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[simpatico]

Ubisoft needed Outlaws and Shadows to be mega hits. They couldn't afford anything less. We know Outlaws underperformed and most of us here think Shadows will. They're going to be in a tough spot. Going by their market cap, Sony could have bought them for like 2 Concords. I do think their IP portfolio is really good. Maybe among the best that would be for sale. You'd just have to lay off each and every one of the 20,000 employees.

 

[Isa]

The problem with doing this is that there are multiple parties involved that would not be very happy with this kind of deceit, such as platform holders and investors. In fact, i think this is ground for lawsuit even.

The bot approach with social media is mostly to boost attention towards certain topics due to how these sites trending algorithms work. You can't really effectively steer people's opinions on a certain subject with them, but you can get the netizens talking about it.

That's true, I was definitely delving into crazy what-ifs. If I was a shareholder I'd definitely be livid and litigious. At the same time, seeing what governments pull and the corruption inherent within, having witnessed some of the biggest companies and retailers fudge some numbers(granted, those actually did have some consequences unlike the former) I guess I'm just more open to the idea than I was in the past.

Plus with all the GAAS games being shut down the evidence speaks for itself. Just imagine though in the future, not just bots in a game session but full on accounts with personalities fully able to interact with players up to MMO level, that'd be huge. Theoretically old games could come back, diminishing player bases wouldn't have to notice or worry.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

I'm curious, are companies able to boost their monthly average users estimates with bots? Granted its shady, but what isn't. Even our own governments boost their numbers with false reports and edit them later with revisions, such as in the US with the non-farm Payroll job estimates. Its almost always revised down a month to half-year reports later, meanwhile they fudge the numbers to try and keep investors happy because when the numbers are bad suggesting a flailing economy the market contracts.

So what would stop a company from trying to game the system? Granted, if they were caught in the act the scandals might implode on them, but then again like with why political parties don't bring up certain points against their opposition, it'd be like using an area of effect weapon that would cause collateral on both/all sides. Which in turn causes the unmentionable problems to escalate. Granted this is more of an aside on the topic of GAAS and subscription numbers, but I could see some companies boosting their own numbers by just enough to keep their MAU's in the black or green if necessary.

They would love to be able to but I guess the only thing stopping them is an actual income of funds. Game companies rely on people having to buy the product, Governments can fudge numbers all day long as they have quite a few people in their pockets to throw diversion to what they're up to, and we all have to buy the product of tax whether we want to or not, there's nothing to really lose. Yeah they act mad if caught, behind closed doors it's slapped backs all round

A game company would no doubt fold quite quickly try to pretend they had more sales than they did as the money wouldn't be in the coffers. Share holders would notice quicker

There is definitely something fishy going on though in regards to everything. There's no way on earth companies are willing to throw 200 million dollars on failing projects, yet they keep doing it. Even doubling down on some

Somethings not adding up

*Edit. I meant users, not sales, but I guess it's the same thing

 

[Isa]

They would love to be able to but I guess the only thing stopping them is an actual income of funds. Game companies rely on people having to buy the product, Governments can fudge numbers all day long as they have quite a few people in their pockets to throw diversion to what they're up to, and we all have to buy the product of tax whether we want to or not, there's nothing to really lose. Yeah they act mad if caught, behind closed doors it's slapped backs all round

A game company would no doubt fold quite quickly try to pretend they had more sales than they did as the money wouldn't be in the coffers. Share holders would notice quicker

There is definitely something fishy going on though in regards to everything. There's no way on earth companies are willing to throw 200 million dollars on failing projects, yet they keep doing it. Even doubling down on some

Somethings not adding up

Very good points. Apart from botfarms trying to build up excitement and engagement, only the potential consumers would be the spenders and that would be too easy to notice on a balance sheet.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Plus with all the GAAS games being shut down the evidence speaks for itself. Just imagine though in the future, not just bots in a game session but full on accounts with personalities fully able to interact with players up to MMO level, that'd be huge. Theoretically old games could come back, diminishing player bases wouldn't have to notice or worry.

I mean, we sort of have that already, at least as far as competitive games go. I imagine more complex bots in a MMO that can hold conversations and present particular types of behaviours would actually be a great attractive in and of itself for the game.

 

[WaterOnix]

If only those bots could buy games Ubi would have no issues

 

[Audiophile]

I don't get why bots still use usernames with a bunch of numbers at the end. Kinda defeats the point if you're trying to trick people.

 

[Gambit2483]

I'm not even sure why they need bots. I'm sure the game will sell pretty well just because it's an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan

Apparently they need the game to sell better than the best selling AC in order to reach their fiscal goal.

It can't just sell "well".

 

[simpatico]

You can't put anything passed them. The company lost half its value in the last 30 days. It's a fight for survival at this point. Many fortunes were squandered here. After playing a little Crew 2 from the $1 sale, I can confidently say that they completely deserved it.

 

[Ridicululzz]

Apparently they need the game to sell better than the best selling AC in order to reach their fiscal goal.

It can't just sell "well".

Yeah it seems like with all the marketing(do these bots count on the marketing budget? lol) and money they're spending they're expecting some BIG returns. I'm still expecting the game to sell pretty well, but like you said, it probably won't be enough for Ubi.

 

[King Dazzar]

Maybe they can have bots buy and play the game too. Then none of us need bother.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

If only those bots could buy games Ubi would have no issues

I wouldn't be so sure now you come to mention it..

Some do have buying power

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Apparently they need the game to sell better than the best selling AC in order to reach their fiscal goal.

It can't just sell "well".

For those wondering what he's referring to, it's from a Financial Times article that was published just right around Star Wars Outlaws launched.

It's very likely that AC Shadows will need to sell even more to make up for Outlaw's underwhelming sales. In the FT article, Barclays projected Outlaws to sell 5 million (down from 8 million) for the quarter. But a few days later with Outlaws being in the market, in a Reuters article, JP Morgan slashed its projections from 7.5 million to 5.5 million for the fiscal year ending March 2025.

Going by the shenanigans Ubi is trying to pull, it pretty much tells us how much confidence they have in AC Shadows. At least if there is a lot of enthusiasm from actual people, then the bot-driven marketing would be less obvious.

 

[Boglin]

Ubisoft games are created by AI
so why the fuck are people surprised by the fact AI likes shit it makes?

Right? The dinosaurs on this board just can't process the fact that there might be games not targeting them anymore since devs can see the writing on the wall and are moving on to greener pastures.

Spoiler: Greener pastures

 

[Success]

People with double digit IQ takes if they really think Ubisoft did this.

ANYONE can bot any channel and then make a clickbait video to earn money.

 

[simpatico]

A lot of people in the GAF heyday were pretty confident that Ubisoft had people posting here. Of course it could have been a PR firm they hired or something, but there was a sense of inorganic posts around any Ubisoft topic. It's mostly gone away, but sometimes we still a post here or there that makes ya wonder...

 

[Braag]

This is so pathetic

And of course most of the bots are using attractive women as profile pictures. I wonder if that was ordered too lol

But remember not to sexualize women.

 

[IAmNotFromDelaware]

Doesn't matter to me. It's not some glorifying comments that will makes me buy a game.

Still a cheap and shameful strategy if real.

It might not make a difference to your purchasing decisions but it might have an effect on other gamers who don't follow this as deeply as we do. Plus we don't know how YouTube's algorithm works in detail. Better comments and positive voting will probably encourage more viewing. Not to mention that fake positive comments can hide real comments.

All of this has an effect and it should be illegal. Not different than companies leaving positive fake reviews on their products/business.

 

[Kacho]

If this blows up enough I wonder if Ubisoft or the Shadows devs acknowledge it

 

[Zannegan]

I'm all for dunking on Ubisoft but everybody who sells stuff online does this. What is the actual issue here that you see?

Because it needs to be illegal or at least prohibited by the platform's ToS.

Of course it's going to slip through the cracks with smaller companies, in the same way that paid reviews on Amazon might. It's still wrong, but the impact is limited.

When a company as big and powerful ad Ubisoft starts paying for false opinions on a mass scale, it's a huge issue. I might be naive, but if it's already commonplace, that makes it worse.

EDIT: Although I doubt Ubi did this directly. I'm sure they contracted with some reputation management company, and this is just one of their suite if services.

If this story ever gets big enough to cause waves (which I doubt), they'll just deny they knew it was happening and break ties. Meanwhile, companies that do this will just find a better way to randomize their commenting profiles, and we'll never know the difference in most cases.

 

[RJMacready73]

Ubisoft needed Outlaws and Shadows to be mega hits. They couldn't afford anything less. We know Outlaws underperformed and most of us here think Shadows will. They're going to be in a tough spot. Going by their market cap, Sony could have bought them for like 2 Concords. I do think their IP portfolio is really good. Maybe among the best that would be for sale. You'd just have to lay off each and every one of the employees that has purple hair and uses pronouns

There fixed it for ya

 

[Saber]

Doesn't surprise me.

This is an aftereffect of have bad reception. They gonna try make the impression seein less bad than it is.

 

[DragonNCM]

Relax guys........
Sony has Astro bot
Ubi has AC bot.....
all is good.......

 

[Spukc]

Right? The dinosaurs on this board just can't process the fact that there might be games not targeting them anymore since devs can see the writing on the wall and are moving on to greener pastures.

Spoiler: Greener pastures

Hey if you want to consume the videogame equivalent of spam be my guest.

“Games” like this are ruing the medium.

My strange addiction show tells all i collect buckets of shit and piss.

Good

 

[Rudius]

I'll take that over "modern audiences"

 

[Arachnid]

Why is Ubisoft using attractive women profile pictures to market their games now? It lies counter to their DEI agenda where women should look like men. Such hypocrisy!

Because deep down, everybody knows the few loud twitter idiots will never represent the rest of the world. This is one thing I genuinely think is impossible to shift population norms on. People like seeing attractive people. They always have and they always will.

 

[Boglin]

Hey if you want to consume the videogame equivalent of spam be my guest.

“Games” like this are ruing the medium.

My strange addiction show tells all i collect buckets of shit and piss.

Good

I'm just trying to stay on the bots good side for when they scrub the text on this site in the future.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Wrong, just a few of Crossing Eden's alt accounts.

OMG you just reminded me of one of the worst GAF posters in history thanks so much

 

[snapdragon]

The next wave of controversy seems to reach the shores of Ubisoft.

As the trailer is allegedly being targeted by bot accounts which glorify the game.

The accounts all follow the same formula:
Banner: attractive caucasian person.
Username: First name + Last name + 4 numbers
Account: created in the last year. One month apart from eachother

Pretty shortly after the botting was called out, the comments were deleted.



It's funny though that a company who considered their games "AAAA", needs bots to promote a game.

hahahahaha How does this company go from publishing Grandia 2 to this

 

[Pop]

Ubi is on the same shit tier for me, both ruined great franchise. Halo/Division

BURN

 

[tusharngf]

 

[Pejo]

Damn, AI songs are getting good.

 

[Gamezone]

We all know it's just a reskinned Assassin's Creed title, maybe even a reskinned downgrade.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Considering that Ubisoft failed with Star Wars IP game, they have all the potential to fail with japanese assassin's creed game too.

 

[Kataploom]

Why is Ubisoft using attractive women profile pictures to market their games now? It lies counter to their DEI agenda where women should look like men. Such hypocrisy!

Because AI don't give a shit about DEI unless it's induced to do so lol

 

[VictorVectors]

Homelander has confidently become the default internet meme over Leonardo DiCaprio. Hailrious and useful in literally every emotional response.

 

[rochet]

Ubisoft need to go back to the early 2000 era. Bring back splinter cell, rainbow six proper swat, zombiu franchise proper prince of Persia with a Persian, sim games like il-2 even tho that still existed but differ publisher but just example,

 

[TGO]

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