Large Studios can Innovate and Take Risks says Ubisoft’s Raymond

Ubisoft Toronto president Jade Raymond has told GamesIndustry that developers don't need to be indies in order to innovate and takes risks.

Asked if there were tension between indie developers and large publishers at this year's GDC Raymond said "Well, no, because we've set our studio in Toronto which is known for its indie scene and they're the stars there. Moving into Toronto we wanted to make sure we were building an ecosystem with them, collaborating with them, integrating, getting to know the community that way and we want it to be perceived that way."

However, Raymond admitted that indie developers can have a sometimes perception of large studios "We're used to that sentiment. I've been having lunch with different guys in the indie community in Toronto and I think they assume by default that [because] you're working at a big company you don't care about innovating, you're churning things out or that the people at the top don't care about gamers or whatever.

"It's interesting because I think everyone who's in games is trying to innovate and has ideas. Of course, you can never think of yourself as being the corporate person. So it was interesting for me to meet with those guys, hear that that was their perception but that they were really excited to meet us and find out that that's not the reality. We all care about games and are different in our way," she added.

"You can take different kinds of risks but I don't know if you're taking 'bigger' risks," she informed GamesIndustry. "There's certain types of innovation that can be driven at big studios where you have more resources, so I think we each have our role to play in moving the industry onwards." 

Ubisoft Toronto employs 300 developers and are currently at work on Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Raymond has previously revealed that the studio is also at work on an un-announced Assassin's Creed project. She has also said developers don't need next generation consoles in order to innovate.