After the presentation of the Playstation 4 in New York InsideGamer got the chance to speak for half an hour with Yvew Guillemot. We asked him about his vision for the future, his plans for the Playstation Vita and the Playstation 4 after the PS4 hits stores.
Ubisoft has always been a publisher that has been present in a big way at Console launches, what are your plans for the PS4 launch?
Yves: We will announce more about what we'll do with the several console launches at a later date. Off course we want to bring out the best from gameconsoles and see a lot of potential for our games on the new platform
We very much like the new social aspect of the PS4. It brings a new dimension to the console, obviously I can't announce any other new games yet, but I think a game like Watch Dogs show what is possible on the new platform.
When did you get information about the PS4 hardware?
Yves: I can't really get into when we got the devkits precisly, in connection with our relationship to Sony. But we've been busy with it for quite a while. We had a reasonable idea on what hardware specs we could target though. We obviously sat down with Sony to pitch our ideas, which yielded a positive reaction, and that gave us as a publisher a good idea of what to expect from the final product(PS4).
So, we've been working for two to three years on the games which will be available at launch.
When you look at the specifications of the PS4, it shows it resembles a PC quite closely, is porting games from PC to PS4 and and vice-versa easier because of this?
Yves: In my opinion we only really had trouble with porting one game, which is Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the PC version could have been managed better, but with the other franchises there is a lot of time invested in ensuring that all platforms get the best-optimized version.
We also expect less problems with porting games from PS4 than we did with PS3, which had a completely different architecture. It will be easier now.
Previously we developed games on Xbox 360 first, which were then ported to PS3, which took a lot of time and money. Now we developed the PC version first, which can then be ported to platforms like PS4.
How much do you have to pay in royalties to Sony per game?
Yves: Unfortunately I can´t comment about this, about the same as PS3 games.
The Playstation 4 announcement seemed to resolve more about the idea behind the game-console rather than the hardware, it´s more about the content. Likewise we see Ubisoft has started offering it´s games on the Origin platform from EA, why not release a Ubisoft Branded gameconsole?
Yves: Ha, I expected that question today, you're the firs one to ask today though.
It's not our goal, we have good partners. I think launching a game-console is very difficult. I'm happy with the position we're taking, we have the freedom to have several partners and also the open PC platform.
And I think several different parties will want to foreray into the living room.
Let's talk about Watch Dogs and it's social features, what are your(Ubisofts) plans?
Yves: At E3 we obviously already showed how you can connect with the game via Iphone and Ipad and see what other players are doing, that´s still the plan.
Looking at the possibilities of Playstation 4, such as resuming from a certain point without pause and sending your gameplay to friends, which is something I find great. It´s also a feature that´s easy to implement into a game, the same goes for downloading User Generated Content while playing in the background.
The Playstation Vita was shown off during the conference with Remote Play, do you think that leaves space for games specifically designed for PSV?
Yves: It really depends on the amount PSV will sell in the future, if it starts selling more, it will open new doors.
The Remote Play setup can ensure that the PSV will start selling better, and if that happens then Ubisoft will push for more unique features to ensure that Remote Play is implemented.
It can still be a success story.
Will you then bring out more games like Assassin´s Creed: Liberation?
Yves: We´re still working on a few Vita games, nothing I can announce yet, but they are coming, the Vita is not dead to us yet.
What are your expectations for the transition period between PS3 and PS4, will we see PS3 ports on PS4?
Yves: I don´t think you´re going to see many bumped up ports, we want to optimize our games for the possibilities that Playstation 4 offers, which we´re investing a lot of time and effort in.
What´s the difference between the PS3 and PS4 version of Watch Dogs?
Yves: At the moment the team is working hard on the version for next-gen consoles and PC. Afterwards different teams will see how to port it to current generation consoles. Maybe we can show both versions at E3.
We haven´t heard or seen anything from RainBox Six lately, is that still a game for this generation or next?
Yves: Unfortunately I can´t comment on that at the moment. We have a good team working on it, and they have good ideas. It´s taking some time though to figure out how to bring the proper feeling in the game to the forefront.
What´s your plans for PS3 after PS4 releases?
Yves: It depends on how long it takes for PS4 to sell well, I have more faith in it this time around and it can help the industry in my opinion. It also depends at which price the PS4 launches, but I don´t dare comment on that. I do expect the PS4 to have a better launch lineup than PS3 did.
I would start expecting a lot less X360 and PS3 games from 2015.
Source: InsideGamer, author: Jelle Van Es, translation: Proclus.
