As if the situation with the current status of the American economy wasn’t bad enough, it just got about 5% worse. Why and how did this happen, you ask? Well, it was explained in an interview that GamesIndustry.biz did with the CEO of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, did with them recently. In the interview Guillemot stated that as far as Ubisoft is concerned Europe is by far a more profitable market for Ubisoft due to the fact that games are becoming more easier to acquire then they were in the past. As with most business-related concerns the reason for this upswing in Europe-a rise higher then 5% of the total US offerings-has to do with the money. Guillemot himself put it this way:

“First, our money - the pound or the Euro - is very strong and because of that the turnover from those countries is heavier than they used to be” which lead to the end result that “for Ubisoft turnover Europe is actually more important than the US now, and by more than 5 per cent. It’s become a very strong market for us.”

The money is only part of the story, however, as Guillemot also told GamesIndustry.biz that there was an interest among European consumes for games but until recently there was a difficulty in providing the supply that the high interest among European gamers had. Now, though, with the rise of economic power in Europe combined with the still-prevalent interest in gaming has allowed the gaming market in Europe, of which Ubisoft is a large part, to flourish. Here’s Guillemot again to explain the situation in his own words:

"I think there are lots of customers that want to play - because in Europe we love to play - the only problem we had was that the games were becoming more and more difficult to play. Now that there’s more accessibility, some accessories that are helping people to have fun, I think this market has no limit in the growth it can have if we can make sure that the people that are coming in are staying."

That’s not the only development that Ubisoft has to be happy about, however, as Guillemot also stated that its soon-to-be-released EndWar title is being created to increase the overall accessibility for games among the European community. EndWar is also being developed in order to provide not only a more widespread gaming experience, but a more novel one as well. Guillemot said that this refreshing of the gaming experience would take the shape of things like players being able to operate the game by only using their voice which are part of a greater trend in the industry that prizes a higher degree of interaction that has lead to the popularity of such games as Guitar Hero.

“A game like EndWar, for example, which you can control by voice - it’s totally changing the industry because it gives you the opportunity to command what’s happening, and to have a quick answer to the orders you give," he said. "And it’s the same for a lot of other games, like the party games you can play - the games with guitars are also helping things to increase the fun, and bring more people. Because when you have fun with your family on the game, you take them into more games with you."

It’s disappointing to hear that in the view of Ubisoft, one of the biggest game publishers and developers in the world, the American market is playing second fiddle to the European market. It doesn’t mean that the bottom will drop out and we’ll never get to play Ghostbusters, but it most likely does mean that the American game industry will have to work out new ways of making games that further develop the ground broken by Activision with Guitar Hero and Nintendo with its Wii.