Ubisoft: Open World Games Will Help Integrate Single-Player and Multiplayer

Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat has primed his studio for the next generation. In doing so, he believes that console games will adopt second-screen play in the Wii U and PS4-Vita, and further blur the lines between single-player and multiplayer.

"We used to say that we're not competing against other games, we're competing for leisure time. We have to craft our experiences around the way people are now consuming entertainment," Yannis said in an interview with the Guardian. "For example, with the online multiplayer aspects of a game, we can say – and this is true already of Watch Dogs – that the next generation will help us to blur the lines between on and offline play and between single and multiplayer.

"Essentially it will be possible for friends to jump in and out of each other's games without completely changing the experience or becoming an essential part of the storyline that players craft for themselves."

Yannis also revealed that the focus on open-world games is a first step towards breaking down those barriers between solo and multiplayer. It is why Ubisoft Montreal made a "terribly difficult" transition towards this form of gameplay. As for dual-screen gameplay... in response to a question about games becoming more pervasive:

"Look at TV. I'm pretty sure you watch TV with a second screen on, be it a tablet or a smartphone, so we know that consumers are ready to consume 90 minutes of entertainment in 45 minutes – if you know what I mean. We will have companion games that let you stay immersed in the universe even when you're not in your living room. In the future, all those fantastic universes, Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, Far Cry – they'll stay alive thanks to those devices, within our players' minds."

The shape of things to come? What do you think?