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Ubisoft will not invest in virtual reality until further notice
Although the game Assassin's Creed Nexus is quite well received among fans of virtual reality, this is not enough for the CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot. He expressed his disappointment (and the team's) with the sales of the latest VR game and revealed the studio's stance on the future of VR gaming. Until the VR world really comes to life and until they see better sales of similar VR games, Ubisoft will not increase its investments in the world of virtual reality.
Assassin's Creed Nexus is a very interesting game and we can finally immerse ourselves in the role of an assassin and experience even deeper emotions than we have been able to until now by playing on PC and consoles. The experience of climbing the tallest buildings and temples is great, as long as you don't suffer from nausea, which is a major problem with VR games. The famous falcon jump is exciting, although at the beginning also intense for the stomach. We can explore the worlds of famous assassins (Ezio, Kassandra, Connor), while quietly “removing” everyone who gets in our way. Critics gave it a score of 78/100 on MetaCritic, and players gave it an even 8.9. These are very decent reviews, but they obviously did not have a positive effect on sales.
"We were a little disappointed with what we were able to achieve with Assassin's Creed for virtual reality," Guillemot said during a call with investors. "The results aren't bad and it's still selling, but we thought it would sell better, so we're not increasing our investment in VR at the moment, as it needs to establish itself first."
"We've been very impressed with what Apple has come up with, and we think it's fantastic hardware. However, we continue to look at VR as something that we need to study, but we should not overdo it. invest until it grows enough.»
Apple recently introduced the Vision Pro VR/AR glasses, which they say open the world to spatial computing. Undoubtedly, these are fantastic glasses, but they cost more. than 3,500 US dollars - a figure that is too high to bring VR technology to the masses.
VR glasses Meta Quest 2 (around 300 €) and Meta Quest 3 (600 €) are among the most popular among VR enthusiasts, mainly due to their low price and a solid selection of games and other applications that are adapted for the seemingly seriousč ;ness. Nevertheless, it lacks moreÄ of high-profile AAA games, which ultimately means that even gamers have no motivation to make purchasing VR glasses their first choice. Did you notice the circle? If there are no good games, there are no sales of VR glasses. If there are no good sales of VR glasses, game developers will not invest in this technology.
The latest Steam survey shows that only 2 % of Steam users are engaged in virtual reality. Of course, this number does not tell the whole story, but it is an indication that VR technology has not yet experienced the key breakthrough that Ubisoft, for example, would like.
Guillemot did not reveal what exactly will change in the area of Ubisoft's VR games due to poor sales. Either they will cancel any of the games they are currently developing (announced or not), or they will simply not be involved in the preparation of new ones.
One has already been discontinued, namely the Splinter Cell VR game, which was announced in 2020 and discontinued after two years of development.
