„They came from toothpaste companies.” Assassin's Creed creator explains how Ubisoft differs from EA, and why it's so important

The Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4, Alex Hutchinson, gave an interesting interview to FRVR. In the conversation, he praised his former employer, Ubisoft, for their willingness to take risks. According to him, this is what has kept the Assassin’s Creed brand at the top.

Something rare in triple-A

Hutchinson says that this kind of approach is pretty rare in the AAA category. It's pretty common for brands to hit a slump after their original creators leave. The people who take over these series don't fully understand what made them unique and, therefore, are afraid to introduce too many changes.

In Ubisoft's case, it was different. The company took a big gamble by turning a series of relatively small stealth-action adventure games into massive open-world RPGs. A genre change for popular brands is very uncommon, and it's even less common for it to be successful.

Managers from toothpaste companies

Hutchinson doesn't remember his entire career at Ubisoft fondly, but he really gives props to the management for this particular thing. According to him, this willingness to take creative risks stems from the fact that it is a very rare case of a large publisher still managed by its founders, who have been involved with games since the beginning of their careers. As he explains:

Hutchinson worked on, among other things, Assassin's Creed III.

Of course, taking risks doesn't always work out, but that's exactly why it's so commendable. Hutchinson recently admitted that the ambitious beginning of Assassin's Creed III turned out to be a mistake.

This may seem like a tribute to Ubisoft, but Hutchinson maintains a realistic perspective on the publisher, commending certain aspects of its operations and criticizing others. For example, a few months ago, he admitted that the company forced the excessive stuffing of Assassin's Creed III with content just to prevent players from quickly reselling the game at GameStop, which could harm the sales of new copies in the crucial first few months after release.

Assassin's Creed III

October 30, 2012

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• EA / Electronic Arts
• Ubisoft
• Assassin's Creed (franchise)