The one thing you can say about Ubisoft is that they rarely fail and then just move on. When the Assassin’s Creed games started flopping, largely due to poor performance and a lack of creative gameplay, they responded introspectively. The game moved to an every-other-year schedule, and major changes to nearly every aspect of the series occurred. We saw some major changes come to The Division as well. Unfortunately, The Division 2 and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint flopped hard. On top of that, Watch Dogs: Legion received a hefty delay. Ubisoft has no intention of moving forward as if this isn’t a major problem.

There is something Ubisoft is curious about regarding their recent failures. Jason Schreier, a host of Splitscreen, recently noted that conversations with Ubisoft insiders are pointing to a new form of game development, especially in the early stages. “Conversations I’ve had with people are ‘Now Ubisoft is changing their mentality big time.’ Now it’s all about [how] you have to pitch your game as being super unique, having some unique aspect to it,” Schreier says. We see it time and time again: deadlines kill games.

Everyone knows at this point it is better to delay a title than push it out and pray it doesn’t fall flat on its face. Not only is Ubisoft looking at a fairly empty 2019 Q4, but sales are down 32% over last year. It’s not necessarily a matter of games getting rushed, but merely made without any creative direction. You could tell from the Ubisoft E3 Conference that the publisher had slated a lineup of games lacking any real creative edge. We know the games they put out; that doesn’t make them good or interesting, even if we buy them.

So if Ubisoft moves to focus more on the early stages of game development, does that mean they’ll be better? No. You still have to make the game. The big difference is that with enough breathing room and support, the developers under the Ubisoft umbrella should be able to make great games if a creative enough concept is there. Unlike EA, a lot of people are rooting for Ubisoft, including myself. Let’s hope things are looking up, for gaming’s sake.

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