In two months we will learn all about Ubisoft’s plans for their games in 2018 and beyond during their E3 2018 press conference. However we already know quite a lot about what’s in store for the publisher. Though it probably won’t compare with last year’s conference, Ubisoft could have another strong showing at E3 this year.
Will we get more Beyond Good & Evil 2? Will there be any big surprises? Will there be yet another random, silly dance sequence? All that and more will be answered in this in-depth article on Ubisoft E3 2018.
Now this article is mostly speculative as far as Ubisoft’s E3 plans will be as a whole but we did a lot of homework on the company’s history, games, and news and narrowed down the most likely appearances. We’ll be sure to update the article if we learn of any new information.
The Division 2
UbisoftThe Division
Ubisoft has already confirmed that The Division 2 will be making an appearance at E3 2018. We can expect a cinematic trailer divulging some story details but the game may be too early in development to show off gameplay just yet.
The game was announced earlier than planned back in March. Julian Gerighty, the creative director of Massive Entertainment, said that the team always thought of 2016’s The Division as only the beginning of a much larger story. He also said that the game will run on an updated version of the Snowdrop Engine and incorporate everything they’ve learned from updating the last game. He also said that the development team will once again collaborate with Ubisoft Reflections, Red Storm Entertainment, and Ubisoft Annecy while bringing aboard Ubisoft Shanghai and Ubisoft Bucharest. The team will add a new type of achievement called “Shields” to the first Division which will grant you special rewards to players in the sequel.
However, the development team promised to continue updating the first Division with regular content updates even with the release of the sequel, starting with the 1.8.1 update which added an Xbox One X patch, two new Legendary modes and a new Global Event known as Blackout. So Ubisoft’s E3 presentation may devote some time to talk about these updates in more detail as well as how exactly Shields will work.
Ubisoft hasn’t been subtle about its plans for “live services” with their games being continuously updated throughout the year to keep players invested and spending money on microtransactions. Expect that to be a recurring theme throughout its E3 2018 press conference.
Beyond Good & Evil 2
The reveal of Beyond Good & Evil 2 was one of the biggest surprises of 2017. What was once thought of as vaporware became a reality in pretty much an instant, although we weren’t quite expecting Ubisoft to go with the open-world, mature-rated direction they went with instead of the smaller, more linear but tightly scripted direction of the first game.
While we would get an in-engine demo of the game to show off the massive scope of the world as well as some space ship piloting, not much else is known about the game. According to Ubisoft’s website, the game will let you play by yourself or with friends in a huge online playground. The game will also feature a customizable protagonist, according to DualShockers.
Since the game is still in early development, we may not get much more information about it this year. At best we’ll get a reminder that the project still exists and we may even get another cinematic trailer to get people excited. But don’t hold your breath for anything too mind-blowing.
Watch Dogs 3
UbisoftWatch Dogs 2
While Ubisoft has made no mention of a third entry in the Watch Dogs franchise in their official channels, they have been giving a few sly hints. We’ve already written a thorough article on these antics and what they could mean for a potential Watch Dogs 3, but we’ll give you the Cliffnotes for our purposes here.
A February 2017 patch to Watch Dogs 2 included an extended ending cutscene hinting at a sequel as well as a possible location of London, England. Then the Uplay Client let players access a command prompt for fun effects as part of an April Fool’s joke. Then a few days later the Watch Dogs Twitter account tweeted “this is everything” before quickly deleting the post.
If Ubisoft were to announce Watch Dogs 3 this year, they probably would reveal it about a week or so before their E3 press conference and then show off some gameplay at the conference itself just like they did with Watch Dogs 2 and other games. Of course, it’s possible that they would just drop it out of nowhere during E3, as was the case with Skull and Bones and Beyond Good and Evil 2.
As for what will be shown with a reveal, we can expect a confirmation on the location of the game as well as any details on new mechanics such as new ways to hack things and sneak around guards. We could also get details on regular content updates and events for the online multiplayer component the series had since day one.
Skull & Bones
Ubisoft
Ubisoft’s answer to Microsoft’s Sea of Thieves was announced at E3 2017 but the publisher has been pretty quiet on the project since then.
We do know from a gameplay trailer that Skull & Bones promises a shared open world that reacts to your actions along with both solo and co-op gameplay. The game also has competitive multiplayer in a variety of game modes with player vessels battling each other in naval combat similar to that seen in the Assassin’s Creed series. You can also customize your captain, crew, and ships.
The release period has already been confirmed for Fall 2018, so we’ll most likely get a concrete release date during E3 2018. Since this is yet another online multiplayer game, we can also expect Ubisoft to divulge plans about content updates and events.
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
Ubisoft
Like Skull & Bones, Starlink: Battle for Atlas was announced at E3 2017 but has stayed relatively quiet since then. However we already know from Ubisoft themselves what the game will be like and that it’s releasing sometime in Fall 2018.
The game uses physical, Skylanders-like Starship models that you mount onto your game controller for playing in the game world. The ships’ parts can be mixed and matched on the fly for different play styles and changes instantly appear in the game. Players travel through an open, living star system with seven planets to explore.
We’ll most likely get a concrete release date for the game as well as prices for the physical space ships. If that happens, then you can bet your bottom dollar that a pre-order announcement will accompany it so you can lose that bottom dollar as you rush to buy it before it’s sold out or buy it for insanely jacked up prices on eBay.
The Crew 2
Ubisoft
The Crew 2 is steadily approaching its June 29, 2018 release date, so there’s plenty of information about the game out already. We already know from Ubisoft that we’ll be traveling and racing around the United States in a variety of popular cars, planes, boats, and more.
So if it makes an appearance during E3 at all, it would just be to remind people of the game’s existence. The dates for the beta haven’t been announced yet so maybe we’ll learn about that as well.
Just Dance 2019
The Just Dance franchise has seen annual releases since its debut in 2009, so we can expect an announcement for a Just Dance 2019 at Ubisoft’s press conference along with a zany, over-the-top dance performance to accompany it like they’ve had at conferences since 2016. We’ll probably get some info on what songs are coming to the game this time as well.
DLC for Far Cry 5
Ubisoft
Far Cry 5 has three different campaigns lined up in its season pass all inspired by popular 80s action and horror movies. Hours of Darkness will drop you into the middle of Vietnam as you rescue your comrades and fight off the Vietcong. Lost on Mars takes you across the red planet while mowing down aliens with Sci-Fi weaponry. Dead Living Zombies has you and a friend fending off waves of zombies in seven B-Movie scenarios.
We’ll likely get a release date for the first DLC campaign coming to the game, Hours of Darkness, at this year’s E3 conference as well as some more info on the other two campaigns. We also might get some more details on Far Cry 5’s free post-launch content like its live events. We know we want more weapons added to the game as opposed to slightly upgraded versions of the same weapons over and over again or overpriced weapon skins masquerading as new weapons.
Ubisoft’s coming conference looks to be more of the same. We’ll get some new surprises we didn’t see coming but for the most part it’s going to be stuff we’ve known about for nearly a year. That being said it will still be interesting to see what the publisher has in store for us for 2018 and beyond.
What do you think of our predictions? What games are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comment section below.
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