Best known for its big-name franchises, such as Assassin’s Creed and anything with Tom Clancy’s name on it, Ubisoft is one of the juggernauts of Western videogame development. As with most such operations, Ubisoft tends to play it safe, releasing annual entries in the Assassin’s Creed series as long as it remains successful. Lately, though, they’ve been making some interesting ventures into, what is for them, uncharted territory.
First, we have the abandonment of their incredibly restrictive, always-on DRM for PC games. That has, for years now, been a standard of Ubisoft’s PC distribution process. Secondly, we have the announcement (and forthcoming release) of a PC version of I Am Alive, which was originally adamantly stated to be a console-only affair.
Now we have free-to-play games. First off, a social sort of title called “The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot.” It follows some of the more insidious social-networking norms, such as Facebook integration that allows it to pull from your friends list for partner in play, but the game itself is an intriguing concept. Players construct their castles and populate them with monsters a la Dungeon Keeper, but unlike in that classic strategy title, here the heroes that fight them are controlled by other players. Its closed alpha is intended to begin next month.
Secondly, we have Ubisoft’s first foray into the upcoming Xbox LIVE Arcade free-to-play sector. Spartacus Legends (based on the Spartacus series that have aired on STARZ, developed by Kung Fu Factory) will give players command of a stable of gladiators in a violent and bloody contest in which death is irreversible. That one will be hitting in early 2013, if Ubisoft has its way.