Ubisoft is a gigantic publisher. While many associate the name with hardcore brands like Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry, a huge part of the company's business actually comes from casual titles. With more than 40 million units sold, Just Dance is one of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises overall, while Rocksmith was said to be “the fastest way to learn how to play the guitar” in a recent study.
Ubisoft unveiled new games in both franchises during its E3 press conference last month, and IGN had a chance to speak with Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key to discuss the strategy for Rocksmith moving forward, plus why Just Dance 2014 isn’t called Just Dance 5.
“When we first announced the original Rocksmith, it was really difficult for us to message around,” Key told IGN. “People had this paradigm in their head of a party game, like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. We were constantly fighting this battle and trying to explain ‘that’s really not who we are. We’re a game that teaches you how to play guitar.’ Until we were able to actually put that thing into people’s hands, we were never able to convince them. But when they finally got to use it, customer satisfaction was the highest that I’d ever seen on any Ubisoft product. People really learned how to play.”
At the end of the day, Rocksmith will be the fastest way to learn guitar. That’s what it is.
“Now, with Rocksmith 2014, we’ve been able to take a lot of feedback from those customers and a lot of confidence that we have something that people want and build on that,” Key continued. “We can add in the things we couldn’t do in the first Rocksmith. At the end of the day, Rocksmith will be the fastest way to learn guitar. That’s what it is. It’s a guitar learning game, and it works. But the Session Mode is really great. It’s not a video game, right? It’s a way for you to play music. The musicians actually follow along with you, playing anything you want to play. It’s not a licensed track or anything. Whatever you want to play. If you just want to play a blues riff, they will follow along with you better than any live musician you’ve ever met. It’s a real rush to be able to play and have a great band behind you. Any musician will tell you that it’s really hard to find good people to jam with. This is real fun, to be a beginner or intermediate guitar player and have these great musicians jamming with you. I think that Session Mode is going to go far beyond video games and become something that the music industry suddenly takes notice of.”
Key also told us that it was a strategic decision to use the title Rocksmith 2014 Edition rather than Rocksmith 2 for the new installment.
I think that Session Mode is going to go far beyond video games and become something that the music industry suddenly takes notice of.
“We didn’t want people to see Rocksmith 2 and think that they had to try Rocksmith 1 first,” Key explained. “At the end of the day, Rocksmith is a learning tool, so there’s a different strategic approach around learning software as opposed to a video game like Assassin’s Creed. Rocksmith 2014 is to show that this is the new edition. This is not the second step in guitar learning. Some people might interpret it that way. If you see Spanish 1 and then Spanish 2, you think that you need to learn Spanish 1 first.”
“It’s really unconventional,” he continued. “We look at that and we’ve had people say, ‘oh, when we tested the number versus the year, people were confused and thought they had to buy the first one.’ Actually, Rocksmith 2014 is designed to replace the original Rocksmith. People who already bought Rocksmith should buy this for a lot of reasons – it has 50 new songs, it has the Session Mode, it’s improved – but people who never bought it should buy this one too, because they don’t have to have tried the other one first to enjoy it.”
Similarly, Key said it was a conscious decision not to use the title Just Dance 5 for the new installment of that franchise, but rather to rebrand as Just Dance 2014.
“We’re approaching Just Dance branding like any sports franchise,” he said. “Just Dance represents all the best new music and the best new artists out there. By putting the year on it, it gives you a time frame. ‘Okay, this is all the best new music from the past year.’ For us, it’s in the place of the roster in a sports game. That’s why Just Dance is always relevant, because it always has the best new music in there. The year, for us, just made sense. Now you can place in time where that game is.”
Rocksmith 2014 Edition and Just Dance 2014 will hit stores in October.
Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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