Ubisoft has revealed today that it will be bringing Tetris to next-gen (now current-gen) consoles. I was about to follow that sentence with a positive interjection and an exclamation mark, but when I think about it I’m really only mildly excited. I think a half-hearted “yay” will probably do.
To be fair, Tetris is a timeless design, and if Ubisoft can get creative with how it spruces things up for Xbox One and PS4, I’ll certainly consider a new Tetris proposition. 2014 is the game’s 30th anniversary, after all – one would hope the French publisher has something special up its sleeve to celebrate. Unfortunately, the street cred Ubisoft chose to flaunt in its Tetris press release is a bit puzzling.
Ubisoft draws from experience in creating memorable experiences for casual gamers with licenses such as The Smurfs™ and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World™, as well as the recent announcement of a partnership with Hasbro.
The Smurfs, huh? Sheesh. Scott Pilgrim was a well-received experience, though, and if Ubisoft applies itself in a similar manner for the new Tetris, the results may surprise us. To be honest, a substantially improved-upon Tetris Evolution with new modes, shiny graphics, and danceable music remixes would probably render thousands of gamers happy to oblige.
The Tetris Company’s Henk Rogers says he’s confident that Ubisoft will develop “one of the best versions of the Tetris game ever,” so at least there’s some good chemistry happening.
There’s no release date for Tetris yet, but we’ll be sure to post an update if and when that changes.