The French video game publisher Ubisoft organized its Forward 2024 conference on Monday, the opportunity to present the latest trailers for its big upcoming titles but also for players to test these highly anticipated productions.
While the group ended its staggered financial year at the end of April with a return to profits, it was also marked by some failures, such as the long-awaited Skull and Bones, for which Ubisoft has so far avoided giving figures of sale.
The next six months will greatly determine the success, or not, of the current exercise, with in particular the release of two particularly anticipated games, Star Wars: Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadow.
In the Belasco cinema, a legendary address in the center of the City of Angels, the publisher has staged a space inspired by medieval Japan, a period in which players will evolve with Shadow, whose release is scheduled for November 12.
As with another title in the franchise, Syndicate, the player will play with two characters, alternately but whose respective stories intertwine: Naoe, daughter of a samurai who embarks on a quest for revenge, and Yasuke, a former Jesuit became a samurai himself.
Bringing Assassin’s Creed to Japan “is something that players have been asking for. Our developers have been saying for a long time that it would be something really cool to do in Japan,” explained team manager Simon Lemay Comtois when asked. by AFP.
In Los Angeles, players had the opportunity to test the gameplay of the title and evolve in Japan at the end of the 16th century, during the short Azuchi Momoyama period, which marks the unification of the archipelago.
– Foray into the Star Wars universe –
It is also the first game in the series developed first for the latest generation consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series, the opportunity for the publisher to “go up a notch and evolve the model a little” , underlined Mr. Lemay Comtois.
“This is the opportunity for us to push this franchise a little further and define the contours of what it will be for the years to come,” he added.
But the attention of the players was turned to another title from the publisher, the first developed for the Star Wars franchise, with Outlaws, expected for October 30, and which will allow the player to move in the universe of War des Etoiles by playing a young outlaw, Kai, having the opportunity to try to pull off the heist of the century.
The action takes place between two films from the first trilogy, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”, and will see the appearance of characters known to fans, such as former smuggler Lando Calrissian or Jabba the Hutt.
“We worked very closely with LucasFilms, they helped us understand what Star Wars was,” Julian Gerighty, creative director on the title, explained to AFP.
The game, planned to be an open world with the possibility of traveling to different planets and will force the player to try to find a place between the different criminal groups populating the galaxy and try to obtain their help at times.
“Improving your reputation with some will reduce it with others. This brings you advantages but can also put you in the path of hitmen sent to liquidate you,” detailed Mr. Gerighty.
