The Next Generation of Gaming Consoles

While it is laying the groundwork internally for the next generation, including hiring 1,300 new employees last year, Ubisoft says it plans to be in the thick of motion controlled games for all systems.

Guillemot says he expects as much as 80 percent of the company’s future family games (and the "Rayman" series) to utilize motion-sensor controls. That’s a significant investment in the technology.

For its core games, though, including "Splinter Cell" and "Assassin’s Creed," you're less likely to see motion controls broadly used.

"The current pad for gamers is giving them a lot," he says. "They play for hours, so they don't want to get up and down. They don’t want to be tired after five minutes. These games are about reactivity."

On the upside, he says Natal and Sony’s controllers will ultimately expand the action/core base by about 20 percent, which will help drive more sales.

While Ubisoft has grown into one of the industry’s largest game publishers over the past few years, there is a category it is notably absent from: Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games.

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It's not for lack of trying. The company tried hard to acquire MMO-specialist Cryptic Studios last year, only to lose a bidding war to Atari. Guillemot says he is still interested in buying a MMO-maker, but won’t rush into anything.

Ubisoft tried its luck making MMOs internally several years ago, but did not fare well. As the company considered making another run at the genre, it knew it needed to find an expert.

"We know it can be a disaster or a very profitable business," says Guillemot. "It's a part of the business we want to be in … but we have to find the best place to invest."

© 2012 CNBC.com

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