Ubisoft and Gearbox Software Disagree On When New IPs Should Be Released

Yves Guillemot says " launch new IP early", Randy Pitchford says "whenever". Who is right?

New IPs are scary. They're unfamiliar and different. People fear change. That's probably why The Last of Us got very little public attention until E3 this year when everyone saw it running at Sony's press conference and suddenly got excited about 'the new game from the creators of Uncharted'. Even though we'd been showing you and showing you for months already before E3. But while new IPs are undoubtedly hard to get people excited about (even from a studio as amazing as Naughty Dog), is it possible there's a science to releasing them at a specific time in a console's lifespan?

[Dms2012]

I agree with Pitchford, get new IPs out whenever you can.

[BrutallyBlunt]

I agree 100%. Telling people that the long console cycle is hurting their ability to create new IP's is laughable. Sure if you plan on making a game like Mass Effect knowing it's going to be a triology from the start then you may be better off near the beginning of the cycle. But even new IP's that might have sequels after that carry over to new hardware can still be made now and his example of God of War shows that.

A good IP can sell at any time, same with a bad new IP.

[ChunkyLover53]

Makes more sense to launch a new IP at the start of a generation. That way if its a series, you can have the time to finish it up or at least complete a compelling story arc. Look at Mass Effect for example, or Uncharted. Those all were so much better for having started at the beginning of the generation, we actually got to finish those trilogies.

[Hicken]

So you'll ignore Halo and God of War, whose trilogies started last generation? God of War is a TRUE prime example, as its games were released QUITE late in the life of the PS2.

And assuming you make an IP worth buying LATE in the gen, people will want to buy the new system to get the next installment(if it's a series). Sort of an example is Halo: the new Reclaimer trilogy is starting on the 360, and continuing on the Nextbox, which will ensure that people will buy that system to continue the story. inFamous is another good example: people love the series, and I don't doubt that, should there be inFamous 3 announced for the PS4, people will want that system to play it.

That's not to say that launching new IPs earlier in the gen is bad. But then you ONLY look at series, and not one-off games, nor do you look at- as mentioned above- God of War, which saw an amazing third entry.

Whatever. You rarely make sense. And, as I said before, soon as your bubbles started dropping, your true colors came out.

[KingItachi]

I agree with Pitchford.

[AO1JMM]

Both?

[jaymart2k]

Real reason why UBISoft wants new IPs early is so they can milk the series year after year. Yes I'm looking at you Assassin's Creed.

[MostJadedGamer]

Well thats the point. If you going to take a huge risk making a big budget IP you better get a huge reward.

Otherwise nobody would even bother making big budgets IP's. Because most of them fail so when you do get lucky, and get a hit you had better be able to get a HUGE profit on it to make up for the ones that fail.