Guillemot explains Ubisoft's apolitical political games

Ubisoft has found success producing games centered around contentious political subject matter that manage to avoid the backlash that might come from taking sides in a fight. The latest example of this was Far Cry 5, which received high marks from reviewers for its gameplay but criticism for its refusal to thoroughly engage with the political implications of its heavily armed religious cult in rural America.

While the publisher has taken some criticism for flirting with substantial issues while refusing to comment on them, CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed in an interview with The Guardian that is more or less by design.

"Our goal in all the games we create, is to make people think," Guillemot said. "We want to put them in front of questions that they don't always ask themselves automatically. We want players to listen to different opinions and to have their own opinions. Our goal is to give all the tools to the player in order for them to think about the subjects, to be able to see things from far enough away."

He added that as a player in these games, "you speak with people who have a different opinion from your own, you test different things, so you can improve your vision of that subject. That's what we want to do. We don't want to say, 'Do that, think like this ... ' our goal is to make sure, after playing, you're more aware."