GDC 08: Ubisoft Montreal CEO on Nintendo’s appreciation of casual titles

 As most of us know, Ubisoft is not all about AAA titles of Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed. In an interview at the Game Developers Conference 2008, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat stated that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata even gave the company a pat on the back by saying Ninty treats Ubisoft Montreal as an internal team. Check out the full article for more details.

Casual games on the Nintendo Wii and DS from Ubisoft come in healthy doses. According to Ubisoft Montreal‘s CEO Yannis Mallat, the platform holder even gave the video game development company the honor to be treated as an internal Nintendo team.

At the Game Developers Conference 2008, Yannis told GameDaily about one of its casual titles for Wii and DS called My Word Coach. According to him, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime was impressed after seeing the game before giving the green light for release. “You got it. You guys got exactly the type of game we want for this machine,” Fils-Aime reportedly said to Yannis.

Ubisoft Montreal’s head honcho also shared Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s words when the two gigantic companies met. “Alright, we are going to treat you as if you were an internal Nintendo team,” Yannis quoted Iwata.

What’s the Ubisoft’s secret behind making games on the Wii and DS that impresses Ninty? “There is a simple rule… especially with those games… they have to have a consumer benefit,” said Yannis. He continued, “because they are designed for people who were not used to playing games, they have to be accessible.”

Buy: [ My Word Coach (Wii) ]
Buy: [ My Word Coach (DS) ]