Raymond: Ubisoft's audience "expects perfection"

Ubisoft Toronto boss Jade Raymond believes gamers expect a faultless experience, and that developers must tackle more mature themes in the future.

When asked how game development has progressed, Raymond discussed the impossibilities of pleasing all consumers.

"One of the things I see that's different is that our audience expects perfection," she said.

"Before, there were only, say, two million people playing games - they were real fans and they were playing every game. They were willing to forgive bugs, and try things that weren't as much fun because they were different. Now, there are 30 million people buying and they only buy the top five. They expect perfection. I think that growing up with everything being so good, so easy to use, there are certain expectations."

"It's not very forgiving. It does limit innovation, because if something isn't working as you get towards shipping, you have to cut it or revert to back what you know does work."

Raymond, who was talking to OXM, continued by saying the industry must tackle more mature themes.

"I think we have to [embrace more mature themes]. Honestly, I think we are underestimating our audience - they're looking for something more. I mean, just based on the people I work with, the new generation of gamers want games to be about something else than just a context for killing 500 people within ten hours."