| Salnax said: On a scale from 1 to 5? Maybe 3 and a half. Watch Dogs will not make Ubisoft a superpower or destroy them by its own merits. However, Ubisoft is in an awkward position at the moment. They're trying to jump to the 8th gen, like everyone else, but things are changing for them. Assassin's Creed is safe for now, but recent Tom Clancy games have disappointed, and Just Dance is plummeting YoY, albeit slower than Guitar Hero did half a decade ago. Prince of Persia is MIA, Rayman is a moderate seller at best, and Far Cry, though growing, is no Assassin's Creed in terms of size. Meanwhile, although Ubisoft used to make a fair amount of money on handhelds, with a dozen million-sellers on the DS alone, they seem to have been struggling to replicate that success on the 3DS, Vita, or mobile devices. In other words, Ubisoft is short on reliable cash cows at the moment. Only Assassin's Creed fits the bill. That's why they're releasing so many new series at once: Watch Dogs, The Crew, The Division, etc. They need another big hit. And Watch Dogs happens to be their best bet, at least in their eyes. So what if Watch Dogs fails? Well, the best case scenario is that Far Cry 4 or another new IP becomes huge, therefore solving the ultimate problem. But assuming that none of these games come to "Define Generation 8" or whatever, Ubisoft could have some serious problems. They wouldn't go bankrupt from this one game, but the failure of Watch Dogs could result in Ubisoft having to lay people off, sell studios or IP's, and/or simply downsize early on in the generation. Conversely, what if Watch Dogs suceeds? What if the first game sells 10 million copies in 2014 alone or something? In that case, Ubisoft has basically doubled their supply of cash cows, and can possibly actually grow to rival EA. This could lead to Ubisoft becoming a huge player in the industry, having many major releases a year, and thus being able to influence the success of platforms. Another thing to note is that the success of Watch Dogs will definitely affect the future creation of new AAA series. But that goes without saying. |
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