We’ve had a weekend of Summer Game Fest coverage and we’re still not done. This evening, it’s Ubisoft’s turn. The Ubisoft Forward main show begins at 8pm UK time, with a 30-minute pre-show beforehand, and we’ll be covering both live, right here, so you don’t miss a thing.
What to expect? Big showings for two major new games: Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. They’re both nearly upon us. Star Wars Outlaws arrives at the end of August, and AC Shadows in the autumn, so I’d expect extended gameplay showings tonight. We’ve seen montages of action from the games but what are they like in moment-to-moment play?
Beyond that, we’ll likely see more of the free-to-play Tom Clancy shooter xDefiant, which has only just been released, and probably something of Just Dance, because Just Dance is always there. But will we see anything of the elusive Beyond Good & Evil 2, or the troubled Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake? We can always hope.
Ubisoft Forward: Official Livestream – June 2024 | #UbiForward Watch on YouTube
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Key points
- 20:02 pm 06/10/2024 The show closes
- 19:46 pm 06/10/2024 Assassin's Creed: Shadows extended gameplay shown
- 19:39 pm 06/10/2024 Anno 117: Pax Romana announced
- 19:35 pm 06/10/2024 The Crew Motorfest getting new Maui island in season 5
- 19:33 pm 06/10/2024 Avatar DLC The Sky Breaker coming 16th July
- 19:30 pm 06/10/2024 PoP Sands of Time remake coming 2026
- 19:28 pm 06/10/2024 PoP Lost Crown story DLC Mask of Darkness coming September
- 19:27 pm 06/10/2024 Prince of Persia: Lost Crown free DLC available now
- 19:06 pm 06/10/2024 Star Wars Outlaws gameplay starts the show
- 18:59 pm 06/10/2024 The show begins
- 18:33 pm 06/10/2024 The pre-show begins
16:00 pm UTC
Good afternoon! We’re getting through it all now. Are you excited to see more of Ubisoft’s wares?
Robert Purchese 16:00 pm UTC
AmbientInclusion says: So, at the exact same time as Steam’s official broadcast for Next Fest? How nice of Ubisoft to make sure all these nasty indie games with their unique ideas won’t stand a chance to get any attention! There’s only one correct way to make games, and Ubisoft has been following it to the letter for decades!
D’oh!
Robert Purchese 18:24 pm UTC
Kami says: Hasn’t Beyond Good & Evil 2 overtaken the record for longest in development? It overtook Duke Nukem Forever. And that’s the only thing that made DNF interesting, it doesn’t even have that anymore! XD
Gosh I don’t know. I think DNF was 15 years. How long has this one been? I think I remember being at the Ubisoft event in Paris when it was announced.
Robert Purchese 18:25 pm UTC
Good evening. Here we are again. Ubisoft has always historically put on a good show. Let’s hope the same is true of this evening.
Robert Purchese 18:26 pm UTC
Anrkist says: All I want is a new Trials game, to make use of the instant load times of ssd storage. RIP Redlynx.
Ah, Trials! I remember visiting RedLynx before Ubisoft bought it. It was such a scruffy little place in Helsinki. That game was a firm favourite at Eurogamer!
Robert Purchese 18:29 pm UTC
Kami says: Just checked, it was announced E3 2008, so we’re at 16 years since BG&E2 announcement!
Wow! Crikey.
Ubidays! That’s what it was called. I think E3 was on hiatus that year so Ubisoft hired the Louvre – I kid you not – to hold an event in instead.
Robert Purchese 18:33 pm UTC
The pre-show begins
OK, the pre-show is going to be a load of old guff by the sounds of it. We’re having a look back on some incidental details from games that have already come out.
You know, I was going to joke that at least we weren’t going to hear about Skull & Bones during this conference, but now that’s not true. Any effort to get it in, Ubisoft will.
Is it any good? I’m still yet to play it.
Robert Purchese 18:33 pm UTC
Durrel Brown says: You know I do not like SGF as a replacement for E3 for one simple reason. Every time E3 came around then mainstream news paid attention to games for that one time a year. Since this switch to the summer game fest and these individual online things that doesn’t happen
Oh really? But then games are covered more thoroughly in mainstream press anyway these days, I think?
Robert Purchese 18:34 pm UTC
Hey Ubisoft, give us a… wave.
Sorry.
Robert Purchese 18:34 pm UTC
Kami says: Skull & Bones left a lot of people salty.
Haha – bravo!
Robert Purchese 18:36 pm UTC
Imagine being on the Ubisoft water team in Singapore. I mean, it’s really cool tech, but still.
I remember playing the first Rocksmith at an event in London years ago. Andy Farrant was there with Inside Xbox before he co-created Outside Xbox – that’s how long ago it was.
I had the best intentions to learn guitar and chart my progress. I didn’t.
Robert Purchese 18:38 pm UTC We’re seeing a maid in a hotel corridor now. This is an indie game by Ubisoft, which is interesting. This maid has been snooping through people’s things. There are dialogue options. Lowbirth Games is the developer.Oh! She’s been spotted. The faces are a bit wooden. She’s – Sophie Roy – uncovered some secrets. Now the police are involved! It’s in black and white in some places. There’s a detective board. There are puzzles. This looks quite interesting.This Bed We Made, it’s called. Oh, you can play it now on PC, PlayStation and Xbox! Robert Purchese 18:40 pm UTC
Just Dance now – consistently the best game ever. We’re seeing Just Dance VR, it’s coming 15th October. You can have an apartment in it, you can whack your furtniture while playing in it. Probably. I bet it gets sweaty in that headset.
Robert Purchese 18:41 pm UTC
Indie sizzle reel now – all games supported by Ubisoft.
This must be Monopoly of some kind, but it’s all very 3D. Oh, there’s the board. Monopoly VR maybe? It’s very first-person. Oh, it’s just Monopoly apparently. Coming September.
Robert Purchese 18:42 pm UTC
Kami says: Monopoly isn’t as much fun when you don’t have an egomaniac in charge of the bank.
Monopoly is a load of old rubbish all of the time.
Robert Purchese 18:43 pm UTC
I completely missed the name of this. King of the Hat! It’s out on Steam, a multiplayer brawler. Looks like a good Friday at Four game.
Bit of Rainbow 6 Siege now. I almost wrote “sieve” then; that’d be quite a different game, wouldn’t it?
“In Rainbow 6 Siege, there are always two teams…”
“In Rainbow 6 Sieve, there are always two outcomes…”
Robert Purchese 18:44 pm UTC
Kami says: Eh, I always appreciated being the Banker. Didn’t even really play. Just sat there and everyone buttered me up for loans with decent repayment schedules. And yes, arguments.
So are you perhaps suggesting you are the egomaniac?
Giggle.
Robert Purchese 18:46 pm UTC
Kami says: I Can’t Believe It’s Actually Tom Clancy!
I mean, I guess you’ve got people watching, why not re-promote some of your games? Siege has been great for years. Not my cup of tea, if you’re asking, but it seems to be very well regarded.
Love that the dramatic voice over talked about the Siege esports winners as “world wide icons”. Are they?
Robert Purchese 18:47 pm UTC
Ubisoft apparently hosts a very fancy screenshot competition each year and then has a swanky party in an art gallery for it.
Robert Purchese 18:49 pm UTC
Ooh another indie game, a stylish platformer staring a wombat or something like it. But they can change into other mechs and all kinds of other things. Looks like it plays well. It’s called Biomorph and it’s available on Steam.
Robert Purchese 18:49 pm UTC
So Star Wars Outlaws is going to kick off the show in 10 minutes apparently.
Robert Purchese 18:52 pm UTC
I wonder in what way Ubisoft supports these games? Clearly they’re helping advertise, but does it also help fund them? Or perhaps they’re incubated at one of the studios? Hmm, no, maybe not that.
We’re seeing a game where you roll around as metal balls here called Battlecore Arena. A free-to-play action shooter thing. Looks fun.
Robert Purchese 18:53 pm UTC
Is this For Honor now? I remember when that was one of Ubisoft’s stars of the show. Is anyone still playing? It was good once upon a time.
Robert Purchese 18:54 pm UTC
It looks like there’s a whole Japanese-themed addition coming to it. The Muramasa Blade. It’s a new season coming at the end of June.
Robert Purchese 18:56 pm UTC
Quick glimpse at Riders Republic, and people riding bikes in the snow – inadvisable. Far Cry 6 flashes by. Xdefiant flashes by – I haven’t played that yet. Skull and Bones again, and an influencer shrieking. Prince of Perisa: The Lost Crown – legit good. Is that PoP PvP? Trackmania now, and another ridiculously talented player absolutely fizzing through a track. My word. Rainbow Six Siege now and a team coordinating a smoke attack, although they’re actually throwing smoke at each other? I can’t keep up. They’re laughing though.
Robert Purchese 18:57 pm UTC
Assassin’s Creed Mirage on mobile devices there, complete with choppy frame-rate. Still, it’s an impressive accomplishment for mobile.
Robert Purchese 18:58 pm UTC
Ah, and finally The Division 2. There’s a new season coming tomorrow. They’re unlocking level 40 and all season one content for everyone apparently – I think that’s what he said. There’s a free-play week coming.
Robert Purchese 18:59 pm UTC
The show begins
Right! We’re nearly at the start line. Let’s go Star Wars!
Robert Purchese 19:02 pm UTC
Ooh it’s a live musical performance. There’s a small chamber orchestra and a solo guitarist.
I don’t recognise what they’re playing. Maybe it’s music from Star Wars Outlaws?
Now it’s more familiar – more Star Warsy!
Robert Purchese 19:02 pm UTC
The horns blair as we see some game footage on the screen behind. We’re getting a montage of sorts. It’s not Star Wars music though, but it’s very reminiscent of it.
The crowd cheers.
Robert Purchese 19:06 pm UTC
Star Wars Outlaws gameplay starts the show
Mathias Karlson, game director at Massive Entertainment, is going to talk us through the Star Wars Outlaws gameplay we’re seeing.
One of our motivations for exploring is to find elusive Experts scattered across the galaxy. We’re looking for a gunslinger to teach us some new tricks, so main character Kay Vess is going to go to the famed Mos Eisley Cantina to find them.
But we’re not there yet. We’re in a bit of a dive of a market – in the covered slums. It’s misty and literally shady.
Our ship, the Trailblazer, is apparently the last of its kind. The production values as we run on board are wonderful. It’s a sumptuos presentation. We press go and transition into aerial gameplay as we fly out of the hangar. The moment we do, we get a distress signal saying someone is under attack and they want our assistance, so we hop to it.