OPINION: Ubi’s drive and ambition

Just three weeks ago in this very magazine Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot predicted his firm could eventually topple EA and Activision as the leading third-party publisher.

These were not just hysterical words from a Frenchman feeding off the excitement of receiving our Grand Prix award. (Although he did tell us that ‘This is the best awards show in the world.’) He meant it.

So jumpstarting the Driver brand this week is the next step in that. Ubi has lacked a real driving game in its portfolio, and hopefully this is ‘its GTA’.

Whether the brand really can be another pillar in the Ubisoft empire remains to be seen – but it already has a lot going for it.

I don’t mean all the brand equity or nostalgia Ubisoft’s marketing team has uncovered through extensive research, but the fact that this game represents a return to form for one area of a Britsoft brand long abandoned as roadkill in the transition. We love an underdog story, and so far it’s looking like this one has plenty of life still in it.