progress of its beloved franchises
Ubisoft dazzled many this E3 with new IP as a follow up to last year’s unexpectedWatch Dogsannouncement.Tom Clancy’s The DivisionandThe Crewfirmly planted themselves in the connected, massive online multiplayer camp, but what ifWatch DogsxInfamous: Second Sonand another car game didn’t tickle your toes? Well, like me, you appreciated the tokenRayman Legendsappearance and lamented the lack ofBeyond Good & Evil 2news.
Beyond Good & Evil 2was last heard from when Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained that Michel Ancel wastoo busy finishingRayman Originsand, then,Rayman Legends, which was slowingBeyond Good & Evil 2. Of course,Rayman Legendshad its release pushed back to facilitate a PS3 and Xbox 360 release, so that game is presumably still being finished before Ancel can work on the next-genBeyond Good & Evil 2.
As for other key Ubisoft franchise,according to Eurogamer,Far Cry 4seems next in the pecking order, though Ubisoft Europe’s Alain Corre didn’t have specifics to offer beyond, “We don’t know yet when it will emerge. Again, it’s cooking. Something is cooking!”
Corre followed with by offering no concrete details on the state of thePrince of Persiafranchise. “All our franchises are always in gestation. We are iterating. We are thinking about what can be done. But we can’t bring all the games and all the franchises every year. We have a lot on the show floor this year already.”
I assume thePrince of Persiaseries is being totally reworked, possibly for a next generation trilogy. The series lacks any cohesive identity after a pretty, but mostly forgotten reboot/reworking in 2008 and a tepidly received return to the PS2-era trilogy with 2010’sForgotten Sands.
So, there you have it. I don’t so much mind Ancel devoting his time toRayman LegendsbeforeBeyond Good & Evil 2can make significant progress, but it is hard to shake the fear ofBG&E2, sequel to a niche title that it is, becoming vaporware. Especially since theBeyond Good & Evil 2trailer is now five years old. Apparently theBeyond Good & Evilimage Ubisoft posted to its Facebook page was merely the company,“homaging some of the characters from our past.”
Ubisoft, despite pushing new IP, does seem to be playing it safe as we transition into a new console generation. Corre says they “can’t bring all the games and all the franchises every year,” but the company has no problem puttingseven studioson the nextAssassin’s Creedwhile assuring it andWatch Dogscome out on every platform in existence. I’m sure that eats up a lot of manpower. Meanwhile, its newest IPs are familiar (aTom Clancyshooter and a racer) ventures going after the latest zeitgeist: large scale online play and social integration.
At least we still haveRayman Legends. Here’s hopingBeyond Good & Evil 2doesn’t burn.
