July 2008
"Red Steel 2 has been in development for many months now, and this new device will help us be even more precise in what we do with the product,"
"The Red Steel brand is strong - I think we released it on year one, and that people understood that it was a first try on new technology, technology that wasn't completely finished. And our game tried to grab the best out of it, and was a bit rushed to be sure to offer something in year one to Wii consumers," he added.
"So Red Steel is a brand, and as with every brand we have, we now have to reach the top quality possible. What was missing was the preciseness of the sabre - and with this new device I think it will change the experience."
Ubisoft is one of the few third-party publishers to see considerable sales success on the Wii, and Corre puts that success down to the amount of time spent on developing games for the unique home console, compared to competitors.
"When you make a great game, you need more than one year of development," offered Corre.
"A lot of games are made in less than a year, but they're not great products and they're not selling at all. So it takes some time to develop good games. This year we're coming with Shaun White, which we've developed over 18 months, and the same for Rayman 3.
"I think these two games can be in the top ten of the Wii charts at Christmas again, and there will also be new Wii games announced soon - more games dedicated to capturing this new audience," he concluded.
More snippets from the Ubisoft interview:
Q: Ubisoft was pretty proactive when the Wii first launched, getting some titles on there - how do you appraise that initial push, and what would you say the lessons were now you're coming on to the second and third iterations of titles?
Alain Corre: It's true we were early on the system, with Rayman and Red Steel. Both games were in the top ten of the Wii chart for the first 6-9 months of the machine. We came down a bit in year two, for a number of reasons, but it also takes time to create great products on the Wii - despite what some people say. When you make a great game, you need more than one year of development.
A lot of games are made in less than a year, but they're not great products and they're not selling at all. So it takes some time to develop good games. This year we're coming with Shaun White, which we've developed over 18 months, and the same for Rayman 3. I think these two games can be in the top ten of the Wii charts at Christmas again, and there will also be new Wii games announced soon - more games dedicated to capturing this new audience.
So I think our Wii share that we lost a bit last year, versus year one, we'll grab it back this Christmas. We have started the development of a lot more games on the Wii for Christmas 2009, so it's in place.
We should have developed even more games in year one, to be ready for year two, but now we've switched a lot of our people in development to the Wii, so our ambition is that our market share on Wii grows starting this Christmas - and I think we're on the right track.