Personally I wouldn't count on Ubisoft of making great leaps in innovation. There's always a chance, but I think big companies like that are much better at making money than putting out new ideas.
However a number of smaller studios have been showing practical examples of how to make innovative games and not lose money. It's to them we should look and support them the most, in hopes that the "big money" takes notice and perhaps throws in their promotional weight behind them!
The real problem with "hardcore" games is not their "hardcoreness" these days. It's a marketing issue. Small companies can't afford to publicize and advertise them extensively, big companies don't know how to do it properly (SH3/4 stand as a testament to that).
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There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers.
-Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)
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