Ubisoft issues totally convincing response to Assassin's Creed Unity's resolution

S

shinobi602

Member
Let’s be clear up front: Ubisoft does not constrain its games. We would not limit a game’s resolution. And we would never do anything to intentionally diminish anything we’ve produced or developed.

Which, of course, brings us to Assassin’s Creed Unity. The game has been in the media lately, and not just for a recent round of hands-on previews and features. One outlet ran a story using some quotes from Senior Producer Vincent Pontbriand to suggest we lowered the resolution on the PlayStation 4.

“Absolutely not,” Pontbriand says. “We’ve spent four years building the best game we could imagine. Why would we ever do anything to hold it back?” Pontbriand goes on to say that he understands why someone might think that’s the case based on a recent interview, adding “I simply chose the wrong words when talking about the game’s resolution, and for that I’m sorry.”
Click to expand...
“This is something that the new hardware allows us to do,” Pontbriand says about the number of characters on screen. Of course, massive crowds are also part of the story of the French Revolution, so it was essential to the game’s setting. “We want you to feel that density, the chaos that was happening back then. Paris was a huge city, with almost a million people. So we cranked up our number of NPCs.” Keep in mind that previous Assassin’s Creed games could support around 100 to 150 NPCs; Assassin’s Creed Unity has crowds of thousands of NPCs on screen, and you can interact with each and every one them.

And then there’s Paris itself. It’s almost a cliché to talk about the beauty of Paris – but it’s also undeniable. And the Paris of Assassin’s Creed Unity? It’s no different.

And yet, the Paris of AC Unity is also unique: It’s the first in the franchise to feature an almost 1:1 scale. (In previous games the buildings were roughly three-quarter size.) That’s significant because “everything is bigger, larger, closer to real life,” says Pontbriand.

The beauty of the setting, along with the volume of NPCs, the size of the city and the number of overlapping systems combine to make this a truly next-gen game – and one that takes full advantage of what the newest consoles offer. Which, of course, had some gamers wondering: If this is a truly new-gen game, why not deliver it in full 1080p on both consoles?

The answer is both simple and complex. Assassin’s Creed Unity is pushing the new-gen systems more than any other Ubisoft game has ever done. A quick look at the visuals – the city itself, the crowds, Arno in motion – will show how beautiful and how “next-gen” the game truly is.
Click to expand...
The more complex answer? A game’s final resolution isn’t set until late in the development cycle. This is notable because the team has dedicated much of the past few months to optimizing Unity to reach 900p with a consistent 30 frames per second. Considering the sheer number of pixels that are being moved around at all times – which affects both the CPU and GPU – that’s a significant achievement, especially as Assassin’s Creed Unity will release when the new-gen consoles are barely more than a year old. (As with all hardware, it becomes easier to optimize with more experience and software/middleware solutions that only come with time.)

As of now, Assassin’s Creed Unity is locked at 900p. But why “stop” there? “We know a lot of gamers consider 1080p with 60 frames per second to be the gold standard, especially on the new generation of consoles,” Pontbriand says. “We realize we had also pushed for 1080p in some of our previous games, including AC4. But we made the right decision to focus our resources on delivering the best gameplay experience, and resolution is just one factor. There is a real cost to all those NPCs, to all the details in the city, to all the systems working together, and to the seamless co-op gameplay. We wanted to be absolutely uncompromising when it comes to the overall gameplay experience. Those additional pixels could only come at a cost to the gameplay.”

So when you visit the Paris of Assassin’s Creed Unity, take a minute to look around. Visit the landmarks. Interact with the crowds. But most of all, play the game and get lost in the stunning next-gen world of Assassin’s Creed Unity – a game built from the ground up to deliver a new experience in a city of unparalleled virtual beauty and realism.

“Our mandate from the start was to redefine what Assassin’s Creed is for next gen,” Pontbriand says. A big ambition… and a promise that the global development team looks forward to delivering when Assassin’s Creed Unity releases on November 11.
Click to expand...
http://blog.ubi.com/assassins-creed-unity-delivers-resolution-players/
 
giphy.gif
 
Which, of course, had some gamers wondering: If this is a truly new-gen game, why not deliver it in full 1080p on both consoles?
Click to expand...

This blog post is responding to a question no one asked while completely dodging the one gamers are asking.
 
Damage control at its finest.

We all heard what they said.
Sorry, I'm not just going to implicitly believe what they say. They saw the backlash and this is exactly what I'd expect them to say.
 
From gaming conspiracies of purposely subverted software to PR prone to frequent foolery. It is done.

We have achieved full parody.
 
And seems to completely sidestep any notion as to if one machine in question is more powerful than the other and thus has the potential to do more assuming all else equal.

Okay...
 
I like how they have to hype the game up and how beautiful it is even though that has nothing to do with the original comment that was made, nice backpeddling there Ubisoft, i ain't fooled.

and get lost in the stunning next-gen world of Assassin’s Creed Unity – a game built from the ground up to deliver a new experience in a city of unparalleled virtual beauty and realism.
Click to expand...

Why don't you take a hint from yourself.

get lost
Click to expand...
 
No Ubi, we aren't wondering why it's 900p on BOTH consoles. We're wondering why you said you were locking the specs the same between platforms to avoid debate when you and other studios haven't felt the need before.
 
If they're saying anything about it at this point, that is of course just what we'd expect them to so - but I for one am not much of a conspiracy theorist on this point. For that matter, I'd not really get all that fussed about the precise resolution either, to be honest - I'm sure that the game will still end up looking good!
 
Haha. Just stop lying.

One has 30-40% more GPU overhead and you're not using it. You admitted it.
 
What the hell is he trying to say? It only makes sense if you think the XB1 and PS4 are roughly comparable in power. And... they're not. We know that. So what he's saying makes no sense at all.
 
They really are hitting the bottom here, I have never read such drivel. It's time they kept quiet it's looking bad enough, whoever is in charge of the PR department at Ubisoft needs to seriously learn the basics.
 
so if that is true why is the xbox 900p? surely with what they are describing, it could be 1080p.

I bet they will claim they are adding extra shadow quality blah blah to the ps4 version
 
I wasn't wondering any of this - I was wondering why 99% of the people didn't seem to read the original comment which just sounded like it was worded poorly but clearly said the lower resolution was a result of CPU bottlenecks that exist in both systems.

But ignorance is better because it fuels outrage, the typical gamer response.
 
I think I would have preferred they not say anything at all than come at us with this response. It completely dodges the question people are asking. I realize this irritates me way more than it should.

Fuck you Ubisoft.
 
This is so disingenuous. They're effectively saying that X1 and PS4 have the same specs, and 900p is the only option because the game is wow, so advanced. They're banking on their audience being stupid or ill-informed enough to buy it. No mention of ANY better effects, AA, anything on PS4, which would be a no-brainer for defusing some controversy.
 
Mugatu said:
I wasn't wondering any of this - I was wondering why 99% of the people didn't seem to read the original comment which just sounded like it was worded poorly but clearly said the lower resolution was a result of CPU bottlenecks that exist in both systems.

But ignorance is better because it fuels outrage, the typical gamer response.
Click to expand...
Speaking of ignorance, CPU has no bearing on resolution. That's the reason the game is 30fps, which means they probably have a lot of GPU overhead so they can bump the res up on PS4 without even impacting framerate.
 
The "it's for gameplay" excuse should have been their first statement. Even if it's probably bullshit atleast it's not the military grade uranium-enriched bullshit they started with.
 
The biggest takeaway from this is we need to increase the pressure on them. Get them to admit whats actually going on here. Because this is still unacceptable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

How Ubisoft spent $2.1M on influencers to secure the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows
News Analysis  2 3 4 5
212
10K
Radical_3d replied
Assassin's Creed full universe infographic
27
880
Cyberpunkd replied
  • Locked
Ubisoft Reportedly Has A Plan To Protect Devs From Harassment When Assassin's Creed Shadows Launches
Platform 
1
417
Thief1987 replied
Assassin's Creed Shadows to feature Denuvo & mandatory Ubisoft account linking
2
84
5K
K' Dash replied
  • Locked
Ubisoft removes Yasuke completely from Assassin's Creed Shadows's pre-order banner
2
69
9K
Ashamam replied
Top Bottom