Ever since the revealing of Nintendo’s full motion add-on at E3, developers have not been shy about speaking their minds about being left in the dark. Lucas Arts, in particular, with the release of The Force Unleashed could have made amazing use of the peripheral. Now, however, that seems it may not have been the case with all companies. Ubisoft seems to have known, as they mentioned in an interview with GameDaily.

[In regards to WiiMotion Plus] Nintendo has been working on that for a long time, trying to see how they could improve the precision. We knew for a long time they were working on that, so it’s not a big surprise for us. We’ll start seeing something in September/October. We already have games that can take advantage of it.

Good news for gamers, worse news for Lucas Arts. Before I thought the complaining was a little over the top, now I just feel bad for them. Full interview after the break.

GameDaily BIZ: Considering the latest developments from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, what’s excited you from the big three?

Yves Guillemot: We think using the Balance Board and this new [MotionPlus] controller they are creating, the motion will give a lot more sensations to consumers and it’s really a way to get more and more immersed in the games we play. That, for me, is revolutionary.

For Microsoft, the fact that they are now not only considering one customer, the hardcore gamer, but making sure they can have smaller games and that they have avatars, it’s something that is interesting. Because I believe we want to have a life on the Internet, and so being able to push your avatar to become somebody well known is all very interesting.

Regarding Sony, PlayStation Home for us just being able to go into an open world with your avatar and meet other people… It’s a dream for me, I think. It’s so important to travel all over and meet different people, creators or gamers, that will understand who you are and what you’ve done, so you can select the people you want to speak with more. The idea of Home is great.

BIZ: But how will Home help Ubisoft’s business?

YG: Because we’re allowed to have our own world in Home, it will give us the opportunity to be there and be part of this global world and show what we do and have a chance to share with those gamers that are playing other games what we’re doing and make sure they can watch and get interested by it.

BIZ: Getting back to the Microsoft Avatars for a minute, do you really think this will help the company better reach that casual audience?

YG: Nintendo had a great idea, Microsoft is taking it to another level. It’s exciting for us because it will give gamers the ability to be important in this interactive world. The fact that you can add your face and be a person that is close to you and it will take all your data (what you’ve been playing, achievements), for me it’s very interesting. The industry has always been like this. We always watch what other people are doing and take the best of it. That’s what I love about this industry… what’s good is to take it and do something better with it.

BIZ: So will Ubisoft be incorporating the Avatars into its games for Xbox 360?

YG: We’ll see what will happen there. What we need to make sure is that it’s not just a Microsoft world, but also a Ubisoft world where we are around. We just need to make sure that it’s going to be possible.

BIZ: Regarding Wii MotionPlus, how long did Ubisoft know about it and when will we see games from Ubisoft that make use of it?

YG: Nintendo has been working on that for a long time, trying to see how they could improve the precision. We knew for a long time they were working on that, so it’s not a big surprise for us. We’ll start seeing something in September/October. We already have games that can take advantage of it.

BIZ: It seems like Ubisoft really has become focused more and more on CG animation and movie technology. You recently bought the animation studio behind 300 and Sin City and you’ve previously revealed that you’re working on 3D stereoscopic games with James Cameron. How will this all come together for Ubisoft? It seems like these worlds are colliding…

YG: Those worlds are getting closer. We are just on the way to building that capacity. In buying Hybride, we really are bringing to the company the know-how that is needed to create the future of games that we’re making, and to be in the middle of this movie industry that is extremely dynamic. A lot of people are getting into the movie industry and aren’t yet interested in getting into the gaming industry yet. But when it’s the same industry, they will be happy to move back and forth. Those two industries will enrich each other… by talent that will want to try things, but when they see they can express themselves in both, they will see that it can be interesting and then we we’ll have more talent.

BIZ: So would you say that Ubisoft is looking to become a movie label as well?

YG: What we want first is to create better games. If we can have a synergy with movies that are published by us or by studios that will help to enrich the graphics, the depth, the number of locations, special effects that we do in movies that we can do in other games, images… all this we think will give a better experience for the gamer. If we have partners to create movies, TV series, web series, and books, at the same time we would do like the movie industry does today – instead of having a movie that creates an event and there are a lot of products launched at the same time, it will be the game creating the event, and then you’d have the movie and books, etc.

BIZ: Let’s talk about the stereoscopic aspect of this. It’s a very interesting technology. What are your hopes for this as it relates to games and movies?

YG: We think that movie industry is going in that direction, creating movies that are stereoscopic, giving people new sensations because you will be more immersed in the movies you see. It’s the same thing with video games. What I’ve seen with [Cameron's] Avatar is really giving you the impression that you are very close to that world. So that new sensation is a great one. If we can make sure customers buy new TVs and get in that new world, I think having 3D instead of 2D will get the screen closer to you. As the interfaces are changing (for example End War powered with voice), you will have the screen and this universe, and you will speak and move in it like you are actually in it.

BIZ: I guess there are two different approaches though in this industry. Nintendo it would seem wouldn’t look at something like high-tech stereoscopic graphics, which needs special TVs, since they’re focused on getting the new casual audience to play, while Microsoft and Sony would probably want to look at this more high-end tech. Are these competing forces in the industry?

YG: I don’t think so. In the industry, there are a certain number of elements that are very important. Accessibility and fun to play was something that we forgot a little bit with the games we were doing [as an industry]. Trying to improve accessibility is something we were working on at Ubisoft and then Nintendo came along and said, “We probably can’t have as good graphics, but if we work on having accessibility, maybe we don’t need to be as graphically intensive. And as we’ve seen, they were right. Lots of people couldn’t come in [to gaming], and now they can come in. They buy lots of products. It doesn’t mean that Nintendo won’t be interested in improving graphics in the future. When the gameplay and accessibility works well, you can go further. It’s not that they are anti-technology. It’s just they said, “What we need to work on is accessibility, and maybe with accessibility, we can then spend less on the other things.”

BIZ: The strategy’s worked for Nintendo, but do you think they’re losing touch with the hardcore base?

YG: I don’t think that because the quality of the games on their machine is still very high. The gamers can have great fun with what’s coming on the machine. It’s just a question of games. When the games are great to play, they play them. You’ll always have some people who are unhappy, but I don’t think they’ll lose those [hardcore] guys.

BIZ: Even from a third-party perspective, Ubisoft isn’t exactly bringing hardcore games to the Wii. Tom Clancy titles, for example, are nowhere to be found on Wii.

YG: Tom Clancy will appear at one point. We need to make sure they [look good]. We have engines that were created for the next-generation consoles. We had to re-engineer a certain number of engines to be sure we could use the quality of the machine. Even without the [high-end] graphics, the experience can still be very interesting. … To make sure we can create good enough products [on Wii] or products better than Nintendo’s takes time. That’s why you don’t see many products, but you will see more and more in the future.

BIZ: Ubisoft has attempted sports in the past with the And 1 brand, but sports is a tough market. Is your Shaun White snowboarding game an indicator that Ubisoft will start making more sports games?

YG: Regarding And 1, it was in a competitive sector and it wasn’t done in-house. When you want to attack that kind of segment you really have to work hard within your company. But yes, that’s the goal – we want to enter this extreme sports business.

BIZ: So it’s specifically extreme sports, not traditional sports?

YG: We want to first get in there and get a name, then we’ll see [about other sports].

BIZ: The casual games business seems to be going well for Ubisoft. You have the Imagine series and Ener-G was introduced recently. How big is the casual sector for Ubisoft now and how big will it get?

YG: I think the business is growing now quite fast. There are new customers coming into the industry because the DS stylus and Wii-mote are easy to use. Those customers come in and say, “Give me something to play” and we went to them to find out what they want. What was impressive was when we started to give them what they wanted, those games exploded. In the industry, you always have 10 people doing the same type of product, so the market is already mature and you have to do a lot better. On this one, we were the first to do some girls products, for example. As soon as we did those games, they bought them. Because of that, it gave us enough energy and possibilities in terms of investment to create more products and create what experiences they want.

BIZ: About what percentage of your business is this?

YG: 25 percent. That’s how it is now, and we think it can continue to grow because all those people are coming into the industry. I think the number of people can triple. We had the 6 to 50-year-old males playing games and 80-90 percent [of our audience] were in that [range]. Now we have the 50+ and all the women – young and seniors – that are coming into the industry and wanting to play.

BIZ: As the number grows to say 40-50 percent of Ubisoft’s business, is that at the expense of the hardcore business?

YG: Why would it be? There are no reasons for that to be at the expense of the hardcore. It’s actually the opposite. Since we are making good money on those games, it allows us to actually push product and give them more time to be polished. Since we have less pressure on the business plans, we have more time to create better games. That’s what happened last year and is happening this year. Because we have that revenue, it’s helping a lot. I think it will be a lot better for the gamers actually.

BIZ: In terms of the Tom Clancy brand, you now have complete control since you picked up the rights earlier this year. Besides the new entries like End War and Hawx, what do you see as the possibilities for Tom Clancy games?

YG: There are lots of possibilities. There are so many kinds of games than can be done. There are still a lot of opportunities… I can’t give you the specifics right now, but the brand can do many things. We are particularly happy with End War, the RTS game that you can command with voice. It’s really something that is a huge step. It’s giving console gamers the ability to control the game quickly. We had it on PC and it was working very well. … If you’re not a hardcore gamer, voice makes it easier to access. It’s like the Nintendo or Guitar Hero phenomenon – it’s easy to play. There’s only one button to push; otherwise it’s your voice. Anybody can do that.

BIZ: Is the plan to continue to introduce new IP within the Tom Clancy universe or is it more rotation of the current brands already out there?

YG: The goal is to create new brands, but also to make sure the brands you know will come regularly with new creative products.

BIZ: Does Ubisoft have any bigger plans for the music genre, which is exploding right now in the game industry? I know you had Jam Sessions on DS, but other than that I can’t think of another music title from Ubisoft…

YG: It’s coming. This segment of the industry is huge, so we are going to come with projects; it’s too early to say, but they are interesting projects. They are different enough not to be considered “me toos.”

BIZ: Do you worry that you’re coming to the music scene too late?

YG: With what we have I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. The goal is really to bring something new and interesting – something you will love to do. We have fun when we play with it … The phenomenon is so big – the games do like $1 billion in revenue – it could change, but it won’t disappear. People will still be interested in those kinds of games; maybe there will be more people. And doing a “me too” is dangerous. For the long term, we are building something you’ll want… We have two projects.

BIZ: Are these based on peripherals?

YG: We have two different projects – one with and one without.

BIZ: What’s your take on how this industry is shaping up right now in terms of consolidation? Are we moving toward a small group of publishers that will dominate everything like the film studios in Hollywood?

YG: I don’t know. I think the industry is growing fast, so some people felt it was important to merge with other publishers. We feel that creativity is the key to success. If you can continue to create very good quality products, it’s okay. If it’s too big and you can’t control what you do, you can quickly become smaller. Our goal is to continue to increase the number of high quality products, but also control what’s done and make sure everything we do comes with the level of quality that is necessary to be successful. This industry is a very tough industry. If you are just more into mergers and not taking care of the quality of your product, you can lose your momentum very quickly. So our goal is to increase, but by quality games that generate lots of revenue and make the company grow.

BIZ: Ubisoft has been growing a lot in the last few years. Do you feel you’re at the point where you’re no longer really an acquisition target anymore? Would the asking price be too high for most companies?

YG: I don’t know. You look at Activision, and they were bought for quite an amount. There’s no limit.

BIZ: It would almost seem like it would have to be some major media conglomerate like a Vivendi.

YG: This industry is getting closer to the Internet, the movie industry, the book industry, etc. There are quite a few companies around us that would be interested to buy content. I’m not saying we’re looking for companies. We are creating content and content is quite important.

BIZ: Thanks very much for your time.

GameDaily
via GoNintendo

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