10% of Ubisoft's workforce working on games for Xbox 3, Wii 2 and PS4

[parallaxscroll]

Ubisoft Working On Games For "Next Generation Of Systems"

Well, it's always good to be proactive but perhaps this can be placed into the category of "jumping the gun."

According to Ubisoft's recent financial report, summarized by Bloomberg, company founder Yves Guillemot said that "10% of Ubisoft's workforce is working on developing games for the next generation of game systems that will eventually replace [the] Wii, Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3." He went on to say that his company goes after new technologies "faster than everyone else," and reminds us that Ubisoft was one of the first to produce games exclusively for the Wii. Now, he wants the large company to be prepared for the PS4 and Xbox 720 (if that's indeed what those consoles will be called), and clearly, he expects Ubisoft to deliver a few launch titles for each piece of new hardware. At this point, it's difficult to say when any of the new consoles will arrive, but some analysts have said that new systems from either Nintendo or Microsoft may arrive as early as 2011, but it seems that most bank on the PS3 being around for a while. For our part, we seriously doubt we'll see a fourth PlayStation before 2013, but at least Ubisoft will be ready for it when it happens.

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/5212.html

[DigitalSpace]

I assume the other 90% are working on more of those crappy "Imagine" games for the DS.

*rimshot*

[TheRedEye]

I assume the other 90% are working on more of those crappy "Imagine" games for the DS.

*rimshot*

Given that the development budget for those is next to nothing, the franchise has sold 30 million units so far, and Ubisoft's casual sales were up 43% last year, that's probably where I'd have them.

[tubeway]

Let's think of some possible Imagine concepts.

Imagine: Diarhea on a Rollercoaster
Imagine: Wounded in the Desert
Imagine: Homeless (I would actually buy this)
Imagine: Spork
Imagine: Tapeworm

[Amnion-Chorion]

Let's think of some possible Imagine concepts.

Imagine: Diarhea on a Rollercoaster
Imagine: Wounded in the Desert
Imagine: Homeless (I would actually buy this)
Imagine: Spork
Imagine: Tapeworm

Imagine: One of the poor guys who has to program all of these god-forsaken Imagine games

[ProgrammingAce]

I'd imagine they're not actually working on games for the future-gen systems, but working on tools and engines so they'll be ready when the systems are announced.

[heybtbm]

Imagine: Tapeworm

I'd buy that.

[NayusDante]

Let's think of some possible Imagine concepts.

Imagine: Diarhea on a Rollercoaster
Imagine: Wounded in the Desert
Imagine: Homeless (I would actually buy this)
Imagine: Spork
Imagine: Tapeworm

Now, those would actually be interesting! When I saw the promotional cases for Imagine: Party Babies, I fully understood that they have a group of monkeys writing code, and this series is the stuff that comes before they write Shakespeare. "To be, or not to be" is still about 5000 Imagine games away. Sadly, the above ideas, which would actually be entertaining, are just as far. Monkeys just don't appreciate sporks as much as we do.

At this point, no actual hardware specs are known about the next set of platforms. What we do know, however, is that they only have two directions to go in. This is the last generation of typical game consoles, and that description fits loosely at best, with capabilities such as Netflix, card readers, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, and other non-gaming functionality. The two possibilities are completely PC-like, and set-top-box format. I believe that Microsoft, who wants more shooters, MMOs, and RTS on the console, will go for a gaming PC format, allowing it to run Windows Media Center natively and perform other general PC functions in the living room, with a wireless mouse and keyboard in the retail box. Nintendo, however, I strongly feel will design their next console as a set-top-box, much like a cable box, with the spec licensed to manufacturers like Scientific Atlanta, Motorola, etc. This would mean more television-formatted feel, and using cable providers as a distribution channel. These two formats have known development standards, so I'm sure they can get to work on things now with minimal adapting later on.

Sony, however, is definitely going to push the PS3 for a few years more. You spent enough on it, and they've put enough into it. When it's time to move on, they'll make the same mistake again, resulting in the ultimate home-theater box. It'll probably take after a stereo receiver. Since Sony isn't going to learn anything, expect another IBM-commissioned chip that nobody knows how to program for. I'm sure that Ubisoft's PS4 dev team is sitting around trying to cope with an unknown platform, not writing code.

I don't want to hijack the thread and keep going on about console speculation, but this is the only explanation I have right now. It might be time to start an official thread on that matter.