Ubisoft API (powered by Intel) – The game plays you now!

By Andy Thurai (Twitter: @AndyThurai)

[Original version of this blog appeared on Intel blogs here]

Remember the old days, when we used to play “graphical” games such as Tetris, and were amazed by them? Twenty years fast forward, Ubisoft is doing things to enrich the user experience in an amazing way. Gone are the days the games are given to you statically so the results are predictable if you play them in a certain way. Now, the real-time games (such as Assassin’s Creed ®) are adapting itself to every player to provide a unique and tailored gaming experience based on each individual player’s skill and play style.  This is the kind of experience Ubisoft wants to deliver to their vast customer base, which posed and interesting challenge.

[The most graphical modern game in the late 80s – Tetris]

As any teen can vouch for, gaming is moving from a console-based model to a device-based model (Console/PC/ Mobile/other devices). The games are not controlled by your keystrokes or game controllers anymore, but based on player movements as sensed by sensors such as cameras, body armor, gadgets, etc.

This change posed an interesting challenge to our recent customer Ubisoft. They needed to convert their existing legacy services into a cross-platform enabler to support the above and they also needed to build a new gaming platform for the future that will allow them to provide a richer, connected, and engaged user experience by providing a ubiquitous platform.