Ubisoft is one of the most well-known video game companies today. Over the years, it has delivered many great experiences thanks to different IPs that are very popular among the public. However, in recent years it has become a very controversial developer.
Particularly this 2024 already starred in a trio of the biggest scandals in the industry with games like Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Skull and Bones and Star Wars: Outlaws. This makes us think that the company must change its way of making video games soon or the future will not be so promising.
Everything Ubisoft needs to change
Ubisoft needs to rethink the way it makes its open worlds
This August 30th arrived Star Wars: Outlaws which once again puts the spotlight on one of Ubisoft’s biggest problems: its open worlds. While they were once considered pioneers in creating these, it seems that they became too comfortable with their position and decided not to innovate further.
These days it seems like if you’ve seen one Ubisoft open world, you’ve seen them all. They all follow the same pattern, albeit with very minor variations. They all feature a way to open up new areas of the map to explore, different points of interest, collectibles marked on the map, and a fairly cluttered interface. Plus, a huge amount of content that sometimes makes them feel endless and not in a fun way.
The problem is that most of Ubisoft’s franchises have already gone down this path and it’s basically just a matter of changing the skin. Instead of assassins you use hackers, revolutionaries, pirates or members of a military squadBut does everyone really need an open world? And if they’re going to give everyone open worlds, why not tailor them better to the theme and story of each game?
Years ago, prior to the tremendous success of Assassin’s Creed 2and Far Cry 3Ubisoft gave us more linear games that were still very fun. Rainbow Six: Vegas, the previous Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, the Prince of Persia games all did very well and are still very much loved to this day. Maybe they should take a break from open worlds, which their fans are already pretty fed up with.
Enough of hiding content behind pre-sales and special editions
In addition to the open world problem, Ubisoft has a rather questionable new trend. Lately, they hide the content and certain features of their games behind pre-sale rewards or special editions. Furthermore, these are not just skins or decorations, they are already parts of the story.
As a very recent example we have again Star Wars: Outlaws which hid missions with Jabba the Hutt. These are only accessible to those who purchase either of the two collector’s editions, which sell for $100 or $130 each. So it’s pretty obvious that they’re giving you an incomplete experience to get more money out of you.
This Ubisoft trend is unfortunately nowhere near going away. After all they already announced their plans for Assassin’s Creed Shadows which will also have a special edition with exclusive missions for its special editions. Although in that case we will see how much they change their story or not.
The worst thing of all is that as players we can’t seem to stop believing in pre-orders, especially from this company. They’re generally not worth it and we’ve already seen what happened with Outlaws. Those who pre-ordered the special edition to be able to play early had to delete their progress and start from scratch. But as long as we keep buying, the company will continue to see us in the face.
Again it seems that this will not change, as journalist Tom Henderson reported that pre-sales of Assassin’s Creed Shadows They are quite strong. Unfortunately, if we want Ubisoft to change, we must also change ourselves and stop falling for the hype of their games, which are increasingly disappointing.
Ubisoft needs to take its players into account more
Another of Ubisoft’s biggest scandals was the removal of the video game The Crew. Not only because they stopped selling it in stores, but because they even took it away from those who already had it in their digital bookstores. Obviously this rekindled the debate about how much of ours digital games are.
To add insult to injury, one of his top brass said that the players had to get used to not being in control of their games. He insists that subscription services are the future and that in exchange for losing ‘ownership’ they would receive ‘benefits’ such as saving their progress to enjoy anywhere. Of course, he forgot to mention that these services require a monthly fee when buying a game is just a pay-and-play deal.
This, along with wanting to implement battle passes in single-player titles and hiding content in special editions, shows Ubisoft’s total disconnection with its players.. You need to start listening to what they want or your next experiences may not be well received. We can already see that with the little talk about Outlaws and all the plans to boycott Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
They have the potential to succeed but currently they do many things wrong.
As I mentioned at the beginning, Ubisoft has a huge number of beloved IPs in its catalog. Even several of them that are in limbo are among the most desired by fans. There we have Rayman that deserves a new game, Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia that players want to return to the style of the Sands of Time trilogy.
However, right now they seem entirely driven by greed. We know that all studios have to make money, but Wouldn’t it be easier to generate these profits with what the players want? Instead of messing with games as a service that nobody wants anymore and the almost frauds that are early access.
Of course, it will be up to Ubisoft to straighten out the path. I just hope they do it soon because their reputation is increasingly being affected. He went from being one of the best in the first decade of the 2000s to a generator of scandals in the 2020s. Do you think they can change?
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