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Ubisoft is finished with 'finite experiences'
Your experience with Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege never has to end, and Ubisoft is looking to bring that ongoing, long-lasting relationship to all of its games going forward. In an interview posted to its news blog, Ubisoft vice president Lionel Raynaud explained how the company wants to give players lots of smaller stories instead of one contained narrative that you finish and then forget.
This is part of the company's move toward games-as-a-service, where it constantly updates its releases to keep players coming back for months if not years. But Raynaud explained exactly how a number of smaller stories better serve both Ubisoft and its players.
"What drove this is the will to not give finite experiences," said Raynaud. "The idea was that you have this conflict, and the resolution, and then it's finished – you've killed the bad guy, for instance. We build a strong nemesis, and the goal of the game is to kill him or free the country, we've done that a few times in our games. But when you succeed, you have to leave the game, because there is nothing else to do. So the goal was to break this, and say that you will be the hero of a region or population many times, not just once. And if you get rid of a dictator or an oppressor, something else is going to happen in the world, and you will have a new goal."
Opening your wallet doesn't have to be a finite experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 05 2018, @10:24PM (1 child)
My first reaction was that this was a pure "always-on, subscriber, MMORPG" style money grab. To be clear, I think that's driving it, but on the other hand...
Is that really so bad? I'm thinking for things like "Madden 2011/2012/2013/2014/2015/etc." The common joke is that they are all essentially the same game. Why not literally make them the same game? The company could have 6 perpetual games, and subscribe as consumers will.
I'm not 100% sure how they will prevent stagnation... but that's for them to figure out.
(As a side note, yes this kills replay-ability when the servers disappear in 3 years, which is a major downside for a minority of the *consumers*.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 06 2018, @04:26AM
Whoa there, they are not the same game at all! They have updated rosters! That right there, my friend, demonstrates how EA is the pinnacle of innovation. It even surpasses state-of-the-art features like real-time weapon change.