Prior to Nintendo officially detailing the Nintendo Switch during a presentation, Ubisoft’s CEO praised the new device quite a bit, saying that the Switch (NX at the time) would be bringing “casual players back” to the industry and that “Nintendo will be back in the race” with the Switch.
For a company that praised the Switch so much, they didn’t really bring out the most amazing games from their library for the console. Of all of the games announced for the Switch, Ubisoft is bringing the recently released Steep (which is one of the better Switch games), Just Dance and Rayman Legends.
While rumors have been surfacing of a Switch game that was a Mario/Rabbids crossover and an Assassin’s Creed ‘Empire’ port, Ubisoft hasn’t confirmed anything. Ubisoft’s Xavier Poix, who is in charge of Ubisoft’s French studios, sat down with GamesIndustry.biz (via Gaf) and shed light on why Ubisoft picked those games and that they had more games planned. The interview is pretty long, but worth a read – if you haven’t got much time, here are some great excerpts:
GI.biz asked:
“Although you’ve announced three Switch games, with Wii and Wii U you developed completely original properties especially for those machines. Why not this time?”
Xavier Poix replied:
“First of all, I think these are games that are a good fit the platform, even though we haven’t made an announcement of a brand new title. When you think about Just Dance, for instance, that game was brought to the Wii first and uses the whole motion gaming aspect. But Just Dance is about playing with anyone and anytime, it is about accessibility, and what is interesting is that Switch brings that anywhere aspect to the table. So the ability that the games had on Wii and Wii U in terms of bringing people together into a room, well now that room can be anywhere. The room you want to play Just Dance in can be a kitchen or a garden, it can be anywhere.
The Switch has been made for Just Dance. Just Dance has sold more than 65m units, it has had more than 100m players that have used it. In the Switch box today, you have two Joy-Con controllers, so right from the first day, you can play two player Just Dance – with each person holding a Joy-Con. Of course, you can play in front of the TV, and also play on the smaller screen, which means you can now have a Just Dance party almost anywhere. It’s the perfect match for that game.
So we are bringing titles that we think fit with what Switch is all about. Of course, in the future, we have other things that we will be very happy to share with you at a later date”
So, Ubisoft has more titles planned for the Switch, but they aren’t ready to talk about them yet. Perhaps they are looking to see how the Switch performs in sales or maybe they don’t want to ignite any hope only to have it crushed.
Poix went on to detail why Steep was picked for the Switch over Watch Dogs 2 or The Division.
GI.biz asked:
In terms of your open world titles, you’re developing Steep for Switch. Why choose that over Watch Dogs 2 or The Division? Is it because of the violent nature of those other games?
Xavier Poix replied:
Sorry to come back to the same point, but Steep has the same philosophy of Switch already in its DNA. Steep is about the freedom of discovering the alps, it is about doing multi-sport, it is about both long gameplay sessions and short sessions, and it is about sharing the experience with friends via sending them challenges or images – which the Steep does with its share feature.
Switch also brings the mobility aspect, and Steep is missing that. Imagine that you can keep having the Steep experience when you go to another room? For me, Steep was a no-brainer for Switch. In terms of audience, Steep is a good example of attracting a large audience, including older gamers who perhaps used to play SSX or other games like that, and you’re right, it should attract a new, younger audience.
