150°

The Decline of Ubisoft

OnlySP: The past couple of years have been good for Ubisoft. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was received to both critical and commercial acclaim at the end of last year, and at the same time the hype for Watch Dogs was approaching the stratosphere, as well as for South Park: The Stick Of Truth. PC gamers were back on board after their ridiculous always-on DRM was canned. And last but not least: not one but two new Assassin’s Creed games were planned for 2014 – the series which was Ubisoft’s cash cow by a mile. A year later the wheels seem to be falling off somewhat… so what happened?

tinynuggins3455d ago

UBIsoft is doing just fine, our standards are just becoming higher and higher. Games have bugs, they've ALWAYS had bugs. As long as they fix them in a reasonable about of time just relax, the game isn't going anywhere. Saying Ubisoft is on the decline while they've never been stronger just seems silly and i'm not even a fan of WatchDogs or the assassins creed series.

nX3455d ago

My standards are fine, I love Binding Of Isaac or Shadow Of Mordor for example but AC:Unity is a boring mess - even on ultra settings. Watch Dogs was pretty much the same kind of disappointment - a shallow, buggy open world collectathon.

starchild3454d ago

Dude, give it a rest. You've been hating on Ubisoft and AC Unity for so long... way before the game was released. Don't act like you are some reasonable gamer just judging the game fairly and objectively for what it is. Unity definitely isn't perfect, but you are exaggerating the issues. It's clear you have an axe to grind.

martinezjesus19933454d ago

Wait? What does having it on ultra have anything to do with it being boring? Graphics make a game boring you say?

Rebel_Scum3454d ago

@tinynuggins
Surprised so many people disagree with you. I don't think its standards that are higher but the entitlement of gen-y/z. They want the world and they want it now but that is a product of the times.

When I was younger I had Rainbow Islands (Bubble Bobble 2) on the Master System 2 and that game had several bugs in the last part of the game that meant at different parts of the last few stages the game would crash so you could never finish it.

Back then you couldn't patch fix it so you just had to live with it. If that happened now there would be a raving internet witch hunt.

I think Ubisoft like any other company has its pros and cons. They are doing some interesting things by experimenting with smaller games like Blood Dragon, Child of Light, whatever that Chinese expansion for Assassins Creed Unity/Rogue I forget which one. To say they are in decline should really be re-worded to say they've made mistakes and merely point out what they are.

MSBAUSTX3454d ago

The sega master system didnt cost 400 bucks and bubble bobble didnt cost 60 bucks. If your idea is that just because something was accepted in the past so we should be happy with what we have now, then should we put up with not having the right to bare arms and give up our freedom of speech?

Perhaps we should just tolerate any type of political oppression because thats the way things used to be and we should be happy with what we have now. We havent always had those things and I guarantee you that you will not like giving them up.

The point is, however exaggerative that was, we should not just accept something just because it is somewhat better than what we used to have. We have paved the way for things to be better in this industry and if companies do not live up to our heightened standards then they do not deserve our business.

That is why American car companies are making much better vehicles now. It is because they were not making things the quality we expect them to and they started to loose tons of money for it. It is time for companies like Ubisoft to understand that times are tough and our money is hard earned.

If they want us to spend it on their games then they better start making games that are worth the investment. They better change their business practices to be more honest with their customers and they better start treating their partners, Nintendo especially, with respect instead of playing the blame game when their product fails.

Ubisoft has shown a steady trend of decline since AC3 and they have continued to decline in quality and integrity since then. So I would say it is a safe assumtion that they are declining and that we do not have to tolerate their low level of quality. That is regardless of how crappy things used to be in this industry 30 years ago. Regression is never an option. Not in this day and age. We have come too far in technology for anyone to expect someone to put up with the crap they shovel out.

Geekman3454d ago

Dude, optimistic statements about Ubisoft NEVER get agreed with on this site.

They could have literally saved a bus full of kids and they'd still get backlash.

Neo_Zeed3454d ago

Something is wrong with your lack of standards.

I have a low tolerance for lies and shit. Ubisoft has put out a ton of both lately.

OB1Biker3454d ago

They really screwed up lately but these sites of course spin it to get clicks and OnlySP got to find something to talk about

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3454d ago
ATi_Elite3455d ago

Ubisoft is dead and buried right next to PC Gaming.

Wow Ubisoft Doom and Gloom article, that didn't take long lol.

obz3454d ago

Yeah PC Gaming is definitely dead at over 100 million active users on steam alone and control of over 40% "more than consoles, phones, and tablets," quoted by Forbes.

Moron.

starchild3454d ago

It was sarcasm. He doesn't think PC gaming is dead, he is just ironically pointing out that Ubisoft is as dead as PC gaming--i.e. not at all.

Sketchy_Galore3455d ago

I've been waiting for this backlash since the unnecessary censorship of my EU copy of South Park: The stick of truth (yes it was unnecessary, many other games manage different versions for Germany specifically).

Yi-Long3455d ago

Same here. Was looking forward to South Park. Then they needlessly censored it, so as a result they didn't receive a single dime from me.

Ubisoft has really gone done the toilet, big time.

I loved the old early days, with Splinter Cell, Beyond Good and Evil, Prince of Persia, etc etc... but it's all about the Greed now...

lemoncake3454d ago

You missed out on a great game then, the censorship was very small and you could watch it on YouTube when you hit those few bits. South Park has been one of my favorite games this year.

Rebel_Scum3454d ago (Edited 3454d ago )

@Yi-Long
Its not the publisher or developer that decides what is censored. Te censorship comes from the respective regions classification board. To punish the developer for complying with a classification boards standards is pointless. You're fighting the wrong enemy there.

scark923455d ago

That is the one reason I do not own the game yet, I will get it for PC sometime since that version is uncensored but would of loved it on console.

Roccetarius3455d ago

Ubisoft's decline was only a short matter of time, right after they started with the annual releases of their games. They're right next to most other companies declining, so this is near industry wide.

scark923455d ago

The got soft... ;) I hope they start turning things around, I am worried for The Division and R6 Siege, though Far Cry 4 is ok since I know what to expect already..

Show all comments (36)
60°

Ubisoft's Recent Antics Have Me Fearful For The Sands of Time Remake

Hanzala from eXputer: "With Ubisoft's practices becoming increasingly anti-consumer lately, the destruction of The Sands of Time Remake looks almost inevitable."

thorstein13d ago (Edited 13d ago )

Hey Ubi, here's a gun, don't shoot yourself in the foot.

*Ubi takes gun, aims at foot, empties clip*

Chocoburger12d ago

At this point, only dummies have any hope left for Ubi-junk games.

50°

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just_looken32d ago

Man the industry just keeps on going with all this bs and to think this is ubisoft again remember what happened with that skull bones team same crap.
https://www.theverge.com/20...

This game will be tossed out broken unplolished with a bloated budget trying to be cod but will fail sense ubi can get there shit in order. If i was me i would have gotten rid of this boys club asap there is alot looking for work out there.

jznrpg32d ago (Edited 32d ago )

Every industry has these issues

Some companies I’ve worked for were great and some were toxic as hell (UPS when I was a teenager was extremely toxic and I have heard it still is) It all starts at the top. They either hold people accountable , set standards and treat people with respect or the crap rolls downhill.