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In an interview with IndustryGamers, President of Ubisoft America Laurent Detoc expressed concerns over releasing new IPs. In spite of the company’s apprehensiveness, fan-favorite franchise Beyond Good & Evil was all but confirmed. At last year’s Ubidays, a CG video of Pey’j and Jade – the series’ lead characters – in broke-down vehicle on a strip of desert road was featured to the surprise and awe of attendees. Since then, a video of what looks to be gameplay footage of the title was leaked. With that as a backdrop, here are Detoc’s relevant comments as made to IndustryGamers:
IG: It’s always a bit risky for a publisher to push out a new IP, not knowing how the market will react to it. Luckily for Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed did well so now it’s a franchise… LD: Yes, that worked out, but it doesn’t work out every time, and sometimes you come back to an IP that didn’t work because you still think it could have – like Beyond Good and Evil, which was leaked, so now people know we’re working on a new one. Whether or not it comes out remains to be seen anyway, but we didn’t want to abandon that IP because it has a cache and authenticity about it. There’s something very pure about that game and it’s too bad that we were not able to build it as an IP at the time. IG: Most publishers make decisions based on sales, so what made Ubisoft decide to pursue Beyond Good and Evil again? LD: Well, I didn’t say there’s definitely going to be another game. I said something had leaked, which means we’ve been working on some Beyond Good and Evil stuff, but whether there’s going to be another game or not, that’s something for the future. But getting to your question as to why there’s work on the IP again, it’s a creative people business; the creative talent is interested in it and possibly exploring how to do it from a new angle. |
