Ubisoft: Copycat Wii titles ‘drown before existing’

Ubisoft executive director Alain Corre has said that Wii titles made simply to copy other Wii titles have no chance of success, something quite ironic considering the fact that Ubisoft’s very own fitness game is coming out. Oh wait, Your Shape is apparently different, so that’s okay.

“The Wii market still has huge potential you just need to find the right angle and be different enough and innovative enough to please people, ” argues Corre. “There are hundreds of games and if yours is a ‘me too’ title it will drown before even existing.

If you can surprise the consumers, if you can innovate and bring something new and fresh then you have huge opportunities. We’re trying to do that and we have a lot of hope with our fitness game Your Shape. For the first time we’ll be able to offer a camera with the package and players won’t need a controller in their hand. The possibility is to open up interactive entertainment to a new population who have previously been afraid of any controllers.”

I’m torn between agreeing and disagreeing with Corre. I think the market has proven that many “me too” forms of entertainment can sustain. You need only look at the proliferation of “Judge [Random Name Here]” TV shows out there. I think any game based around fitness will sell to a self-concious Western audience, regardless of how innovative it is, but it’s also true that a fair few copycat games have gone the way of the dodo before. We’ll just have to wait and see how many fitness games people can take before they get bored of the fad.