Ubisoft E3 2019 Press Event Recap

Ubisoft held their annual E3 Press conference on Monday. Being one of the bigger shows each year, they were able to reveal a fair amount of new titles and content updates for existing games.

If you missed the event, no worries; we made sure to add it to the site for your viewing pleasure. That said, we have highlighted the juicer tidbits below.

Ubisoft started their press conference with a live Assassin’s Creed symphony. It was a nice little performance, especially for fans of the series. The announcement of the Assassin’s Creed symphony tour was the only major Assassin’s Creed related news this year (sans the Odyssey story creator released earlier this week). Ubisoft has since moved away from their yearly release schedule, allowing for other franchises the space to shine. One of which was the popular Watch Dog series.

Fans weren’t surprised to see Watch Dogs: Legion (thanks to it being leaked before the conference). That doesn’t mean that the game didn’t garner some hype; the multiple trailers showcasing some interesting gameplay mechanics was met with cheers. In Legion, claims that you’ll be able to recruit any NPC to your cause – that being the dismantle of the corrupt private military corporation controlling London – by completing their personal missions. Once done, you’ll then be able to play as them, utilizing their unique talents for the greater good.

This is sort of reminiscent of GTA V. In that game, players were able to switch between three protagonists in real time. Legion significantly ups the ante by allowing players to control any and everyone walking around London. That is, if the mechanic works as intended.

If Ubisoft is able to pull this off, it would be really something. Not only would give players the freedom to approach challenges in different ways, but it’ll also allow for roguelike elements. If a character is killed, for instance, they are no longer a part of the story; they’re permanently removed from the game. The result is an open world game where your choices have real consequences.

Watch Dogs: Legion wasn’t the only “sequel” being shown off. Ubisoft also shared new trailers for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. This was done with the help of Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, The Walking Dead) who spoke about the game briefly before transitioning to the second trailer. Unfortunately, they didn’t show any gameplay. It’s possible that they just had the one demo from game reveal a month ago. Ubisoft did make it a point to announce the return of AI teammates and confirmed post-launch content/free updates though.

Next up was an interesting mobile game called Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad, Just Dance 2020, and Rainbow Six Quarantine – a new FPS built from Rainbow Six Siege. Elite Squad is a Crossover strategy game featuring characters from various Tom Clancy titles; the trailer showed a team consisting of Rainbow Six Siege Operators and Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher. Just Dance was…well, Just Dance. Quarantine seemed cool. For the first time in years, we’ll have a Rainbow Six game that focuses on co-op and not competition.

Ubisoft would eventually show off some new IPs in Roller Champions and Gods & Monsters. Roller Champions is a skill-based sports game that seemingly combines Roller Derby, Basketball and Soccer. Although we were only shown a cinematic trailer, it looked like it’ll be a fun game. We’ll have to check the demo (available for download on Uplay until June 14th) to really get a feel for things. Gods & Monsters’ trailer was also just a teaser. That said, the art style was something I found intriguing. It’s being developed by the same team that worked on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. So essentially, it’s worth keeping an eye out for.

Aside from the new IPs and sequels, Ubisoft made sure to talk about the new content coming to their currently available games. A new season is coming to Rainbow Six, Adventure Time characters – Jake, Finn, and Princess Bubblegum – along with a new stage and game mode were added to Brawhalla, and For Honor is getting a limited timed event. The Division 2 will also be seeing a ton of new content throughout the year. We’re talking new areas to explore, new story content and a second raid in November.

The last two major announcements were for a new Apple TV exclusive series and a subscription service, both named Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet and Uplay+, respectfully. I’m not a fan of these types of announcements at E3. That said, I’m a fan of Rob McElhenney (Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Which means I’m going to at least give the show a chance. Uplay+, on the other hand, is similar to EA Access. For $15.99/month, subscribers on PC will get early access to new games and the ability to play over 100 older titles when it launches this September. There was a trailer to show off the service and reveal Uplay+ presence on Stadia – Google’s streaming gaming service.

And there you have it. Not a bad show. One of the things I can applaud Ubisoft for is having some sort of release date/window or a beta for everything (with the exception of Gods & Monsters). Overall, it was one of the better press conferences I saw this week.