Ubisoft’s Alain Corre, Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg, plus The Chinese Room & Sumo deal, headline MCV’s September issue

The annual insanity of Gamescom marks an end to the summer, but not a rest for the industry. Instead we’re winding up for the biggest quarter of the year. And this month we’re looking forward to that in the September issue of MCV – which you can read right now, for free, in your browser.

In this issue, we sit down with Ubisoft’s EMEA executive director Alain Corre to discuss Ubisoft’s new strategy to involve its communities early on in the development process, from Assassin’s Creed to Beyond Good & Evil 2, supported by the ongoing success of Rainbow Six Siege

Next up is Xbox’s GM of marketing Aaron Greenberg, who talks to us about a huge Q4, how Fortnite has grown gaming, why Game Pass benefits its partners and its outlook for all those newly acquired studios.

Back in Britain, work-for-hire giant Sumo has acquired indie darling The Chinese Room, we talk to them both about what appears an unlikely pairing, but one that should push The Chinese Room to "the next level".

In addition, Konami’s president of Digital Entertainment, Masami Saso, tells us that the company "still strongly believes in the appeal of console games".

Also this month, we also talk to Skybound, of The Walking Dead fame, about its new Games division and the power of retail, we play Metro Exodus and talk to its creators about how its more expansive but "not open world", EA tells us how FIFA 19 is its most accessible title to date, and we dive into Beyond Blue – the Blue Planet II-inspired game. 

We also take a look at motion this issue, chatting with mocap specialists Audiomotion, before also finding out how stop-motion game Harold Halibut was made. Finally our issue is rounded-off by upcoming Bafta Games Lecture speaker Siobhan Reddy, studio director at Media Molecule. 

The latest digital edition can be read here for free and here are the full contents of this month’s issue: