“Assassin’s Creed” producer admits Ubisoft doesn’t know “what are players playing?” After the epidemic, more than half of the development team are newbies

Marc-Alexis Côté, executive producer of the “Assassin’s Creed” series, recently exposed a panel video at the game industry summit XDS 2024. He said that Ubisoft is “changing the world” through games, but he also admitted that recently The company has been unable to figure out the habits of players for two years, and mentioned that the “Assassin’s Creed” team has many novice developers after the epidemic.

XDS24 ended in Vancouver, Canada, at the end of September. Cote shared at the Fireside Keynote that Ubisoft is trying to let players learn new knowledge through games. “Yves (CEO Yves Guillemot)’s core idea for the past 36 or 37 years is that video games can change the world. And the first step to changing the world is to change people.”

“If you can give them something to think about while they’re having fun, and if they can learn from it, then you can change a person and change the world.”

Curt has held various positions at Ubisoft over the past 19 years, from programming, creative director to publishing. He currently serves as the vice president and executive producer of the “Assassin’s Creed” series. His creativity, insight and professionalism are reflected in the many projects he has participated in. games, especially the Prince of Persia, Fenyx Legends and Assassin’s Creed series.

When talking about how to satisfy old fans of “Assassin’s Creed” and attract new players, Kurt said that he is honored to be at the helm of this evergreen series, “The playground in front of me is the complete history of mankind, so it is diverse. It can be inclusive. We can tell different stories that attract different people from all over the world, rather than telling the same stories and the same heroes over and over again.”

Cotter went on to say that he hopes players learn something new every time they play Assassin’s Creed, “That’s important, but also to explore another part of the world, another side of our shared history. That’s what I love about Assassin’s Creed.” 》The reason is that it always keeps it fresh.”

“Assassin’s Creed” tells the story of the Assassins versus the Temple. Except for Ezio, the protagonists change in each generation and each has a different charm. The story is almost “created from scratch.”

Kurt believes that starting from scratch is both a strength and a weakness of the “Assassin’s Creed” series. “Every time you start over, there is a risk. You need to shape these protagonists and make them attractive and relatable to players.”

When talking about the twists and turns of “Assassin’s Creed: Shadowbringers”, Kurt said, “I think one of the things people will notice since the generation of ‘Shadowmen’ is that we try to make the game, make this series more Approachable.”

The “Assassin’s Creed” series has always had two story lines, one that travels through the past in the modern era, and one that tells the story of history itself (ancient times). “So the development team repackaged these two sets of stories for “Shadowers” so that we can have more stories in the future. More room for flexibility, easier entry, and avoiding questions like “Who is that guy with the black helmet?” The team tried to make the game focus on the player’s personal experience.”

This is not the first time that Cote has made this kind of statement public. Previously, he also emphasized the DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) characteristics of history in the BAFTA Master Lecture. Ubisoft also emphasized on its official website that its goal is to promote games that “can reflect diversity and inclusion” and will This belief is integrated into the development team and development process, “Provide resources to help teams create more authentic, inclusive, and accessible experiences. “

During the Q&A session of the XDS24 conference,

The audience asked how the development team builds trust with outsourcing partners. Cote pointed out that it is important to maintain “transparency” between teams. Hiding problems will only lose mutual trust. In addition, he revealed that Ubisoft has been responsible for many tasks in the “Assassin’s Creed” series in recent years. None of the staff had development experience or were even familiar with the series.

“Since the epidemic, I have noticed that the number of senior members of the team has decreased, and many new people have joined… and about half of the members of the development team of “Assassin’s Creed” are participating in the game for the first time.”

Kurt explained that when these newcomers try out the work in development, they will feel that it is the most shitty game they have ever seen, but he encourages newcomers to believe that the game will get better and better, even if the game seems imperfect on the eve of its release, don’t Give up and finally achieve your expectations and goals.

“I have also gone through this stage. I remember that the first time I participated in the “Assassin’s Creed” game test was in July, and the game was scheduled to be released in October.” Curt recalled that at the time, he thought it would be impossible to launch as scheduled, but the finished product scored 91 on Metacritic. (The comparison should be AC4 Black Flag), “So I thought wrong, you never know how good the game is going to be until it’s actually finished.”

On the other hand, some people are curious about how the general environment will affect Ubisoft’s development in the next three to five years.

Cote believes that the game industry is at the peak of change. “I don’t know what this industry will look like in five years, but it is obvious that we are transforming. It may cause anxiety (for employees), but this needs to be faced by everyone together.” The right topic, after all, whether it is AAA masterpieces or indie games, the possible formula for success has undergone tremendous changes in the past 20 years.”

Curt is not afraid of paradigm shifts. Innovation is still very important to Ubisoft, but it just needs to strengthen cost control. The cost of game development in the past five years has obviously been highly inflated. He then shared the dilemma of the company not knowing where the players are or how to get them to play the game.

“We need to find where the players are, and this is something I’ve been thinking about for the past two years. Where are the players? What are they playing? How do you reach them? As the game industry transforms, these questions will become even more important in the next few years. Clear.”

Curt admitted that Ubisoft has felt alienated from players in recent years, and that the company really needs to understand players and find ways to attract them. This problem has not only troubled him for a long time, but has also been reflected in the company’s disastrous performance in recent years.

From “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown”, “Tales of Fury”, “Star Wars: Desperados” to “Bad Front”, disappointing works for players have been launched one after another. Ubisoft’s reputation and stock price have declined accordingly. Curt and senior management We are all aware of this, but he believes that over time we will eventually figure out a way.

The latest “Assassin’s Creed” game “Assassin’s Creed: Shadowbringers” is expected to be released on February 14, 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.