Ubisoft, the developer of the “Assassin’s Creed” open-world action-adventure video game, will be ushering a ground-breaking feature for its upcoming video game “Assassin’s Creed Rogue.”
PC reports that the upcoming game will feature eye-tracking functionality which means that the game may no longer need a joystick on the console or a mouse on the PC as eye tracking would be sufficient.
Ubisoft has forged an agreement with hardware specialist Tobii to infuse the eye-tracking functionality into “Assassin’s Creed Rogue” using its so-called Tobii’s SteelSeries Sentry eye tracking hardware.
The eye-tracking hardware will be attached to the monitor in order for it to work.
Setting a precedent
The partnership between Ubisoft and Tobii is the first ever and it is unlikely that Tobii shall be supporting any other eye-tracking devices in the future. Nonetheless, if it proved to be successful and widely accepted by gamers, it shall most likely set a precedent in the international gaming community.
Corneliu Vasiliu, a producer at Ubisoft Kiev, states that eye tracking is such a natural way to interact with a game as well as creates tons of potential opportunities for gameplay immersion.
He also said that he is proud that it is Ubisoft who shall be integrating the technology first to its video game and also the first to implement eye tracking as a gameplay input in “Assassin’s Creed Rogue.” That would surely provide gamers with a new, complementary and certainly groundbreaking input to the keyboard and the mouse.
Vasiliu added that Ubisoft recognizes the power of eye tracking at an early phase so it spared no time in quickly working with Tobii to create a completely new way to experience a video game. He says that Ubisoft is extremely proud of its accomplishment for “Assassin’s Creed Rogue.”
An optional feature
Ubisoft however assured gamers of the “Assassin’s Creed Rogue” that the eye-tracking functionality of the video game is just an option for the time being and not a built-in feature just yet.
So if gamers find constant jerking of the head quite annoying to be able to get into the game world, they can always go back to using the mouse or joystick to scroll around the game world at any point.
The good thing about using eye-tracking is that when the gamer moves his eye from the video game screen, the game is automatically paused. So when a gamer is suddenly distracted from the game and looked elsewhere, he can be sure that he can come back to the game the way he last played it.
Tobii also announced that the first 5,000 gamers who shall purchase a SteelSeries Sentry eye-tracking hardware beginning February 5, will receive a free copy of the “Assassin’s Creed Rogue,” when Ubisoft officially rolls it out to the PC, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 this coming March. The eye-tracking device costs $200 and the video game is worth $60. So being the first to buy the device would mean a saving of $60.