While so many other development studios and publishers are carefully counting pennies and making cuts, the ethos at Ubisoft seems to be that you need to spend money in order to make money. That's according to Ubisoft's senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key, at least. Asked by GamesIndustry International why Ubisoft has increased its marketing spend this year, Key replied that "by increasing our marketing, our goal is actually to lower our risk". "We spend so much time, energy and money creating these experiences like Watch_Dogs and Assassin's Creed, you need to match that now on the marketing side," he said. "You're making a huge bet on the development side, you've got to be all in.
"It became very clear to us about two years ago that this is a blockbuster world we live in now," Key continued. "That means we have to be able to match the resources our production teams are putting in on the marketing side.
"You saw that with Assassin's Creed III; that was our largest marketing campaign ever as a company. What's interesting now is it doesn't feel so big any more. This year we're looking at Assassin's Creed 4, and Watch Dogs, and saying 'That's what it takes nowadays, that's what we're going to keep doing.'"
Ubisoft unambiguously considers the Watch Dogs IP to be bigger than any single project. "That's what all our games are about; we won't even start if we don't think we can build a franchise out of it."
Key also acknowledged that console games aren't just competing with their direct rivals nowadays - they're competing with every single entertainment medium that's out there, jostling for every second of our attention. "We're competing for their time as much as anything now. It has to be a rewarding experience. It has to provide the value," he concluded.
"The blockbuster games will continue to be a game that people are willing to pay for because the value is there. As a publisher, our challenge is to be providing that value."
Is Ubisoft providing that value, do you think? Not long now before Watch Dogs is released; perhaps we can interest sir/madam in a preview?
Source: OXM[SUP][1][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
Thanks to: Rheena.com
"It became very clear to us about two years ago that this is a blockbuster world we live in now," Key continued. "That means we have to be able to match the resources our production teams are putting in on the marketing side.
"You saw that with Assassin's Creed III; that was our largest marketing campaign ever as a company. What's interesting now is it doesn't feel so big any more. This year we're looking at Assassin's Creed 4, and Watch Dogs, and saying 'That's what it takes nowadays, that's what we're going to keep doing.'"
Ubisoft unambiguously considers the Watch Dogs IP to be bigger than any single project. "That's what all our games are about; we won't even start if we don't think we can build a franchise out of it."
Key also acknowledged that console games aren't just competing with their direct rivals nowadays - they're competing with every single entertainment medium that's out there, jostling for every second of our attention. "We're competing for their time as much as anything now. It has to be a rewarding experience. It has to provide the value," he concluded.
"The blockbuster games will continue to be a game that people are willing to pay for because the value is there. As a publisher, our challenge is to be providing that value."
Is Ubisoft providing that value, do you think? Not long now before Watch Dogs is released; perhaps we can interest sir/madam in a preview?
Source: OXM[SUP][1][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
- [SUP]^[/SUP] Source: OXM (www.oxm.co.uk)
Thanks to: Rheena.com