Q: Ubisoft recently announced plans to move into movie and TV production. What was the thinking behind that decision? Why move into that different entertainment space?
Yves Guillemot: It's just because we think that our consumers are very interested by that, so we try to bring them what they expect. And what's really happening is the machines will be so powerful, are already so powerful, and will continue to evolve, so that we will be able to do linear content for a cost that is very low. So why not take that opportunity?
Q: You guys have 25 years of history in creating games, but not in creating movies and TV, is that a big risk?
Yves Guillemot: You know the TV business is an interesting business because everything is pre-sold before you start creating the project, so it's not that risky. And then you can, because its an industry where you can recruit people for a short time to come to you to help, you can quickly get the talent, the financing, it's a way to expand your brand without taking too much risk. It gives you the possibility to reuse the content for your games, so its really complementary to the games. And if you can have 20 per cent or 30 per cent of your content that is created for the TV series that you can reuse in your game it's a way to reduce the cost of the game or to do a better game.
Q: That's interesting because obviously we know AAA costs are incredibly high, what other kind of methods can you use to keep a handle on those development costs?
Yves Guillemot: The most important thing is to sell more, to have the chance to reach a larger audience. That's what we think is the best way to sell more. And to reach a larger audience if you have a TV series, and you have lots of other projects, or even if you go on a tablet or an iPhone they try your property there and they want to see more and get more into those universes. So you can take them to buy high end games.
Q: So do you think development costs will continue to rise?
Yves Guillemot: Yes. I think so, on the high definition formats, yes. So we just have to make sure we get more revenue and diversify.
Q: Going into movie and TV production, is that an admission that the AAA market isn't as profitable as it used to be?
Yves Guillemot: It has nothing to do with it. It's just we think that it's so easy to do, that it would be a shame not to try. The other thing which is important also is that when we do those movies or TV series, we take talent from that industry who are helping us to do a better job for the games. Really at the end of the day our goal is to make sure that we have better games with bigger worlds and universes and so on, and that we use all the many people around to achieve that goal.
