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

After the excitement of Ubisoft Forward earlier in June, we were able to sit down briefly with CEO Yves Guillemot, who was feeling reflective after June’s whirlwind season. Among other topics, Guillemot discussed the future of Ubisoft’s video game portfolio, gave us a hint of what’s to come from the Assassin’s Creed series, and talked about the evolution of old game 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’re continuing to focus on, as you can see with Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Our game engines – Snowdrop and Anvil – are tailored to that genre and we believe we can create some of the best experiences out there. And on the other side of that are our Games as a Service (GaaS) experiences. We’ve seen with games like Rainbow Six Siege that listening to your community and learning from their feedback is the way to grow a GaaS game. Of course, you absolutely must have a vision, but the game is a co-construction with its players. If you listen to your community, you can create an evolving, best-in-class experience for them.

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

YG: Technology is developing at such a pace that there are limitless opportunities for evolution. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, for example, we have a weather system that will affect its gameplay; ponds that were once swimmable can freeze over, for example. Visually, we’re also seeing 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 be more intelligent, more interactive. This could potentially extend to the animals in the world, to the world itself. There is still a lot we can do to enrich these open worlds to be even more dynamic.

What do you think Assassin’s Creed Shadows brings to the series that might appeal to players who haven’t played an Assassin’s Creed before, or who have given up on the series?

YG: I think the fact that you are in feudal Japan and explore such a beautiful world with two complementary but different characters is a very attractive proposition. You can choose how to handle each situation by playing as a shinobi or a samurai, and have very different experiences depending on your choice. I can’t wait for the players, new and returning, to take over.

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

YG: First, players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we’ve made in the past and modernize them; there are worlds in some of our older Assassin’s Creed games that are still incredibly rich. Second, to answer your question, there will be a wide variety of 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 to come, including Assassin’s Creed Hexe, which we’ve announced will be a very different game from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We will surprise people, I think.

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

YG: We must continue to listen closely to our players and make well-informed decisions about where to focus our efforts, because if you succeed in GaaS, you can succeed for a long time. Let’s look at XDefiant. It has a lot of work to do, but it managed to attract 11 million players in a short time. And that number will grow with all the work the team has done to ensure Season One brings much more to the existing experience. It’s about making the right choices and sticking to them.

What are your hopes for XDefiant in the future?

YG: Well, outside of it being constantly updated, with different experiences and optimized gameplay, I’d like to see it as a serious sport. But really, for a game like this, there is no limit to its future. And we have a fantastic team on it who are listening to our players~~,~~ and communicating with them, which is very important. We’re off to a strong start, but there’s still a long way to go and I’m excited for us to step up to the challenge.

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

YG: They specialize and differentiate our games. We will continue to invest in our right engines; our engine creators understand what our games need and what our game developers need, and tailor our engines to those needs. That’s why we can continue to push our visuals and our gameplay to new heights.

I’d like to close with a two-part question. Part 1: What worries you about the gaming industry right now?

YG: One thing I am concerned about right now is the malicious and personal attacks on the Internet 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 encourage the rest of the industry and players to report them as well. I’m proud to support the amazing work of our teams and partners and will always believe in their creative choices. 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 what has always excited me, is new technology and the potential it can bring to our developers and, of course, to our players. I wish the hardware evolved even faster. The fact that games have already been compatible with current and previous generations of consoles is a great 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, as game creators, we can adopt and master technological advances like generative artificial intelligence and the cloud more quickly, we will be much better positioned to create new, standout experiences for players.