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Ubisoft designing Nintendo Switch games with mobile play sessions in mind

Appealing to hardcore and casual gamers alike

Ubisoft designing Nintendo Switch games with mobile play sessions in mind

Ubisoft is designing its Nintendo Switch games with a mobile audience in mind when it comes to session lengths.

In an interview with Polygon, Xavier Poix, managing director of Ubisoft's French studios, spoke about how the studio is changing its design philosophy to accommodate the new hardware.

He touched on the new audience for the console, which merges casual handheld gamers with hardcore console gamers. The two groups are usually considered two extremes, but Ubisoft has had to design to appeal to both.

Best of both worlds

"We are thinking that if Nintendo’s philosophy is really to gather those two worlds, if adult players and console players could be the same community, then what's the best user journey of one player that would own the Switch?" he said.

"Not necessarily only with the Switch mind you, but we tried to consider this in the way our upcoming games are being designed. We thought about the time needed for a play session in this game to fit the experience of a handheld.

"When you are playing a game, an adult console game or mobile game for instance, you are spending less time than you then when you are at home in front of your TV for hours."

The Nintendo Switch was revealed in October 2016. Numerous big publishers, such as EA and THQ Nordic, have already started showing their support for the console.


Editor

Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.