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Ubisoft’s press conference was a long one, but it was probably one of the strongest showing the publisher has been involved with.
The extended run-time featured a release slate for the company’s next financial year unlike any it has had before.
It showed a couple of more quirky digital titles, including Grow Up – the sequel to Grow Home by UK studio Reflections. That game will be released in August, and is coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC.
The company also unmasked Trials of the Blood Dragon, a mash-up of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon with Trials. The unexpected PC, PS4 and Xbox One game was made available during the press conference.
Those were the smaller, more esoteric titles. In terms of the larger budget projects, Ghost Recon: Wildlands will arrive on March 7th, while hack and slash combat game For Honor is out on February 14th next year. Both games were the big new titles from last year’s Ubisoft press conference.
These games join Watch Dogs 2. The hacking action sequel arrives at retail on November 15th.
It wouldn’t be a Ubisoft E3 press conference without a unique new IP, and that game fell to Steep. Developed by Ubisoft Annecy, Steep is an action sports open world game that features paragliding, base jumping, skiing and snowboarding. The game is due in December. You can read more about it right here.
And finally, the South Park RPG series is back. In a lengthy segment featuring series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, South Park: The Fractured But Whole received multiple trailers and is out on December 6th.
This is in addition to a new Just Dance, plus four virtual reality titles that are scheduled for Q4 – Eagle Flight, Star Trek: Bridge Crew (which also had an on-stage demo featuring Oculus Rift’s lead creatives), Werewolves Within and Trackmania Turbo.
And that’s not even referencing the Assassin’s Creed movie, which is set for December.
It was actually a very impressive show, with the firm celebrating its 30th birthday. And when you add all those games together, you can see why Ubisoft is internally describing this financial year as its biggest on record.
However, there was the spectre of Vivendi and its hostile efforts to take over Ubisoft hanging over proceedings. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft’s much liked CEO, took to the stage at the end to deliver a heartfelt thank you to the fans. This is a man who isn’t going to give up his beloved company without a fight.
