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Yves Guillemot believes the Ubisoft of 2030 will be bigger and bolder than ever, enabling interconnected games to be enabled by player communities and unencumbered by platform holders such as Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple and Google.

And the new hub for the flagship franchise Assassin’s Creed seems to point to that future. Infinity is the live service that will allow players to play all future and past Assassin’s Creed games, but when, on what platforms and how that could happen remains elusive.

Guillemot set out his vision for Ubisoft’s future at a media event in Paris last Wednesday, attended by VGC. Lots of new games were announced, plus plenty of new ways Ubisoft is trying to expand its footprint; but there was almost too much, and not enough factual detail about it.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Cinematic World Premiere

You get the feeling that Ubisoft is trying a little bit of everything to see what might stick. The Ubisoft of 2030, Guillemot says, will release games in a world where people can access games “as easily as they listen to music or watch videos on YouTube or on TV.”

“The tools we are building for web3 will also accelerate this trend by enabling the emergence of multiple virtual universes where players have the freedom to communicate, create, own and move freely between games. They will also move between platforms and also between virtual worlds.”

It all sounds very metaverse, doesn’t it? And merging all those Assassin’s Creed games into one live service – Infinity – is certainly the start of Ubisoft’s web3-like projects.

And that’s all fine on PC, where you can release your own launcher and do whatever you want. But most of Ubisoft’s business is on console and will increasingly take place on mobile. And this is where this bold platform-free future gets a little loose.

“Ubisoft likes to be independent, and frankly that’s refreshing if most of the founders are already sold. Guillemot is apparently sticking around, but it is worrying that there are still issues in the workplace that question his leadership.”

Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple and Google may have something to say about a future where players communicate – and transact – the way they want, through services they can’t control.

There are not only technical issues to deal with when it comes to linking all these platforms seamlessly. When it comes down to it, the platforms will all do their best to keep their walled gardens firm to maintain the healthy portion of the revenue from every game sold and microtransaction in their ecosystems.

Adding further uncertainty is the ownership situation. Tencent increasing its stake in Guillemot Bros, Ubisoft’s majority shareholder, appears to have put a stop to rumors of a takeover. And Yves Guillemot went straight into this in a Q&A after his presentation.

“The goal is really to make sure we do more business together in the future,” he said of Tencent. And later, more explicitly, “our first intention is to be able to own our destiny.”

Ubisoft likes to be independent, and frankly that’s refreshing if most of the founders are already sold. Guillemot is apparently sticking around, but it is worrying that there are still problems in the workplace that question his leadership.

Yves Guillemot's vision for Ubisoft's future is a bit hazy

Guillemot apologized for the problems Ubisoft has had with abusers in recent years and of course wanted to talk about that in the past tense.

He spoke of a “continuous transformation”, a “major realignment”, and said very directly: “Yes, we have stumbled, and we have acknowledged that. We learned a lot along the way. And we have made meaningful progress with concrete action plans.”

But tell that to the folks behind A Better Ubisoft, who said this week that their concerns are still not being heard, and that while many abusers were fired from Ubisoft, some were simply moved to new roles, different studios or even promoted. And the HR people who dismiss their complaints and protect abusers are still with the company.

This is serious stuff, and it’s surprising to read that there are still people at Ubisoft who aren’t being listened to.

So it’s all a bit messy. Ubisoft is to be admired for putting its heels in the sand and staying independent, as well as taking more risks than most other major publishers. But with lingering questions about workplace safety, property and company priorities, Guillemot has a lot of work to do to make that vision clear for 2030.