Some of Ubisoft's games, such as the latest in the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry series, have been criticized for being too large for being afraid to try them. So when Ubisoft announces a new game development technology Scalar that could help games get bigger in the "infinite" world, some players may want to know what Ubisoft thinks about it.
This is not the case, according to Ubisoft's managing director Patrick Bach, who leads the team in Stockholm, working on Scalar and its new IP. In an interview with GI.biz he said: "Do we need to make the game bigger? Not. Will some games benefit from getting bigger? Of course. It depends on which game, and which game and the goals of its creators. ”
Bach said he believes Scalar technology will enable developers to make bigger games, and some people may benefit from it, but not all.
"No part of the game should be driven by 'the more the merrier'. It's technology and doesn't determine what games you're going to make, but some games will definitely benefit from being bigger, more detailed, scalable, and more powerful than they are now. I don't think there's really a connection between getting bigger and getting better or worse. It depends on the creators and how they want to spend their energy to realize their vision. ”
Ubisoft says Ubisoft's new Scalar technology is a cloud-based production tool that allows developers to build games faster and more efficiently, at scales that were previously impossible. Ubisoft's team in Stockholm is not ready to show off the results of using the technology on its new IP.
"We hope we can show you it, but we can't now," Bach said. I don't expect you to believe that only we have [the technology] and no one else has. ”
The developer added that Scalar is not a new engine that Ubisoft will license to other studios: "We're not trying to sell you anything, we're just talking about what we want to do." Ubisoft doesn't want players or other companies to buy the technology, we're just foreshadowing what the future holds. ”
Ubisoft's teams in Ubisoft Massive, Helsinki, Bucharest and Kiev are also using Scalar technology on new projects, which will be announced later.
Through Scalar, Ubisoft sought to create a "development framework focused on building the ideal game design and experience, rather than addressing traditional production constraints." ”