Ubisoft is OK

[UltraMega]

This is an OP-ED about some of the recent struggles Ubisoft has faced. 

 

Context Summary:

Spoiler

Ubisoft, once a titan of the gaming industry, has faced a series of challenges in recent years that have put the company's future in question.

. From underwhelming game sales to financial losses and internal restructuring, Ubisoft is now exploring strategic options to navigate its current predicament.

. CEO Yves Guillemot has acknowledged the need for a renewed focus on creativity, innovation, and a player-centric approach to regain its footing in a rapidly evolving market.

. As Ubisoft grapples with these issues, the gaming community watches closely, wondering if the company can reclaim its former glory.

 

 

Ubisoft is getting a lot of flak lately, but I think some of their recent moves are actually positive for the company overall. I don't think anyone here really cares one way or the other, but I see a lot of news about this that isn't being properly represented so I just wanted to put some logic out there.

 

Ubisoft is dropping dead weight and freeing up resources 

 

Ubi has been knows to enter strange development agreements. I suspect that is why they just released an NFT game. Not because they think NFT are still viable as the news about this suggests, but rather because they probably had a contractual agreement to deliver the game. Ubisoft did have such an agreement for the game "Skull and Bones", and when they finally got that out it, it rid Ubisoft of that obligation and logically also freed up some resources. I suspect the NFT game is the same; getting a contract out the door to free up company resources. 

 

 

Ubisoft has some games in development that have been in dev for years that we have not seen yet. They are taking their times to bake something good, or at the very least they are taking the right approach. 

 

Ubisoft should be in a good position now. They have an extremely capable game engine and a lot of newly freed up resources to take advantage of it. I think Ubisoft's stock will recover in 1-3 years, and may gain significantly if they are able to deliver a true next gen single player game. 

Edited November 13 by UltraMega

[UltraMega]

Just some added context to my meaningless Ubisoft rant:

 

Ubisoft Released New Official Survey for the Next Ghost Recon!

 

 

Just further evidence that Ubisoft might actually be trying to make a good game in the future.

 

Ghost Recon Wildlands was in dev for 5 years before launch. The following game had a larger team, but was only in dev for ~18 months before launch. 

 

Here's hoping the next game gets both plenty of time and a full dev team. 

 

 

I'm not a particular fan of Ubisoft. I think they get more hate than they deserve sometimes, but they have clear and obvious faults. I do think their ups and downs are interesting to follow though. Ubisoft always seems to be well intended but still misses the mark in ways that are just always so... Ubisoft.

Edited November 14 by UltraMega

[bonami2]

Still waiting on beyond good and evil 2

[SamsTechStuff]

I would generally /agree here. They are large enough to absorb a flop'd game and have plenty of IP they can leverage and clearly have planned already. I don't dislike the games they make and will probably pickup their most recent release in a sale eventually. I like my games in the sub ~$20 range

Edited November 14 by SamsTechStuff

[Sir Beregond]

1 hour ago, SamsTechStuff said:

I would generally /agree here. They are large enough to absorb a flop'd game and have plenty of IP they can leverage and clearly have planned already. I don't dislike the games they make and will probably pickup their most recent release in a sale eventually. I like my games in the sub ~$20 range

I don't think they've had just one flop. It's been a long time since anyone called Ubisoft "innovative" or really putting out something new. They've in many way phoned it in a lot.

[UltraMega]

1 hour ago, Sir Beregond said:

I don't think they've had just one flop. It's been a long time since anyone called Ubisoft "innovative" or really putting out something new. They've in many way phoned it in a lot.

 

Ubisoft has had a lot of games that didn't meet general expectations, and the expectations are never that high. I can't think of any games that were major flops except for Skull and Bones, and a lot of lots of mini flops to go with it.

 

 

Some of the more recent ones:

 

Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Far Cry 6

Watch Dogs Legion 

Skull and Bones

Star Wars Outlaws

[SamsTechStuff]

1 hour ago, Sir Beregond said:

I don't think they've had just one flop. It's been a long time since anyone called Ubisoft "innovative" or really putting out something new. They've in many way phoned it in a lot.

I was thinking more along the lines of Concord scale. Ubi doesn't* always release great games but, they seem to keep on chugging with enough sales. Hoping there's some game launch that is too tempting to pass up but right now, I feel like the winner of game launches this year will be Blizzards Classic WoW re-relaunch 

Edited November 14 by SamsTechStuff

[UltraMega]

1 minute ago, SamsTechStuff said:

I was thinking more along the lines of Concord scale. Ubi does always release great games but, they seem to keep on chugging with enough sales. Hoping there's some game launch that is too tempting to pass up but right now, I feel like the winner of game launches this year will be Blizzards Classic WoW re-relaunch 

Oh yea, I'm sure that will be huge among those who played wow. 

 

IDK about winner of game launches this year though. Stalker 2 is looking like it might take that crown. Really looking forward to that game. One game that looks like it really got all the time and attention it deserves. 

[damric]

I'm about to go all-in on Rocksmith+

 

It might look expensive but it's actually cheap asf if you look at equivalent studio equipment it offers.

[UltraMega]

22 minutes ago, damric said:

I'm about to go all-in on Rocksmith+

 

It might look expensive but it's actually cheap asf if you look at equivalent studio equipment it offers.

I hadn't looked at Rocksmith+ before. That actually looks really cool.

 

More learning should be gamified. 

[damric]

22 minutes ago, UltraMega said:

I hadn't looked at Rocksmith+ before. That actually looks really cool.

 

More learning should be gamified. 

Yeah I originally looked at it for Michele since she is learning. Then I was like whoa this software pretty much has studio options that are worth thousands. 

[UltraMega]

Side note, this is a pretty interesting video on one of Ubisofts larger controversies. It does a good job breaking down what went right and wrong with what was perhaps Ubisofts first big flounder. It's interesting in particular because WD1 was Ubisoft's best selling game ever at the time, and it was actually a great game that was overshadowed by the E3 demo issues, which themselves were a result of not having final dev hardware from Sony for the ps4. 

 

 

I personally really enjoyed WD1. The plot was a breath of fresh air in that it was dark and gritty with no happy ending. The protagonist wasn't a good guy, he was a guy fully focused on revenge to the detriment of any personal relationships he had in his life. The plot felt a lot deeper and more realized than any other Ubisoft game I can think of.

 

WD1 is one game I would actually really like to see get a remaster. In this age of remasters it would be awesome to see a game that was supposed to have better visuals at launch get the remaster treatment.

Edited November 14 by UltraMega