There’s no doubt that we’re in a new videogame conference landscape with the cancellation of E3, but one of the few constants looks to be Ubisoft’s press conference. Now titled Ubisoft Forward and taking place in July instead of June, Ubisoft Forward promises to give us a glimpse into the future games we’ll see from the publisher. It’s especially important this year, given the impending release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Next to nothing has been confirmed for the show, but there are certainly a few games that are near certainty to appear, while others are definitely going to continue to vanish into the ether after past announcements. Without further ado, here is what we believe you can expect from Ubisoft Forward:
E3 2019’s Trifecta
At E3 last year Ubisoft announced and showcased a trio of new games that they expected to release by March of 2020. After the lacklustre response (both critically and commercially) of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Ubisoft made the decision to delay all three games to the current financial year (April 1st 2020 through to March 31st 2021) to give them more time in the oven and avoid the same mistakes as Breakpoint. It stands to reason that the trio of Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine and Gods & Monsters (now likely under a new title) would likely show up at Ubisoft Forward. We’re running out of months of the year to show them off, and even if one or two of them get delayed into the middle months of 2021, now would still be the best time to get the ball rolling on early marketing.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Gets A Gameplay Demo
Seriously, did you expect Valhalla not to be shown off at Ubisoft Forward? Easily their biggest and most important game of 2020, Valhalla is an absolute shoe-in to be shown off at the conference. Unlike the meagre trailers and showings we’ve seen so far, I’d expect to see to a lengthy gameplay demo giving us a true glimpse into what the game is. Especially given we’ve just had 30 minutes of gameplay footage leak onto the internet.
Everything Is Coming to PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X
Ubisoft themselves have flagged the fact that the game delayed out of last year would take advantage of the power of the next gen consoles, so it makes sense that both consoles would be prevalent at the show. Given the focus on selling their games, there’s no doubt that Ubisoft will be using footage captured from those upcoming consoles (and probably PC) as a way to make their games look as good as possible during the showcase. Combine this with Ubisoft’s history of releasing cross-generation games like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch Dogs and it stands to reason that something similar will happen here.
Far Cry 6 Will Be Revealed And Is Set In South America
Rumours have been floating around for ages now that there’s a new Far Cry game in the works and scheduled to release early next year, so it stands to reason that Ubisoft would want to show it off here for the first time. Far Cry 6 is also the perfect showpiece for next-generation consoles, with the traditionally foliage rich open world environments perfect to showcase the near-zero load times and asset streaming capabilities of their SSDs. Where next for the franchise? Surely it’s South America, with it’s dense rainforest and cluttered cities being the perfect environment to further push the graphical prowess of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Skulls and Bones Is Nowhere To Be Seen
It’s been years now since Skulls and Bones was announced and we’ve seen nary a thing since then. Rumours of development trouble and the initially poor reception to Sea of Thieves likely scared Ubisoft to a degree, while the recent push for unique mechanics and selling points has likely put the development team back into ideas mode. I expect we won’t see the game for another year or two, if we ever do.
Hyper Scape Gets A Wider Release
Now, obviously Hyper Scape was announced last week with a technical alpha beginning immediately, however it’s still limited to only a few locations. I expect that we’ll get a glimpse of some more content coming to the game in the near future, as well as details on when we can expect the game to get a wider release.
Just Dance Is There
Of course it is. The series sells by the boatload and it’s at every Ubisoft press conference. Why would this one be any different?
Beyond Good And Evil 2 Is Now A PlayStation 5 Console Exclusive
Now, this one is probably my wildest claim. Following the announcement that Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo were now PlayStation 5 console exclusives, rumours came out that PlayStation had been aggressively pursuing AAA console exclusives and that some would potentially be revealed soon. Ubisoft have shown in the past that they’re more than happy to work exclusively with platform holders, and what better way to reduce the risk of Beyond Good & Evil 2 being a financial flop than by accepting a handout from PlayStation to make the game a timed exclusive on console?
One Weird Smaller Title
Ubisoft has a habit of throwing out one weird, interesting and innovative title as a way to keep their lineup varied and interesting. I honestly don’t know what it will be, but my money is on a new Rayman game or a sequel to Child of Light.
And that’s what we think you can expect from Ubisoft Forward when it happens next week. Obviously we might be completely wrong, but we won’t know that until the show occurs, so tune in at 5:00 AM AEST on July 13th to see.
