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UBISOFT is dying - market shares collapse by 85% from 2021 to 2025
- Thread starter Nickolaidas
- Start date
Roberts
Member
Prince of Persia game was pretty good. I know a company of that magnitude should have more than one great game per year, but anybody can have a bad year once in a while.
It is also kind of cool that they released a next gen patch for a 10 year old game.
GymWolf
Member
You probably missed watch dogs 2.
Search watch dogs 2 npcs interactions\wars, there is some very neat stuff.
Not touching rockstar is normal, nobody fucking touch rockstar and i would argue that some npcs interactions in wd2 are more complex than what you find in gta5 because you can interact with the hacking thing and do more stuff that you can't do in gta5 where it's basically pushing\shootimg people and see them fight or fly, not much else.
The latest ac also have some nice npcs behavious but not on the level of wd2, but they do have a better animal ecosystem where animals hunt each other and other ncps close to them, and if we talk about animal ecosystem, fc primal has one of the most advanced one
P.s. it's not just fancy animations, you have various size of predators hunting (alone or in packs) various size of other animals or humans and various faction of humans doing the same around the map, it feels pretty lively.
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Trilobit
Member
Looks kinda awesome but what is this
Like fuck off with this shit, horrible 'tude' bs
Each time I see or hear about BG&E2 I feel the cringe deep in my bones. Why they decided to go that route instead of just making a normal sequel is beyond me.
BlackTron
Member
"I really want to play a new Rayman before I die, but think of the jobs. It's really better to hope this bloated company full of people being unproductive continue to limp on through government subsidies wasting taxpayer money in exchange for poor returns."
Look the way capitalism works (or is supposed to work, we don't actually really do it) means when business managers fail, they go away and are replaced by other ones. By propping them up, you're interfering with nature and preventing capitalism from actually working at the things it works at.
It's not crass to "hope" a company that is failing, actually fails instead of require more government help. Believe it it not. It might not just be because you enjoy seeing pain or "getting back" at anyone. You may REALLY think it's the best outcome.
Look the way capitalism works (or is supposed to work, we don't actually really do it) means when business managers fail, they go away and are replaced by other ones. By propping them up, you're interfering with nature and preventing capitalism from actually working at the things it works at.
It's not crass to "hope" a company that is failing, actually fails instead of require more government help. Believe it it not. It might not just be because you enjoy seeing pain or "getting back" at anyone. You may REALLY think it's the best outcome.
Astray
Member
I still have no idea why they fucked up Watchdogs so much.
Was easily the best notGTA game by miles.
MMaRsu
Member
I did certainly not miss WD2, in fact I finished it.
Its allright, but nowhere near the level of GTA.
The npc's in watchdogs are nothing special, you can barely interact with them besides the hacking thing. And even with the hacking you cant even do that much.
Cars in WD2 handle like absolute shit, just like every other Ubisoft game with vehicles. I have no idea why that is so hard for them
GymWolf
Member
They didn't had a clear vision for the brand, if you notice, all 3 games have different philosophies even if they share the hacking thing.
Wd1 had a serious story with a john wick wannabe protagonist\combat
Wd2 had the cringe ass millennials hackers against capitalism and even the focus of the game shifted more into stealth than combat (and the stealth also played differently from wd1)
Wd3 had the whole use whoever you want bullshit and the tone was also different from the previous 2 games.
GymWolf
Member
If you finished the game you know that you have more way to interact with npcs than gta5, not sure how you can think otherwise, what do you do with gta5 npcs?
Push them
Punch them
Shot at them
Run over with car
The euphoria engine is what make the interactions better looking than wd2 when you phisically interact with them but in terms of what you can do with them, it's pretty limited.
I never spoke about cars driveability or if the game was better than gta5, but wd2 is probably one of the open worlds where you can fuck around with npcs way more than with other games or watch them having unique animations and interaction with each other.
(Ignore the clickbait title)
If you think i'm wrong, you are free to post these other 20 open worlds with better ncps fuckery than wd2, i think you are gonna have hard times finding even 5 of them, probably even 3 of them from the past 10 years.
P.s. i'm not judgying the overall quality of wd2, i got bored after 10 hours because they switched the focus more on stealth than combat and the plot\xharacters are unsufferable dog water so it's not like i'm praising the entirety of the game, just the good aspects.
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Bonfires Down
Member
That's a bit of an overstatement. Far Cry 6 may have been a bit of a dud but the series in general sells very well. R6 Siege is doing just fine. The Division games sell very well. Even a proper sequel to Wildlands could likely do well.
Kadve
Member
Aka, THQ and Darksiders 2.
Ubisoft problem right now though seems to be that they refuse any real attempt at downsizing. No idea how ~18,500 employees and 50+ studios is sustainable but guess that done have much in the way of debt.
Astray
Member
Watch Dogs 2 had cringe vibes but at least the game was trying to add some sort of flavor.
3 was just insanely boring to me even in trailers, who the fuck greenlit that?
Far Cry 6 sold v.well, but that's been released in 2021, they've had multiple bombs after that.
Far Cry also suffers from a stale formula problem, the floor could fall out from under them at any minute there if they don't change the narrative.
Division 3 is a long way from now, they also canceled the Division Heartlands game I think.
They are in a deep mess right now. Embattled company doesn't even begin to cover the extent of that.
My guess is they made iron-clad commitments to foreign governments (like Singapore and India) that they would keep the studios open in exchange for government support and subsidies.
GymWolf
Member
I didn't even tried wd3, the whole play who you want stuff felt beyond retarded to me.
nkarafo
Member
Ubisoft represented almost everything that is wrong with videogames for many years.
- Wokeness and leftist propaganda? Check.
- Microtransactions and loot boxes? Check.
- Draconian DRM and push for anti-consumer tactics? Check.
- Chasing stupid trends like blockchain and NFTs? Check.
This isn't just about some developer going out of business. It's about someone who does more damage in our hobby than good. It's not like their output is so amazing that it balances all the bad. The do all that shit while also producing mediocre games at best.
In other words, good riddance. And i hope others who do similar stuff follow them.
winjer
Gold Member
And don't forget about boycotting Steam for several years.
And forcing their shitty launcher and store, even if we buy their games on Epic or Steam.
Kerotan
Member
They could have but they'd still be in this financial situation.
Astray
Member
Any game that doesn't have a named protagonist is automatically a skip for me.
You just know the narrative and dialog will have to get bent out of shape just to accommodate that choice and I'm a narrative person who cannot abide by that.
Paasei
Member
They have great games, but all of those are quite some years old now.
The Baldur’s Gate guy really summed up what you have to do to survive as a company at the VGA regardless of your views or shareholders.
You can have 5 studio’s working on the same game, but if none of those have any desire to innovate or are creative, then all that does for you is making a game ridiculously expensive to make with nothing to show for it.
The Baldur’s Gate guy really summed up what you have to do to survive as a company at the VGA regardless of your views or shareholders.
You can have 5 studio’s working on the same game, but if none of those have any desire to innovate or are creative, then all that does for you is making a game ridiculously expensive to make with nothing to show for it.
GymWolf
Member
I'm not that strict but i prefer a named protagonist aswell.
efyu_lemonardo
May I have a cookie?
I had no idea Ubisoft were in such bad shape. There is really no other way to explain this except incompetence.
I hope the talented individuals still working there find better employment opportunities elsewhere.
Perhaps some teams could be poached by other publishers. In an ideal world, Nintendo would already own a couple.
I hope the talented individuals still working there find better employment opportunities elsewhere.
Perhaps some teams could be poached by other publishers. In an ideal world, Nintendo would already own a couple.
Astray
Member
The best solution I've seen is Cyberpunk's.
You get to create your own character, but all the NPCs refer to you as "V".
It honestly combines the good of both without really taking on the flaws of either. I think its because it's easier to think of "V" as your name, much more so than being called "The Anointed One" or some weird flowery thing like that.
GymWolf
Member
True but if you do that way, the writing is never gonna focus on the differences between male and females, it's always gonna be a genderless writing and i doubt in real life people talk and act in the same way with a man or woman so you still lose something in the process.
You are never gonna hear a character in cp do a joke about V's boobs because all the writing must be genderless.
At best they can manage different dialogues with the romantic partners but not with the whole game.
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Astray
Member
Yep having a defined main character is the vastly preferable choice still.
Ev1L AuRoN
Member
They refuse to listen to their public, it's only natural that this is happening, I feel sorry for the employees that might suffer for the incompetence of their leadership.
MMaRsu
Member
interactions with other npc's isnt what Im interested in. I mean npc's reacting to me, the player.
They have zero interactivity.
In RDR2 you can talk to every NPC. They react to what you are doing.
Oh I agree, its shit all over the board. Rockstar is the only one putting in actually care.
Crazy how GTA V from 2013 just shits all over any other open world since (bar rdr2)
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PeteBull
Member
Give gta5 "modern audience" treatment and even if it wont fail, it will get visibly fewer sales vs true potential, hell we getting gta6 this(or more likely next) year, lets see if it keeps selling like crazy incase they fuck it up
KungFucius
King Snowflake
It is clearly just hate. It is insane. A game includes something that they consider 'woke' which shouldn't even bother them, but their hatred is so great that they want 100s of people to lose their jobs and for their families to suffer because of it. It is pretty disgusting.
ValiantInstance
Member
Watch Dogs 2 and Far Cry 5 were the Ubi games I played where I thought "ok that was fun, but they need to put serious thought into where they go from here".
I know many people had already reached that point 10 years ago, but the consequences of that have finally come to pass in the last 2 or 3 years.
Doctor Hades
Member
For all the bad press and criticism that Ubisoft receive, I will say that they are one of the few major publishers that releases polished games at launch with no major performance issues, especially on PC. I have enjoyed many of their games over the years, particularly Assassin's Creed, and really like Star Wars: Outlaws, particularly now that it has been patched to improve the gameplay. EA are ten times worse (at least) than Ubisoft and regularly release half-broken games on all platforms, many of which are never fully fixed (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Wild Hearts, etc). If I had to pick one publisher I would love to see go under then it would be EA!
Ubisoft's only real sin is exploitative micro-transactions in all their games which think personally cheapens the experience and makes them feel like free-to-play mobile game store, which is a shame as I avoid those things on my phone like the plague! This is the greedy side of the corporation but this is true of all major game companies these days so Ubisoft certainly aren't alone.
However, they are also guilty of releasing very formulaic sprawling open world games that are either overwhelming because of a cluttered map that makes it all too easy to lose track of where to go and/or just end up being very repetitive. Not every game has to be a diluted 60-80 hour experience; they can be more focused 20 hours games instead that would end up being more memorable.
Ubisoft's only real sin is exploitative micro-transactions in all their games which think personally cheapens the experience and makes them feel like free-to-play mobile game store, which is a shame as I avoid those things on my phone like the plague! This is the greedy side of the corporation but this is true of all major game companies these days so Ubisoft certainly aren't alone.
However, they are also guilty of releasing very formulaic sprawling open world games that are either overwhelming because of a cluttered map that makes it all too easy to lose track of where to go and/or just end up being very repetitive. Not every game has to be a diluted 60-80 hour experience; they can be more focused 20 hours games instead that would end up being more memorable.
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Gamerguy84
Member
I've never played an Ubisoft game to completion to be honest. I recognize they put out a lot of high quality content though. It sucks to see them like this though and I hope their next game is successful.
Reading through this post though damn, some sharks in here.
Reading through this post though damn, some sharks in here.
noob smokes
Member
Wait till these idiots are left with no games to play
Spukc
always chasing the next thrill
Angry_Megalodon
Member
They are so much quality that you have never finished one.
It must be the incel sharks fault.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Deleted. Wrong thread.
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ResurrectedContrarian
Suffers with mild autism
Every massive corporate western gaming dev is trash now and I'd love to see them all hurried to the graveyard of history as quickly as possible. That includes even the few that still have too much goodwill relative to their current output, eg. Rockstar. My only exception might be Valve.
ZVWQP-9B8TM-VH9CT
Member
This sounds nice.
Roman Empire
Member
You know what to do Ubisoft.
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Looks kinda awesome but what is this
Like fuck off with this shit, horrible 'tude' bs
Ubisoft loves these edgy, obnoxious characters. They think it's going to be cool with the kids but it has the exact opposite effect: immediate revulsion.
It's why I never wanted to play Watchdogs 2 and 3. I'd rather pay money for a game where you can kill droves of these annoying brats than play as these characters.
WD1 reigns supreme, no one liked the dudechebag main protag, but in the end was the best Ubi had to offer, black kid from WD2 could have worked if not for the cringe attitude and ass reddit dialogue, WD3 was straight up horrible, too bad cause the settings could have worked great, but they didn't know what to do with that game and it shows
Angry_Megalodon
Member
Compare the designs from the PS3 era to the present ones. Like every other Western studio, they can't make cool characters anymore. That's what happens when writers have to tick off a whole list of boxes when designing their characters. They are left with nothing but a generic DEI turd.
GymWolf
Member
Bayek and kassandra were pretty decent.
Bayek end up a bit of a beta with his wife, but other than that, he was pretty manly and stoic and with a great voice work.
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Angry_Megalodon
Member
Yes, I liked Bayek a lot. I chose Kassandra in Odyssey, but she was Alexios in a female skin. Nothing in her showed me that I was playing with a woman.
GymWolf
Member
Yeah the writing was obviously genderless but she was cool (and her va was far better than alexios), she has a couple of hilarious scene that i'm not sure would be possible with modern ubi trying not to offend anyone.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Xdefiant too. Even when the game is more serious, they often got some cringe to them. Remember way back when The Division was first showed to gamers and they had fake MP dialogue where they used voice actors? Man that was bad.Ubisoft loves these edgy, obnoxious characters. They think it's going to be cool with the kids but it has the exact opposite effect: immediate revulsion.
It's why I never wanted to play Watchdogs 2 and 3. I'd rather pay money for a game where you can kill droves of these annoying brats than play as these characters.
They are the type of studio where if Fairgame$ and the last Saints Row game were actually made by UBI it would no doubt surprise nobody.
They dont understand that in order to be a good game which can be played by tons of young people, you dont have to do over the top edgelord stuff.
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paolo11
Member
With their weird actions, the only thing they did not do is cuss out the gamers. What is Ubisoft thinking?