Ubisoft funding 360/PS3 games thanks to Wii shovelware

[Oblivion]

Ubi's casual games fund 360 and PS3 development

Buying into Ubisoft's casual range of games is going to fund its hardcore efforts.

August 26, 2007 - The development and subsequent sales success of casual games on Nintendo's Wii and DS is an "extremely profitable" business for Ubisoft, according to the company's CEO Yves Guillemot, who told Reuters at the Games Convention in Leipzig last week that these games help to finance the costly development of games for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Guillemot explained that the development of casual games costs anywhere from 1 million euros to 4 million, depending on how many platforms they're being created for. By comparison, a normal Wii game costs about 5 to 10 million euros, while an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 one costs from 10 million to 20 million.

Casual games are expected to contribute 20% of Ubisoft's revenue this year, which is up 10% on last year. Meanwhile, the entire games industry is attracting many more customers which are, according to Guillemot, "going to grow the market tremendously. I expect the market to grow by 50 percent in the next four years," he said, concluding, "It's a very exciting time for all the developers and publishers."

[BlueTsunami]

Ubi harvesting casuals. So awesome. This seems like the business model most multiplatform companies will follow nextgen.

I would say that I feel sorry for Wii owners (influx of shovelware oh my) but they brought the shit on themselves.

[Ichirou]

I'm personally worried we're gonna see real games replaced with non-games and shovelware entirely in the near future.  It makes little sense to use the massive cash you get from cheap games to fund expensive games that don't sell as much.  Better to just use some of that money to make more cheap games which will make even MOAR money.

[MrAngryFace]

ichirou: publishers I think realize that developers dont actually WANT to develop shovelware. The industry will die completely if publishers didnt recognize this.

[Ichirou]

I hope so.  I would like the industry to grow to a level where it will have products available for both the serious gamer, the casual gamer, or the guy in-between (i.e., me), but I'm just worried that they'll follow the money trail and end up just creating products that will be appealing to the lowest common denominator.

[MrAngryFace]

I think most people get into game development to make games they'd wanna play. Publishers would figure out pretty quick that they cant program even shovelware without devs ;p

[Shuri]

Buy Horsez today.

[Gay Boy]

ichirou: publishers I think realize that developers dont actually WANT to develop shovelware. The industry will die completely if publishers didnt recognize this.

It's quite crazy, is this the first time developers (well western developer's) do not like the market leader? Because they were fine with NES, SNES, PSX, & PS2. It seems they are confused if not angry that the market leader isn't 360.

[MrAngryFace]

PUBLISHERS love the market leader, DEVELOPERS want a system they can really flex their muscles in.