Ubisoft is changing to find a new direction for its game

After a difficult year, Ubisoft has announced a plan to restructure the creative team – who set the direction for all of its games.

For the past two decades, the creative direction of Ubisoft games and products has been controlled by a team, a group of 100 designers and producers based in Paris. They are the ones who give advice on everything from game design to game script.

While not making the game themselves, this team still has a great influence on the development teams in the company. Their influence has helped keep the vision of Ubisoft games close together, drawing lessons from project to project.

They are the ones driving the company towards open-world and systematic games, pushing online elements and adding real-world elements to the game, but with limited political exposure.

However, after disappointing sales from 2019: The Division and Ghost Recon Breakpoint – causing many games to be delayed to ensure quality – Ubisoft said it would be making “significant changes” in the game. company’s production process.

For the creative team, changes will include expanding and reorganizing this group.

“We are focusing on the creative team to be more agile and better support development teams around the world as they create the best gaming experiences for players.” Ubisoft said.

One of the main goals of this restructuring is to make Ubisoft’s product line more diverse. In the past, Ubisoft has added too many familiar features to many of its games, and CEO Yves Guillemot said in October that it was working to make them different.

Ubisoft’s creative director, Serge Hascoet, will continue to head the creative team. However, sources say, the number of vice presidents who report to him will be expanded and empowered, allowing Hascoet to have a broader view of projects instead of following them directly.

The seven vice presidents will be given their own brands, with the power to make independent decisions about the direction of the future. Hascoet will continue to monitor the progress of projects at key milestones, similar to CEO Yves Guillemot.

It is known that by dividing responsibility among a group of leaders, the team can create a uniqueness for each of its games. Expanding the team’s resources and expanding outside of Paris will likely have a positive impact.

Previously, every game was assigned to at least one producer and line designer. They will follow the project from Paris and give creative direction. However, they do not have the power to make their own and must closely follow instructions from CCO Hascoet.

An anonymous source said: “In the previous system, ideas came from just one or two people in every game. That’s why you often see similarities, because it comes from the same point of view and taste.”

The vice presidents will be current members of the company such as creative vice president Tommny Francois, while creative directors from Canada will also join the likes of Child of Light’s Patrick Plourde, and Splinter Cell’s Maxime Béland. – who returned after a year at Epic Games.

In October, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot acknowledged three valuable lessons the company learned from The Division 2 and Ghost Recon Breakpoint’s failure to live up to expectations.

First, he said, the team needed to make sure there was more time between the launch of “online” games to attract attention.

Second, Guillemot admits that the company needs more time to develop games to deliver more unique innovative gameplay, in order to provide an optimal experience.

Finally, the CEO said that Ubisoft needs to make sure every game is really different.

Overall, the types of games Ubisoft is developing have changed over the past few months.

At least for one game in Montreal – considered “nearly finished” in development – but had to be reevaluated during the company’s new production. Meanwhile, some games that are being developed in the direction of “service” games are said to be remade to make them different.