Ubisoft - Wii U is for casual/core, going 'all in' on the system with future support
A portion of a GamesBeat interview with Ubisoft's Toy Key...
GamesBeat: Who will be the audience for the Wii U: casual gamers or hardcore gamers?
Key: We’ve got a pretty wide offering of experiences. ZombiU is something that a core gamer will appreciate, as is Assassin’s Creed III. Rayman is something core gamers have always gravitated to. The core press have been very kind to the brand in their reviews. Rayman Origins got a 90 percent Metacritic score. Then we have Just Dance, which is more of a family or party game, and likewise with Rabbids Land. We have a mix of casual and core. We have a fitness game. We have a sports game. We have Avengers: Battle for Earth, which is a fighting game for a more casual audience. So we’re doing both. The early adopters tend to be people who are very passionate about gaming, and so a lot of them are core gamers. We think that there’s enough stuff there for them to try it out and see if they like the Wii U or not.
GamesBeat: How much further into the future do you see your support continuing? Are you going to wait and see how everything is received at launch first?
Key: Well, we have a lot of titles, a lot of upside on the Wii U for Ubisoft. We’re going to be the number one third-party publisher. When Wii U becomes a hot machine, Ubisoft is going to be well-positioned. We have Rayman Legends in Q1, and we haven’t announced any other games beyond that, but… All we can say is that we’re all in on the machine. We believe in it.
GamesBeat: Who will be the audience for the Wii U: casual gamers or hardcore gamers?
Key: We’ve got a pretty wide offering of experiences. ZombiU is something that a core gamer will appreciate, as is Assassin’s Creed III. Rayman is something core gamers have always gravitated to. The core press have been very kind to the brand in their reviews. Rayman Origins got a 90 percent Metacritic score. Then we have Just Dance, which is more of a family or party game, and likewise with Rabbids Land. We have a mix of casual and core. We have a fitness game. We have a sports game. We have Avengers: Battle for Earth, which is a fighting game for a more casual audience. So we’re doing both. The early adopters tend to be people who are very passionate about gaming, and so a lot of them are core gamers. We think that there’s enough stuff there for them to try it out and see if they like the Wii U or not.
GamesBeat: How much further into the future do you see your support continuing? Are you going to wait and see how everything is received at launch first?
Key: Well, we have a lot of titles, a lot of upside on the Wii U for Ubisoft. We’re going to be the number one third-party publisher. When Wii U becomes a hot machine, Ubisoft is going to be well-positioned. We have Rayman Legends in Q1, and we haven’t announced any other games beyond that, but… All we can say is that we’re all in on the machine. We believe in it.
