Ubisoft ready for HD console price cut
Guillemot wants boost for stagnant European sales; "The UK is declining quite fast," says CEO
Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft has said it expects a price cut on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this year.
Such a move would help revitalise a stagnant European market for boxed video games, said CEO Yves Guillemot, who noted that the UK is currently suffering from poor console game sales.
"The UK is declining quite fast," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "It's declining, if we don't take into account the digital revenue."
"This year they will continue to drop the price," said Guillemot of Sony and Microsoft, and that both will be feeling "pressure" from Nintendo's recent Wii price cut.
And with the first of a new wave of consoles hitting the market with the PlayStation Vita this year and Nintendo's Wii U next year, Guillemot is happy to embrace the costs and creativity associated with new hardware.
"I always like a new generation of consoles because it's really the best way for us to be more creative," he said. "It gives you lots of new ways to create.
"And also the gamers are more open to innovation when a new console is coming, they don't consider all the brands the same way, so they go after something completely new and they try it. When the machines have been there for a long time you can always improve and increase the quality, but you don't make revolutions in the way things are done."
A full interview with Yves Guillemot will go live on GamesIndustry.biz next week.