Ubisoft bringing its biggest brands to virtual reality

Ubisoft has shown more enthusiasm for virtual reality, teasing that it is currently developing titles for the new technology that will be based on its hit franchises.

During this week’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Yves Guillemot discussed the potential for virtual reality and said it will have “a few titles coming in the first year” with regular VR games to follow that, according to Gamasutra.

While the Samsung Gear is already available, the first year could refer to the twelve months following the launch of the Vive VR – the joint venture between Valve and HTC, due this Christmas – or the Oculus Rift, which is slated for release next year.

“First, we believe a lot in virtual reality, because we see it’s really giving a chance for gamers to be immersed in worlds,” Guillemot said. “We are developing a certain number of games that are going to take advantage of these new possibilities.

“What we are doing is working on the different brands we have to see how we can take advantage of these new possibilities, while making sure we also don’t suffer from what comes with it, which is the difficulty to play a long time with those sorts of games.”

Originally, Ubisoft was extremely sceptical of virtual reality, saying that it would not invest in the tech until 1m units have been sold. However, the publisher has since signed up as a supporter of the Open Source Virtual Reality platform.

Guillemot’s comments that VR will “bring more players into the universe of Ubisoft video games” and references to the firm’s brands suggest the publisher could be working on virtual reality tie-ins to its heavy hitters such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Watch Dogs. 

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