5/3/24-

Ubisoft- Just Dance: family and social game, it is also a casual game- you aren't going to spend hours perfecting the game. 

Having a completely different audience to Assassins Creed allows them to reach a wider audience.

Mario and the Rabbits: Nintendo allowed Ubisoft to use the Mario chararcter, due to their power and trusted with the big game.

Hungry shark: smaller casual phone games

Avatar Games: Ubisoft are allowed to create games for Avatar as they are a huge, financially successful cooperation. 

Key theory 14- David Hesmondhalgh- Media industries seek to minimise risk and maximise profit. 

Ubisoft- appeal to a wider audience by having many different games with different target audiences to minimise the risk and maximise the profit. 

Ubisoft- allegations of sexual misconduct and working conditions

A number if sexual assault allegations have been made against Ubisoft in recent years, in a number of countries. Additionally there have been a number of allegations of terrible working conditions at Ubisoft, with developers being expected to work significant hours of overtime. A male dominated industry based on strict hierarchies of power can facilitate abusive relationships and practices. The head of the editorial department has been accused of drugging workmates. 

Diversification and vertical integration

Ubisoft made this film to reach a wider audience and reach a new audience of people who don't play video games.

What stops video game films from being financially successful?

A video game is long and can take a lot of time to complete (around 40 hours) you have a lot of time to explore the narrative so the film will show a rushed and a watered down version of the narrative so it wont appeal as much to every audience. Additionally, it is not interactive like a video game and can be confusing to the audience. 

Even though the film didn't meet financial expectations Ubisoft wasn't too affected as it has a lot of money- additionally the film is still available on streaming services and still making money, slow tailing film. 

Key theory 12- Curran and Seaton- power and media industries.

• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power.
• Media concentration limits variety creativity and quality. 
• More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varied and adventurous media products. 

One of the big selling points of Assassins Creed is that they are long and good.- This meant people were still playing the old games and not buying the new ones that were being released.

Stagnation- a state where something stays the same and doesn't change.

Assassins Creed Valhalla (2020) was meant to be different from the rest of the games and was more open world. - Didn't meet sales expectations, fans responded badly and said it is too different.

This lead them to have to rethink their decision and return to where they started. 

Assassins Creed Mirage (2023) Looks like an Assassins Creed games, The setting of the game looks similar to the film Aladdin (intertextuality). Ubisoft are going back to basics- back to the elements that made the previous games successful, sneaking around. 

This game is targeting fans, need previous knowledge of the game. The game also targets people who already play lots of games due to it being a shorter game allowing gamers time to play other games. The game is still high quality.  

  

Content warnings- Allows the audience to decide if they want to play the game or not, Self regulation. 

PEGI (Pan European Game Information)- organisation that regulates video games.