Ubisoft to release open-world games "on a regular basis"

Ubisoft plans to release open-world games "on a regular basis" going forward, according to CEO Yves Guillemot. Speaking today during a post-earnings financial call, the executive said shipping open-world games more frequently is one step Ubisoft will take to broaden the market and engage players further.

"We need to release open-world [games] on a regular basis. Open-world has proved to be the clear direction where game genres evolve," Guillemot said. "It began with GTA for the action segment, then it happened to adventure with Assassin's Creed; to the RPG with Skyrim and last year was its first major entry into FPS with Far Cry 3. The Crew showed at E3 that it can also be a big differentiator for the driving segment and excitement around The Division confirms how relevant it is to RPG games."

Guillemot pointed out that Ubisoft has released nine open-world games in the past seven years, including two in 2013. He called this an "unmatched performance," and said Ubisoft has this "unique capacity" because the company has a strong network of collaborative studios.

Guillemot also outlined the five "online and social breakthroughs" that each new Ubisoft title will need to have to keep players spending more time in-game.

"Those breakthroughs are systemic gameplay, co-op and social, low barriers to entry, user-generated content, and personalized experience through analytics."

Watch Dogs launches for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC on November 19. The Xbox One and PS4 versions will release sometime this holiday.

Ubisoft expects the game to sell more than 6.2 million units.