Ubisoft will not invest in virtual reality until further notice

Čeprav je igra Assassin’s Creed Nexus med oboževalci navidezne resničnosti kar dobro sprejeta, to ne zadošča generalnemu direktorju Ubisofta Yvesu Guillemotu. Izrazil je svoje razočaranje (in razočaranje ekipe) nad prodajo najnovejše VR igre in razkril stališče studia o prihodnosti VR iger. Dokler VR svet ne bo resnično zaživel in dokler ne bodo opazili boljše prodaje podobnih VR iger, Ubisoft ne bo povečal svojih naložb v svet navidezne resničnosti.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus je zelo zanimiva igra in končno se lahko vživimo v vlogo atentatorja in podoživimo še globlje občutke, kot smo jih lahko doslej s preigravanjem na PC-ju in konzolah. Občutek plezanja po najvišjih stavbah in templjih je odličen, če le ne boste imeli težav z slabostjo, kar je večna težava VR iger. Znameniti sokolji skok je vznemirljiv, čeprav na začetku tudi intenziven za želodec. Raziskujemo lahko svetove znamenitih atentatorjev (Ezio, Kassandra, Connor), medtem pa potihoma »odstranimo« vse, ki so nam v napoto. Kritiki so ji na MetaCritic dali oceno 78/100, igralci pa celo 8,9. To so zelo spodobne ocene, ki pa očitno niso imele pozitivnega učinka na prodajo.

»Nekoliko smo bili razočarani nad tem, kar nam je uspelo doseči z igro Assassin’s Creed za navidezno resničnost,« je Guillemot dejal med pogovorom z vlagatelji. »Rezultati niso slabi in še vedno se prodaja, vendar smo mislili, da se bo prodajala bolje, zato trenutno ne povečujemo naložb v VR, saj se mora ta najprej uveljaviti.«

“We've been very impressed with what Apple has come up with and we think it's fantastic hardware. However, we continue to see VR as something we need to explore, but not invest too much in until it grows enough.”

Apple je pred kratkim predstavil VR/AR očala Vision Pro oziroma očala, za katera pravijo, da odpirajo svet v prostorsko računalništvo (angl. spatial computing). Nedvomno gre za fantastična očala, ki pa stanejo več kot 3500 ameriških dolarjev – številka, ki je previsoka, da bi lahko tehnologijo navidezne resničnosti približala širši množici.

Meta Quest 2 VR Glasses (around €300) and Meta Quest 3 (€600) are among the most popular among VR enthusiasts, mainly due to their low price and solid selection of games and other applications adapted for virtual reality. Despite this, several high-profile AAA games are missing, which in turn means that gamers also lack the motivation to make the purchase of VR glasses their first choice. Have you noticed a vicious circle? If there are no good games, there are no sales of VR glasses. If there are no good sales of VR glasses, game developers will not invest in this technology.

The last one Steam survey shows that only 2 % of Steam users are plugged into VR. Of course, this number does not tell the whole story, but it is still an indication that VR technology has not yet experienced the key breakthrough that Ubisoft, for example, would like.

Guillemot did not reveal what exactly will change in the field of Ubisoft's VR games due to poor sales. Either they will cancel any of the games they are currently developing (announced or not), or they will simply not be involved in the preparation of new ones.

They've already canceled one, Splinter Cell VR, which was announced in 2020 and canceled after two years of development.