Assassin’s Creed Shadows

[Maryokutai]

Or maybe this is just in a very poor state. The last AC that was exclusively built for then-new consoles and got pushed out at the end of the year was Unity, and I think we all remember how that went.

 

I kind of expect Ghost of Yótai to come out late summer/early fall next year, so they can't afford too big of a delay I think. AC might be the more well-known IP in the mainstream but I expect Sony fans veering towards the other game. I certainly would if I had a PS5.

[Maf]

It sounds like the Gamergate 2 crowd are winning, at least at Ubisoft

 

Here are 2 related stories. Firstly an internal memo to Ubisoft staff. I think this paragraph says a lot

https://insider-gaming.com/yves-guillemots-internal-memo-to-staff/

 

Quote

Lastly, I’d like to address the recent polarized coverage around our creative choices. We are an entertainment company. As such, our objective is not to endorse any specific agenda. Our mission has always been to entertain players and enrich their lives with original and memorable experiences, that resonate with a global audience.

I think we are going to see a lot of straight, white guys being the main character in Ubisoft going forward

 

Also Ubisoft is once again investigating itself 

https://insider-gaming.com/ubisoft-investigation/

 

I know this is the AC thread but Star Wars Outlaws underperformed, Xdefiant (don’t even know what it is) almost died post-launch, and their stock price recently hit a 10 year low

 

Quote

Speaking with current and former Ubisoft employees, I am told that the move was inevitable and “the writing was on the wall,” as many Ubisoft studios have been struggling due to poor management. While I have reported on some of these issues in the past, Insider Gaming will have a more in-depth report in the coming days or weeks.

Damn, man. 
 

Ubisoft do good work. Prince of Persia Lost Crown was great, the Mario and Rabbids games were great, and AC Shadows looks really cool to me. Don’t know what’s going on over there, but sounds like shit is hitting the fan big time 

[HandsomeDead]

God, ubisoft are so lame.  How long has the criticism of their games been they're formulaic?  I'm sure that's more to do with a slow constant dropoff.  And Star Wars has been similarly mismanaged so it's not a brand that necessarily means returns.

 

And what agenda? their games are already toothless (another ongoing criticism is they play with political aesthetics but never say anything; nothing gripping, no interestingly motivated conflict just violent Saturday morning cartoons).  But of course we know what they actually mean by "agenda".

 

I'm just really tired of a lack of interest in real solutions for these games, but no, it's because of woke because the stupidest, most boring blokes said so.

 

[Maryokutai]

The last time they said anything political was with Beyond Good & Evil, which also featured a strong woman protagonist, which also is now widely considered a cult classic and one of the best games they ever released.

 

This twitter echo chamber of mentally disturbed manchildren is just a tiny bunch of losers that has zero impact on the success of a mainstream property. I don't quite see why AC should be afraid of them. At best they lose a couple of thousand sales but that will easily be offset by some whales buying every possible microtransaction on offer.

 

But I think their productions are just way too big at this point. I remember a decade or so ago other publishers envied UbiSoft for having this around-the-clock workforce with 1000 people across the globe working on AC at the same time. I doubt anyone is still thinking that and I don't think it's coincidence that their best releases in recent years have come out of UbiSoft Montpellier instead.

[one-armed dwarf]

I wonder why they're so rattled by the anti-woke stuff. I have to admit I've been ignoring this game entirely cause the discourse around it is so fucking annoying, but it seems panicky by them to even address it here. 

[Sly Reflex]

Honestly, let them bleed. Let all of the companies with shitty practices, awful work environments and terrible games take unmitigated losses.

 

Someone needs to sit these clowns down and do a game by game release of what they have output over the years so they can study why they got where they are now, and study specifically where people got absolutely sick of their shit. It's not just one factor, it's an accumulation of shit design, poor choices, stagnant ideas and outright rampant greed that fucked them (Ubi). And they fully deserve it.

 

I think as well out of the bigger houses, Ubi are the least cushioned for this. Not only are their games formulaic as fuck, but they don't have big licensed sports titles to ride out any rough terrain. I can only hope that the bumpy right they go through shakes some fucking sense into them.

[one-armed dwarf]

The thing is, they know all that stuff already Sly. They haven't been making their games while wearing ear plugs, they know that the ubisoft formula is a meme people say about their games

 

I mentioned this before, but people should pick up Avatar on sale. It has an 'explorer' mode which provides descriptions of areas to visit rather than waypoints, like you're playing Morrowind or something but with awesome parkour and visuals. That's the game where I realised that they were actually listening to the criticism and trying to adapt. It doesn't go as far as I'd like but all of the things you mention about addressing criticism in their game design, they are clearly doing them. It's just stating the uber obvious at this point

[Sly Reflex]

And while we're on the topic of bending the knee to the alt right, I couldn't give a fuck if the character I play is a transgender albino black gay wheelchair user that weighs 300kg. All I care about is that the game is good. That's it. I don't understand why this is so hard for people to get their heads around.

[Maf]

It seems like they’re even getting a lot of backlash from the Japanese audience, which is giving more strength to racists because they can point to Japan and say “See, even the people from there hate it”

 

Judging by their games underperforming, and Assassin’s Creed being their most popular series, they really need this to hit. 
 

Just my luck the first Assassin’s Creed game I think looks cool in 6 years is the game getting the most flack and delays 

[Sly Reflex]

3 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

The thing is, they know all that stuff already Sly. They haven't been making their games while wearing ear plugs, they know that the ubisoft formula is a meme people say about their games

 

I mentioned this before, but people should pick up Avatar on sale. That's the game where I realised that they were actually listening to the criticism and trying to adapt. It doesn't go as far as I'd like but all of the things you mention about addressing criticism in their game design, they are clearly doing them. It's just stating the uber obvious at this point

 

The statement they put out means nothing really. Until the practices change then it's the same old same old.

 

Also how long have people begged for more Splinter Cell? Or how about releasing another Driver? Call of Juarez? It's been over 10 years since Rayman had an outing where he wasn't a cameo? XIII?

 

There's probably more, but all we seem to get is Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy stuff, Far Cry and Just Dance.

[Maryokutai]

I don't blame them for dropping Driver, the last one was arguably the best in the series and sold absolutely horribly. And IIRC there's a Splinter Cell remake in the works, though if things continue like this there's of course always the risk of it getting axed along the way.

 

Not trying to play defense force here, I think I've complained enough about certain stuff they pull off (in my case mostly the online requirements). But I think in terms of IP diversity they're actually doing better than some of their contemporaries. 

[Maf]

Can I use this an an opportunity to once again say people should play Prince of Persia the Lost Crown? It’s a very good game 

[DANGERMAN]

9 hours ago, Maf said:

Can I use this an an opportunity to once again say people should play Prince of Persia the Lost Crown? It’s a very good game 

maybe if there's a physical edition without drm one day. Until then Ubisoft can continue to go fuck themselves

[Maf]

Sounds like they’re doing just that.
 

I think I saw their stock price hit another all time low today 

[Maf]

I have this worry they’ve delayed the game to make a character creator system so people can swap the race and look of characters 

[one-armed dwarf]

That would be insane when they are adapting a character who actually existed in real life. They aren't going to do that, they would have to re-write too much

 

The weird knee jerk reaction to the anti-woke wankers in their statement is pathetic but a change like that is impossible, they might as well just cancel the game entirely if that was the thinking

[Maf]

I’m 99% sure they won’t. But there’s a 1% worry that they will

 

They already tried to hide behind the fact that AC is fictional and they always take creative liberties, etc. I just wonder if the next step in that direction is pretending they’re abandoning realism altogether so play as who you want

 

I’m sure they won’t, but I’m disappointed with how they’ve backed down and tried to pacify racists already. I was thinking what would they be doing with this delay. I hope the answer isn’t giving in altogether 

[Maryokutai]

That is absolutely not going to happen in a four month development span for a triple-A game. It's not even a question about they won't, it's simply that they can't. You're not course-correcting the Titanic 400 meters before it hits the iceberg.

 

What we get in February is a more polished version of the game we'd have gotten in November, nothing more and nothing less.

[one-armed dwarf]

Yes, turning the tanker is the right metaphor. 

 

The reason they are doing this stuff is their games are selling like shit, if Shadows underperforms then maybe they'll be in big trouble. Which sort of feels to me like it could be a canary in the coalmine for lots of other AAA companies, if shit's that bad at Ubisoft. But maybe this is extrapolating too much from too little

[Metroid66]

I think people here are over thinking this. Fact is their Star wars game was in an unfinished state and they caught flak for it. They just don't want another shit show like that on their hands.

 

I can only forsee a super polished AC game next spring in which my Yasuke will be happily crushing fools with his mallet.

 

And, in the words of an anti backlash commentator whose name escapes me, if you don't like the sound of that, don't buy it.