Tag: Ubisoft

2019 Developer Report Cards: Ubisoft Edition


Oh Ubisoft! What can I say about Ubisoft that hasn’t already been said about Flint’s water supply?

Ubisoft confuses me as a gamer and as a guy who writes about games. On one hand, they are constantly pulling maneuvers that make you wonder what chucklehead is driving the vehicle. On the other hand, they’re competent enough to put out some actually good games and fix what they screw up. Let’s look at Ubisoft’s 2019 releases.

  1. Trials Rising: It came out, it sold copies. Honestly don’t have much to say about this one.
  2. Far Cry: New Dawn – If you enjoyed Far Cry 5, New Dawn was basically an expansion pack’s worth of content at an expansion pack’s price of $40. If you enjoyed Far Cry 5 and wanted to see what happened following the rather crazy ending, well you pretty much got what you wanted. As far as Far Cry plots go, the story was fine. Just fine. It allegedly sold worse than Far Cry’s prior spinoffs including Primal so perhaps it would have been better off as a cheaper DLC release for Far Cry 5 instead of a standalone title.
  3. Anno 1800: Anno 1800 marks the first of Ubisoft’s titles this year to go to the Epic Store for exclusivity on PC. It sparked quite a controversy since the title had already been available for pre-order on Steam before Ubisoft summarily yanked it. Not willing to let that controversy hold it back, Anno 1800 evidently went on to become the fastest selling Anno game. It also seems to be very well received by those who bought it, looking at Steam reviews.
  4. The Division 2: And here is where Ubisoft first pooped the bed. By all means The Division 2 was exactly what a game sequel should be. It implemented a lot of lessons from its predecessor and actually fixed them instead of ignoring/exacerbating them. It wasn’t perfect, The Division 2 launched with some issues surrounding loot and the first raid was kinda crap because console players literally couldn’t handle it. And Ubisoft fixed most of those problems and has been supporting the game with some good content. Unfortunately for them the appetite of the general consumer base just wasn’t looking for another open world sequel and The Division 2 hasn’t quite lived up to expectations in terms of sales.
  5. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint – If there is one positive thing that can be said about Breakpoint, it’s that it beat the sense back into Ubisoft (hopefully). Breakpoint is a dumpster fire that should have never been acceptable within Ubisoft and its failure not only snapped their stock price over its knee, it led to a restructuring of how Ubisoft approves games. Riddled with major game-breaking bugs, obviously half-assed systems, and drowning in microtransactions, Breakpoint shouldn’t have been this broken given how close it is to Wildlands. It serves as a reminder that Ubisoft’s titles are quickly hitting the singularity, becoming so blandly similar that they are hard to tell apart.
  6. Just Dance 2020: I’m sure it will do just fine.

2019 also brought us changes in Ubisoft’s business plan, primarily the announcement and launch of Uplay+. This may come as a surprise, but I honestly don’t have much of a problem with Uplay+ from a consumer standpoint. As with any service, it’s a value proposition. If you want to keep buying your games and “own” them, whatever that means in a world where games as a service ties your playability to servers remaining online, you can still buy the game. If you want to spend $15 to binge some Ubisoft games for a month and then cancel, you can do that too. If you think that long term subscriptions in exchange for having the best versions of Ubisoft’s titles is worth it, go ahead. It’s as valuable as you think it is, and obviously Ubisoft knows this because it’s not mandatory in any sense.

I’d like to give Ubisoft a higher score for having their come to Jesus moment during the last gasp of 2019. Unfortunately their moment of lucidity was not due to personal reflection but due to the potential for financial ruin brought upon by the insane failure of Ghost Recon and the potential that their upcoming titles could perform worse, a game that they were all too happy to release in its state and with all of its microtransactions. At the same time, the company is not completely incompetent and has shown that it is somewhat capable of learning from mistakes. Ghost Recon has received a couple of patches since launch and they have promised more coming.

At the same time, this is a company that supports its products. Ultimately I have to give Ubisoft a B- for 2019. Let’s hope the failure of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint teaches them a lesson. Let’s also hope that I get around to making more of these report cards.

Ubisoft’s Stock Drops Following Ghost Recon Disappointment


This week Ubisoft announced that it would be dramatically scaling back income expectations following the “very disappointing” reception and sales of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. The latest game in the Tom Clancy franchise left both gamers and critics angry over the abundance of game-breaking bugs as well as what was perceived to be an egregious reliance on over-monetization of various aspects of the game.

In the time since that announcement, Ubisoft’s stock prices have plummeted both in the United States as well as in France. Ubisoft’s NASDAQ listing dropped from $12.60 on Monday to a low of $10.06 before rebounding slightly to $10.35. Bloomberg meanwhile reports that stocks in France fell as much as 29% which brings the year decline to 38%.

In addition to the disappointing reception of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Ubisoft announced that all of its major releases for the rest of the fiscal year have been delayed until next fiscal year. Investors were not entirely satisfied by the announcement.

Source: Bloomberg

Ghost Recon Breakpoint “Very Disappointing” Says Ubisoft


Ghost Recon: Breakpoint’s critical and financial performance have been “very disappointing” according to an Ubisoft report released today. Ubisoft released a statement revising financial targets to offer the bad news that the 2019-2020 fiscal year isn’t going to be so hot for the French developer/publisher. Worst of all is that net bookings are expected to end up at €1.45 billion, an admittedly large amount but a long way away from the anticipated €2.185 billion. Operating income has plummeted from an anticipated €480 million to just €20-50 million.

The drop off in sales is primarily due to the “very disappointing” reception of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint which launched in early September on PC and consoles. In addition, Ubisoft notes that development for Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine will all be extended and will not be released until the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

“However, we have not capitalized on the potential of our latest two AAA releases. For Ghost Recon Breakpoint, while the game’s quality appeared on track – based on E3, Gamescom, previews and our latest internal playtests –, critical reception and sales during the game’s first weeks were very disappointing. As we have done with past titles, we will continue to support the game and listen to the community in order to deliver the necessary improvements.”

Breakpoint has been getting slammed by critics and the public since its launch last month. The game has seen a lot of backlash due to an extensive cash shop that appeared to get priority billing over the game itself which launched with severe bugs and performance issues. Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot does not address any of the criticisms in the press release, instead blaming the game’s subpar performance on difficulty generating interest for a sequel to a live service game, imperfect implementation of gameplay innovations (whatever that means), and not enough differentiation factors to stick out among the crowd.

“In this overall context, we have decided to postpone the releases of Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six Quarantine and Watch_Dogs Legion until 2020-21. While each of these games already has a strong identity and high potential, we want our teams to have more development time to ensure that their respective innovations are perfectly implemented so as to deliver optimal experiences for players. This decision will have a very significant impact on our financial results for this fiscal year and goes against our recent successes in building a more stable development model. However, it is in line with our strategy to maximize the future value of our brands for the long term benefit of our employees, players and shareholders. We expect it to have a positive impact on our financial performance as from 2020-21.”

Source: Ubisoft Press Release

Diaries From Washington DC: The Division 2 First Ten Levels


The Division 2 is a very Division-esque title, which is going to be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you approach the franchise. If you like your sequels to take the prior title and expand upon it, you’re golden. If you hated everything about The Division down to its core mechanics, you’re not going to find much to love here.

I want to talk about some immediately obvious positives in The Division 2, and particularly that the game is a whole lot less jank than its predecessor. The Division was pretty great when it came to movement and it’s kind of amazing to think back to the trailers when we were mostly all in awe at the simple idea that your character would close a car door automatically while taking cover behind it. That said, movement in the original game was kind of rough in spots and your character felt like he was walking on a treadmill leading to more confined areas being a real pain to get through. Additionally, while enemy AI wasn’t terrible it wasn’t exactly intelligent, and Ubisoft balanced this by making the game into a bullet sponge festival.

Thankfully The Division 2 has mostly fixed all of this.

Enemy AI is going to surprise you quite a bit as you experience what this game has to offer. Evidently the Washington DC wasteland still has plenty of brain food, as raiders will intelligently flank you, use grenades to push you out of hiding, send in suicide melee squads to force you from your cover, and just generally utilize more coordinated tactics than you might anticipate from such a game. It’s almost unfair at times when you get pitted against a dozen or so baddies in an open space and suddenly find yourself knocked out of cover while the sniper forcing your attention made way for the two guys who just appeared behind you. Unlike its predecessor, I have rarely come out of a death concluding that the game was cheating me.

On the other side of this coin the bullet sponge enemies are mostly gone and good riddance to them. I would say that The Division lands mostly on the realistic side of the Tom Clancy media spectrum so the idea of having gang leaders walking around with no noticeable body armor but somehow still needing two full reloads of shotgun shells from close range in order to kill is just ridiculous. The Division 2 still has named enemies, and they are more powerful than their low-tier mook buddies, but they aren’t sponges. They might have armored vests or helmets, and take a couple more shots to put down. There are a few enemies scattered about during missions that are covered in full body SWAT-tier bomb squad armor that take a lot of bullets to kill. They are far less present and can be dealt with easier than their predecessors.

It’s also nice to be able to walk around the various locations without your character bumping into everything like a drunken bumper car operator.

The game itself is freaking gorgeous. Obviously I’m saying this from the stance of someone with a computer good enough to run the game on its highest settings but boy did Ubisoft put a lot into making the DC wasteland look beautiful and create a living world in the process. The city itself tells a story and everywhere you look you can see the remains of failed quarantines, rescue efforts, and people just trying to survive. You come across a regular bounty of random events including public executions, propaganda broadcasts, and more, that can be easy targets for some quick loot. My personal favorite are the supply drops, where you’ll come across three supply crates that you can salvage for gear and resources. The caveat to this is that the various other factions are also out for these and can actually steal them from you. As far as random encounters go, the supply crates offered the most varied fun for me.

Gear, at least in the first ten levels, has been pretty great. The Division has been throwing enough stuff at me via the main missions, side missions, and generally tracking down and looting stuff in the wilderness that I haven’t felt bereft of new toys to play with.

The first ten levels of Division 2 have taken up around five and a half hours of gameplay, and so far I have to say I am enjoying this far more than I did with The Division. I am looking forward to discussing the game more as I continue playing.

Ubisoft Announces UPlay Subscription Service: $14.99/mo


What more could we ask for from E3 2019? If your answer is Ubisoft launching its own version of EA Access, your oddly-specific wish has been granted.

Ubisoft today announced Uplay+, a subscription service coming to PC in September and for the absolutely monetary cost of $14.99 per month, you can get access to over 100 PC games including all of Ubisoft’s new launches. Yes, that means getting access to the upcoming Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Watch Dogs: Legion the day they hit store shelves. Where Uplay+ sets itself apart from EA Access for instance is that the service promises to offer the most premium version of each game, meaning you won’t need to pay for DLC or expansions.

If you are still on the bench, people who register now will be able to get a free month once the service goes live on September 3. No purchase necessary.

[NM] Ubisoft Donates Money To Notre-Dame, Gives Unity For Free


Ubisoft has joined the list of companies donating to rebuild the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris following a fire that destroyed much of the church. The French developer has pledged $564 thousand USD to help with its restoration, joining the hundreds of millions of dollars donated by the combined efforts of numerous other French and international businesses.

In addition, Ubisoft is offering a free copy of Assassin’s Creed Unity for PC to honor the landmark. Assassin’s Creed Unity recreated the Notre Dame cathedral to such a level of accuracy and detail that Engadget is reporting that the game may be of use in its reconstruction.

The free copy of Unity runs until April 25. All you have to do is add the game to your account and it will be there forever.

Source: Assassin’s Creed

PSA: Starting April 1, UPlay’s Club Units Will Expire After 2 Years


Club Units are those fancy golden coins you get for completing challenges in various Ubisoft games. They are the points you remember you have because Far Cry has club-specific weapon unlocks and they can also be used to unlock discounts on the Ubisoft store. If you’ve been sitting on a pile of these points, you’ll want to pay attention to this post.

Starting April 1, and I do mean on April 1, Club Units are going to start to expire after two years and everything from March 31, 2017 and before is going to be gone. You can log in here to see how many (if any) points are going to be gone in a few days.

Source: FAQ

The Division 2 Snubs Steam For The Epic Game Store


 

The Division 2 is the latest title to be poached by Epic Games, as the news broke today that the title will not be released on Steam but will instead be exclusive to the Epic Store and Ubisoft’s own UPlay platform. Set for release on March 15, The Division 2 is the sequel to the title of the same name.

Epic Games fully launched its store just a few months back and is seeking to compete with Valve’s Steam platform through a combination of leveraging its massive userbase thanks to Fortnite, by offering competitive revenue sharing plans, and through securing exclusive titles from The Walking Dead: Final Season and now The Division 2.

Source: Ubisoft Press Release

[2019] The Year Of Pre-Ordering Energy Drinks


Technically we’re still in 2018, but this product doesn’t come out until 2019 so I’m going to use that tag anyway. 2019, the year I can use whatever tag I want.

In case you thought it was bad enough that Ubisoft was partnering with Totinos to promote their games, well they’ve gone further down the rabbit hole. Ubisoft has teamed up with Mountain Dew and Walmart, because of course they have, and they have put out a deal that no reasonable consumer could think to refuse. All you have to do is be one of the first thousand people to pre-order a 12 count case of Mountain Dew Game Fuel from Walmart and you’ll receive not just the energy drink (all twelve of them) but you also get beta access to The Division 2 as well as a bonus prize pack.

Codes for PRIVATE BETA access and instructions on how to register will be sent out by Ubisoft via email to the e-mail address provided when you preordered the MTN DEW® AMP® GAME FUEL® 12 pack. Timing of distribution of code and instructions is at Ubisofts sole discretion. PRIVATE BETA access is limited to one per customer email address. Ubisoft will communicate game launch information at a later date. Receiving a PRIVATE BETA access code upon purchasing MTN DEW® AMP® GAME FUEL® is only open to legal residents of the United States, its territories or possessions where offer is available and who are the age of majority in their state of resident at time of entry. PRIVATE BETA access offer subject to additional terms and conditions available at http://www.thedivisiongame.com/gamefuel. Void where prohibited.

The bonus prize pack contains a dog tag, whistle, light, compass keychain, baseball hat, and an eight in one aluminum tool kit. Photograph below. Mountain Dew’s Game Fuel cans are equipped with resealable tech, are scientifically loaded with sugar and caffeine for accuracy and alertness, and tactile grip. They also come in cherry, berry, tropical, and original. Beta access is only open to US residents, but anyone can enjoy the crisp taste of a fresh Mountain Dew no matter where they live.

LVL UP THE GAME.

Project Stream Sweetens Deal: Free Assassin’s Creed Odyssey For One Hour Of Your Time


Back in October, Google offered a pretty sweet deal to get people beta testing its service Project Stream: Test the service, and we’ll let you play the very new Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey until the test ends in January. We’ll even give you 1000 helix credits (cash shop currency) to get you going. Unfortunately your save won’t transfer and you’re going to lose access to the game, but you’ll have the option to play it to your heart’s content for the next three months.

Well the deal just got better. For those who put at least an hour into Project Stream, you’ll be able to keep your copy of Odyssey after January 15 when the test ends, as a permanent addition to your Ubisoft account. The test is still by invitation only, to the best of our understanding, so you might be in for a wait if you’re not already in the test. For those who can have access or gain access, you’ll have until January 15 to clock in your hour.

Instructions for how to redeem the game will be sent after January 15. This offer is only valid in the United States as Project Stream is unavailable elsewhere.

Source: Eurogamer