Ubisoft wants to release more ‘free to play’ titles and fewer AAA games
Ubisoft had its annual report late yesterday and at the same time offered information that they are now updating their strategy. It turns out that they will no longer strive to release 3-4 major games (AAA titles) every year, but instead increase their bets on ‘free to play’. Ubisoft’s CFO Frederick Duguet explained:
“In line with the evolution of our high-quality line-up that is increasingly diverse, we are moving on from our prior comment regarding releasing 3-4 premium AAAs per year. It is indeed no longer a proper indication of our value creation dynamics For example, our expectation for Just Dance and Riders Republic are consistent with some of the industry’s AAA performers.
Additionally, we are building high-end free-to-play games to be trending towards AAA ambitions over the long-term. This is purely a financial communication evolution and doesn’t change the fact that we continue to expect a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and free-to-play new releases.”
Last week, Ubisoft announced the next title in The Division series. It’s called The Division: Heartland and is just a ‘free to play’ title. And this is perhaps something we should expect more from in the future.
