News
Ubisoft Wants to Move Away From First-Person Shooters
The Market is, Apparently, Too Narrow
by Sarah
Bioshock. Halo 3. Call of Duty 4. The contents of The Orange Box. These are only a few of the award-winning first-person shooters that were released last year, leaving the genre completely flooded with no room for anything less than fantastic. Third-party game publisher Ubisoft is also no stranger to the FPS genre, having released the well-received Rainbow Six Vegas in late 2006 with a sequel due out this week. My point is, it appears to me that the first-person shooter genre seems to be thriving at the moment.
However, Ubisoft doesn’t seem to think so, having recently told GamePro that they wish to stop focusing on FPS titles. According to game designer Phil Therien, the shooters are no longer a “viable business practice”. Meanwhile, an informal poll of the Gamervision office shows that everyone here plays first-person shooters fairly regularly, so what gives? Since when are shooters not a viable market? Therien’s explanation: "Keep in mind however that we want our games to be accessible to as many people as possible, otherwise we just couldn't keep making games."
So… more games like Nitrobike, then, Ubisoft? Yeah, that’s really what the gaming world at large needs. Or maybe next time, just a game where you slam your head against a brick wall. That sounds good too.
Related Articles:
Nitrobike – Wii
Review Scores By Publishers
Ubisoft Loves Them Delays
However, Ubisoft doesn’t seem to think so, having recently told GamePro that they wish to stop focusing on FPS titles. According to game designer Phil Therien, the shooters are no longer a “viable business practice”. Meanwhile, an informal poll of the Gamervision office shows that everyone here plays first-person shooters fairly regularly, so what gives? Since when are shooters not a viable market? Therien’s explanation: "Keep in mind however that we want our games to be accessible to as many people as possible, otherwise we just couldn't keep making games."
So… more games like Nitrobike, then, Ubisoft? Yeah, that’s really what the gaming world at large needs. Or maybe next time, just a game where you slam your head against a brick wall. That sounds good too.
Related Articles:
Nitrobike – Wii
Review Scores By Publishers
Ubisoft Loves Them Delays
Comments
they would be real stupid to do this.
And if they do stop, they BETTER finish BiA: Hells Highway .
Ouch, this must take a swing at Haze.
I don't blame them for taking a breather from the FPS market. It seems like two out of every three games coming out is an FPS, and personally I'm a little burnt out. I find this interesting, "we want our games to be accessible to as many people as possible." Does this explain the seemingly never-ending string of Petz games and their sequels that release every two weeks?
am i the only one who thinks FPS games are all the same, and therefore incredibly boring? i just get tired of the whole point-shoot-reload thing. i know this is most gamers' bread-and-butter, but i just can't get into it.