Feature: 'Ubisoft's Mallat On The Future Of Digital Entertainment'

In this latest exclusive Gamasutra interview, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat speaks to the company's recent foray into digital movies, as he reveals the full plans for the Montreal-based Ubisoft Digital Arts, beginning with a CGI short based on the upcoming Assassin's Creed. In this excerpt, Mallat explains the overarching plans for the new digital arts studio, which was opened in February, and is focused on producing short films based on Ubisoft brands: ”We are at an edge in the industry right now. We truly are entering some very interesting times. First, we're going to need to stop talking about 'next-gen machines'. They're actually now current-gen machines [that are available right now]. The real next-gen machines will bring incredible possibilities and capabilities, and we think that we ourselves are in a position to define what will be the next electronic entertainment product. For this product, we have a vision of convergence. We think that crossing the processes, sharing the tools, and having [different groups of] people working on the same kind of product will make this happen. As we know quite well how to make video games, now is the time for us to take it to the next level in terms of CG products. This is what we are doing with the creation of Ubisoft Digital Arts Studio. It's going to be a product where real-time will meld with prerendered, and it will merge into one thing that we are about to shape thanks to the capabilities of the next-gen machines coming soon.” You can now read the complete interview, which includes more from Mallat on the convergence of film and video game development, a marriage that according to the executive fits well within Ubisoft's role as an “entertainment content provider” (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).