"You're only as good as your last product" - Ubisoft
Laurent Detoc comments on follow up to Assassin's Creed and leaving time between sequels
Ubisoft's president of North America, Laurent Detoc, has outlined the publisher's strategy of maintaining brand purity by leaving time between sequels and drumming up anticipation.
Speaking to Forbes, Detoc suggested that the company had learnt from the lacklustre sales of the two sequels to Price of Persia: Sands of Time, which is why the company waited three years to for the latest franchise reboot and isn't rushing out a sequel to Assassin's Creed.
"As we get bigger, we can give it more breathing room," Detoc explained. "When we bring it back, there will be more anticipation for it."
Detoc went on to say that despite the company's recent success, with net income more than doubling to USD 170 million in 2008 from USD 63 million in 2007, Ubisoft wasn't complacent.
"We just did Assassin's and are sitting on top of the world, but we have to come back to reality very quickly because you're only as good as your last product," he says. "Don't drink the Kool-Aid too much; we're going have to defend our position."
The publisher's latest title, the highly publicised Price of Persia, debuted on the UK software sales chart at the disappointing position of 30.