Ubisoft Wants To Make More Focused Games, Rather Than Have ‘One Game Do Everything’ [IGN]

Ubisoft has said that its current approach to game development is to approach projects with “focus” to ensure each game is honed to its target audience, rather than attempting to cater to a very broad, non-specific crowd.

At a recent Ubisoft press briefing, vice president of editorial, Fawzi Mesmar, spoke as part of a presentation about how focus, rather than broad ideas, was an important part of the editorial board’s current development process. In a subsequent interview with IGN he expanded on that idea, saying that the company doesn’t “want one game to do everything.”

“We want to be okay with making a decision around the one game and go, ‘We’re going to go for that, and we’re going to commit, and we’re going to be okay [that it] can make those kind of people happy, but maybe not everybody.’ And that’s okay,” he said. “We believe that a more focused game is better for the people that like [that] kind of game.”

When asked if the stealth-focused Assassin’s Creed Mirage was an example of this, Mesmar confirmed that the series was part of that strategy, and that the franchise at large was a good example of the approach.

“There’s many different types of players that could enjoy Assassin’s Creed and we’re focusing on all of them, instead of making one game that is supposed to cater for every potential Assassin’s Creed fan,” he said. “So for the people who want to go back to [the] roots, we are making a game for them [with Mirage], and hopefully for others that didn’t get to enjoy that classic when it came out. [We’re also making] a multiplayer experience, mobile experience, a big RPG experience. There’s so many different types of elements that we cater for. And that also exemplifies the editorial vision that we set, in which we’re not making the one game for everybody, but we’re making a game for you and focused, and we’re committing to the decisions that we’re making on it.”

This desire for focus links to another Ubisoft goal: that every hour played should count. “So breadth, it’s not what we’re aiming for as much as it’s the depth of the experience going towards making sure every hour counts for our players and they feel that it’s time well spent,” Mesmar explained.

Mesmar went on to say that continued innovation will help drive that feeling of time well spent. “[We have] innovation as a key pillar for all of our games coming forward, [which] could be anything from a quirky new art style to a relatively new take on a genre to even new gameplay mechanics,” he said. “So every Ubisoft project will be looking at those aspects and trying to differentiate, provide depth, and provide the higher standards of quality, as well as providing new ways for players to be able to connect, interact and express themselves.”

For more from Ubisoft, check out how Assassin’s Creed Infinity will change the historical series going forward, and everything announced at the recent Ubisoft Forward showcase.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.