Ubisoft assures us they’ve learnt from past mistakes

Ubisoft is known to produce some pretty impressive games, but the developer is also becoming notorious for technically buggy and troublesome releases – a reputation they’re aware of and trying to shake.

In a recent interview, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that the company has learnt a lot from the Watch Dogs graphics debacle and Assassin’s Creed Unity’s performance issue saga, and that the company now only showcases gameplay footage at expos (like E3 2015) playable on target machines, i.e., systems they’re optimising the game to actually run on.

“With E3 2015 we said, OK, let’s make sure the games are playable, that they’re running on the target machines,” Guillemot said.

“When we show something, we ask the team, make sure it’s playable, make sure gamers can immediately see exactly what it is. That’s what we learned from the Watch Dogs experience – if it can’t be played on the target machine, it can be a risk.”

Guillemot also addressed the question of why Watch Dogs turned out the way it did, and why it was delayed.

“It’s a real challenge to create those types of games,” he said. “When they come out, especially the first iterations, they are not perfect on everything. We think we launched a good quality game for a first step in a new brand with a new technology. It’s just so complex – seamless multiplayer, connectivity with mobile and tablets, so many things – it was maybe a bit too much for a first iteration.”