Two big budget mobile games were featured in the Ubisoft Forward showcase last week. One was an open-world MMO prequel to The Division series called Resurgence, and the other was an upcoming Assassin’s Creed set in third-century China called Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade. Ubisoft has dabbled in mobile many times over the years, but what makes both of these unique is that they seem to be full-featured games, on-par with the experiences you’d expect from their console equivalents. Ubisoft may finally be ready to get serious about mobile games, but I have to wonder if this kind of investment is already too late.
It’s always a good idea to be dubious of mobile games, unfortunately, but based on what I’ve seen from both of these games, Ubisoft seems to be turning over a new leaf. After the showcase, I got to spend some hands-on time with The Division Resurgence. After grouping up with a couple of other players, I explored the open-world map, ran a dungeon, customized my weapons, and spent skill points on upgrades for my character. Based on what I saw, Resurgence seems to be a legitimate game. It will have battle passes and seasonal content, and I’m sure plenty of in-game purchases, but if it’s secretly a Diablo Immortal-style slot machine disguised as a game, Ubisoft hid it well. If you’re a fan of The Division, Resurgence has everything you like, as well as a new story, specializations, and skills.
While I didn’t get to play Codename Jade, an Assassin’s Creed presentation I attended shed some light on what to expect from it. Ubisoft says this will be the first open-world game in the series built for iOS, and that it’s intended to be an authentic Assassin’s Creed experience. Players can expect a narrative-driven experience filled with stealth, parkour, and plenty of assassination techniques. We haven’t seen much yet, but Codename Jade is clearly a far cry from past mobile Assassin’s Creed offerings. Right now, the best you can get is Rebellion, a chibi-style character collector that’s more of a pit to throw your money into than a video game.
Related:If The Division Resurgence Is What It Seems, Ubisoft Should Be A Lot Louder About It
I don’t want to give Ubisoft too much credit before we really see what they’ve games are made of, but if the publisher truly is going legit, that could be a big deal for mobile. Over the years we’ve seen big budget ports and plenty of mobile adaptations, but no one in the triple-A space has ever been willing to treat mobile as a legitimate platform. Having some quality, non-predatory Ubisoft games on mobile could go a long way towards legitimizing mobile, and they’re success could entice other developers to bring more beloved series to the platform too.
The only problem is that it’s practically too late for a mobile renaissance at this point. With cloud gaming becoming more sophisticated and viable by the second, we’re almost at a point where we don’t need triple-A to make dedicated games for mobile. Pretty soon, any game can be a mobile game because it will be so easy to stream any game to your phone. Game Pass even has a selection of custom touch controls for a lot of its games that make the transition more seamless, and as cloud becomes more mainstream over the next couple years, we’ll see a lot more games that include mobile-centric features.
It would be one thing if Ubisoft’s mobile games were a single-player experience that you could download and play offline, but Resurgence is an always-online MMO. Some part of it will need to be installed on your phone, but it might as well be entirely streamed. I’m curious what Resurgence will add to the series, but I almost think it would have been better to adapt The Division 2 for mobile and invest in cloud compatibility for it.
Codename Jade seems to be a single-player game, and if it’s good it might be able to justify big budget offline games on mobile. I have no problem with native mobile games evolving alongside cloud streaming, but it does seem like a strange investment for Ubisoft to make, given how ‘forward-thinking’ the company has recently been with new tech (scams) like NFTs and the blockchain. Ubisoft recognizes the growing strength of cloud gaming too. It was one of Stadia’s biggest partners, and there’s more than 40 games you can stream through Luna with an Ubisoft+ subscription.
As Xbox and PlayStation begin to experiment withbuy once, play anywhere options, the line between mobile gaming and cloud gaming is going to get blurry. Ubisoft is making a big investment into mobile and aiming to be a trailblazer in a category that’s already rapidly changing. If the games are good then it’s not a bad plan, but at this point, it’s definitely a strange one.
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