The tactical shooter Ghost Recon Breakpoint has flopped. Ubisoft has announced it will change the development process. According to a new report, this already has consequences. Ubisoft wants to know from each team: What makes your game unique?
Where is the information from? US journalist Jason Schreier is regarded as someone who has many insider contacts in the industry. He spoke about changes at Ubisoft in a podcast (via kotaku) but did not name sources.
This is what Schreier says:
I had conversations with some people and they say: “Ubisoft is now drastically changing its mentality.” Now it’s only about how to present your game to the decision-makers so that it is super-unique and has unique aspects.
Everything sounds pretty wild, there is a crazy atmosphere there.
This is the context: A week ago, Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, went public with new financial figures. Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a commercial flop, and The Division 2 is also not performing as well as expected. Therefore, three games are being postponed.
Consequently, Ubisoft had to lower its financial expectations for the current year – this led to a drop in stock price. Ubisoft’s stock fell to its lowest point in two years.
The Ubisoft CEO mentioned three reasons why the games flopped. One of them was that the new games did not bring enough innovations.
Every game unique
This is what it’s about: The new rule, “every game must be unique,” is probably the main lesson Ubisoft has drawn from the flops.
Both Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2, Ubisoft only promoted through the story – not through new gameplay features or gameplay ideas. Apparently, they were lacking.
This approach of “remaking” a game that has already been made, but with a new story, does not seem to have worked well for Ubisoft in these cases.
They have apparently identified this as a weakness.
Apparently, Ubisoft now wants to ensure it can promote every game with unique features. For example, this is being done consistently with Watch Dogs Legion with the “You can play as anyone” idea.
This kind of uniqueness was especially lacking in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Ubisoft only remixed existing ideas, which did not work well.
