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[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Ubisoft has taken heat a number of times for its public insistence on making games without political messages.

Whether it be with Far Cry 5's depiction of a heavily armed religious cult in rural America, The Division's post-apocalyptic America where civilian militias shoot looters with impunity, or going back to Assassin's Creed's original setting during the Crusades, the publisher has made a habit of taking provocative, compelling subject matter and building open-world games around them that do their best to avoid taking a side or having a message.

"Yves has told us that our goal is to give players all the information we can, and then let them choose which sides of our game worlds they want to explore," Francois said. "We want them to decide what they like, what they don't like, and if and how to change their minds or the way they play based on that information. It's about more freedom for the players."

When asked if there are any lines the company won't cross, any points of view that aren't worth exploring, Francois says generally no.

"As we are building the game, in most instances, there tends to be self-censorship that we actually fight," Francois said. "My boss, Serge Hascoet, the CCO [Chief Creative Officer] for Ubisoft, has often told teams, 'I have never had to censor you guys. You censor yourselves. Please push me and make us consider whether we should censor you, because it would be proof that you're saying things. And I'd rather have this problem.'"

Source

 

[Zannegan]

"A number of times"? More like once, last week, in an article by Kotaku who may or may not have heard something that wasn't there.

And I wish what Yves says about letting players choose a side were true. Half the time in an AC game I want to assassinate the Assassins, just to shut them up about how"everything is permitted... except what those guys think. For that, we'll cut you." Lol.

Speaking of, I need to pick up AC Rogue for a platform I still actively play on. Hmm...

 

[Arun1910]

Can someone please explain to me why this is an article??

 

[Tremmy]

Can someone please explain to me why this is an article??

People basically complaining about Ubisoft "fencesitting". They are expecting Ubisoft to pick a clear side with their inherently political games and when they don't, they complain. At the end of the day Ubisoft is a business and the bottom line is money. Not sending a political message. This concept seems to slip by a lot of people.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Can someone please explain to me why this is an article??

I found the part about avoiding censorship interesting enough to create a discussion about it. For a high profile studio like Ubisoft to do this is noteworthy. In my opinion.

 

[MastAndo]

People basically complaining about Ubisoft "fencesitting". They are expecting Ubisoft to pick a clear side with their inherently political games and when they don't, they complain. At the end of the day Ubisoft is a business and the bottom line is money. Not sending a political message. This concept seems to slip by a lot of people.

Well, let's be honest here - the people complaining (those who see games as a vehicle for pushing "messages"), have a very particular side in mind.

 

[Arun1910]

People basically complaining about Ubisoft "fencesitting". They are expecting Ubisoft to pick a clear side with their inherently political games and when they don't, they complain. At the end of the day Ubisoft is a business and the bottom line is money. Not sending a political message. This concept seems to slip by a lot of people.

Oh right, yeah, dumb. The people that want this just want to push their own agenda.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

Personally, politics have no place in games especially since that's not why I play games. Gaming is my primary hobby and form of entertainment and the last thing I want is for games to become political. Fuck that shit. If I want politics, I'll follow politics. For games, I just want to play through amazing worlds, experiences and have fun while doing so.

 

[NahaNago]

Politics is fine in a game. It is when you tweak a series to make a political statement that folks freak out over. A game about the world ending in 12 years and what you can do as an ecoterrorist to stop it sounds interesting.

 

[MB1]

Nah it's cause they say their games aren't political but all of their games are political. Whether it's the AC series, Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy etc etc etc. All of it has some political stances to it.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

Personally, politics have no place in games especially since that's not why I play games. Gaming is my primary hobby and form of entertainment and the last thing I want is for games to become political. Fuck that shit. If I want politics, I'll follow politics. For games, I just want to play through amazing worlds, experiences and have fun while doing so.

Saying politics don't have a place in games is as ridiculous a stance as what the people on the opposite side of the spectrum whine about. Politics most definitely have a place in games if it fits thematically and narratively. The issue comes when it is pandering or hamfistedly rammed knto a game for brownie points by one side or the other.

At that point it's just pathetic.

 

[xStoyax]

"As we are building the game, in most instances, there tends to be self-censorship that we actually fight," Francois said. "My boss, Serge Hascoet, the CCO [Chief Creative Officer] for Ubisoft, has often told teams, 'I have never had to censor you guys. You censor yourselves. Please push me and make us consider whether we should censor you, because it would be proof that you're saying things. And I'd rather have this problem.'"

Ummm....guys

 

[brap]

Ubisoft games aren't mature though.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

To say franchises with "Tom Clancy" on the cover are not political makes me smile.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Ummm....guys

That's been reversed though. And I think what they meant was censorship in terms of story and characters, etc.

 

[kunonabi]

To say franchises with "Tom Clancy" on the cover are not political makes me smile.

Let alone all the garbage they've been pulling with Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft has been just as political as everybody else.

 

[The_Mike]

Ubisoft: we don't force our politics down your throat.

Releases heavy politic games like far cry 5, the Division 2 and watch dogs 2

 

[Whitesnake]

Politics in games is fine.

Pushing a political message is bad.

Getting the player to think about political topics is good.

 

[Chance Boudreaux]

Politics is fine in a game. It is when you tweak a series to make a political statement that folks freak out over. A game about the world ending in 12 years and what you can do as an ecoterrorist to stop it sounds interesting.

Maybe one where the protagonist protests at airports and goes around collecting methane from cows?

 

[kevm3]

more like they are trying to avoid alienating audiences which I guess is understandable

 

[DeepEnigma]

Let alone all the garbage they've been pulling with Assassin's Creed. Ubisoft has been just as political as everybody else.

They literally re-wrote their Animus canon to appease the modern identity politics congregation.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Creating what you want is fair, but should they?

 

[Tremmy]

more like they are trying to avoid alienating audiences which I guess is understandable

Thats my take on it. Who the hell wants to be like the current state of Youtube?

 

[somerset]

Dumbs dumbs don't get art or narrative- thanks to the 'education' (that's a laff) they get in their eng-lit lessons during compulsory schooling.

Here's the thing. Most stories with overt political themes do *not* carry an overt message in the sense most of you try to 'understand' such. Your schooling msileads you, for your schooling is fabian in nature, and fabians wish to mislead the sheeple about just about everything.

Take a book like "Far from the Madding crowd". There is a lot of politics in the story if you know anything about the period and the writer. The author will also express his life POV to some extent. But actually this story is juts that- a story. A narrative experinence. A journey for the reader.

Read the classic and you'll learn something. But not in the sense the alt-left would have you believe. Not some tabloid sh-t pushing team blue or team red.

What the alt-left mean is *agitprop*. A sick and evil invention by america's fav cult to pollute all works of art experienced by the 'lesser'.

Here a game is supposed to be nothing but a viral carrier of some alt-left propaganda, like sheeple should always listen to whatever Team Peter Bright tells them at Ars Technica. HBO is about to spew the latest BBC agitprop bile, a miniseries called 'years and years' where the fiction crafts an alt-left vision of the future when the alt-left are denied power.

Putting words in the mouths of their enemies is a fav trick of America's fav cult. So make a game, put a Trump like character in the game, and have Trump scream his corruption and perversion. Hey- I've just described Rage 2 for you- exactly the kind of game alt-left pedophile Peter Bright states should be the only form of game allowed.

Or a game where the world is burning up, and all the computer scientist NPCs are screaming "if only they had taken climate change seriously back in the early 21st century".

*agitprop* - google this 'strange' word guys, and learn something.

 

[BlackTron]

People basically complaining about Ubisoft "fencesitting". They are expecting Ubisoft to pick a clear side with their inherently political games and when they don't, they complain.

Without having a clearly defined "side", nobody can complain about what side they fall on.

For people who expose themselves to games only to find something to complain about, of course this is a problem.

The upshot for them though is that they can still complain about the lack of anything to complain about.

 

[theclaw135]

I don't need or want to know what side the developer is on.

In the instances politics are relevant to a game, ensure it's told from the perspective of the characters within the game's universe and cannot be misconstrued as breaking the fourth wall.

 

[NahaNago]

Maybe one where the protagonist protests at airports and goes around collecting methane from cows?

Too tame, we play as the bad guy savior of the world who actively goes around destroying cities in order for these nations to create more ecofriendly versions.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Well, I can't disagree with them, the idea that all stories must be politically motivated (and correct) is good if you want to make some propaganda piece, not for actual entertainment.

Now, I don't like 99%of what Ubisoft games anyway... So what's the point?

 

[Ogbert]

If you require and/or derive political lessons from video games then you are a fucking idiot.

Our hobby is for children. That’s not a criticism. I enjoy it. We press buttons and Mario jumps or whizz whizz bang bang bullets fly out of an imaginary gun.

If you want to understand things, go read some history.

 

[SALMORE]

but didn't they heavily pushed the " dualism " concept in the Assassin Creed series ?

 

[Senhua]

Ubisoft to Change 'Assassin's Creed: Odyssey' DLC After Fan Outcry

 

[kevm3]

Thats my take on it. Who the hell wants to be like the current state of Youtube?

Seems like you can only have 'real' and 'uncut for so long before different forces come in to neuter everything and make it 'family friendly.'

 

[Ascend]

It's better than going full pro-SJW like EA.