I remember being excited for an Ubisoft game

Man back in the Rainbow 6 on PC days, and back on Xbox when a new Splinter Cell came out. I used to remember thinking this was a great game company that made quality work. When did it go all to tell? Was it the first Assassins Creed or was it before then? Its a sad state really, when something you once loved now brings a cringe to you when you find out they are in charge. Is there hope left for Ubisoft? Can they earn that reputation back or do you think it is long gone?

Last time for me was FarCry 3. Back in the mid-2000s Ubisoft was hands down my favorite gaming company, they were experimental and creative: Assassin's Creed 1, love it or hate it, was an incredibly ambitious project... Then they realized that formulas sell tens of millions, while experiments struggle to turn a profit, and they went creatively bankrupt. A shame, really, but no game company lasts forever, no mattter how great. I mean, just look at Konami.

yah.....thats true.........

Ghost Recon Wildlands killed it for me, I done with them!

Last Ubisoft game I got was Scott Pilgrim: Versus the World: The game. And it was great.

Since then the people who made that game so magical formed a Indie studio called Tribute

And though sounded exciting, without direction they've made two really bad games (Mercenary Kings and Curse N' Chaos) because they have heavily flawed game mechanics, it seems without Ubi overseeing them, they make some pretty silly mistakes in level design and overall gameplay.

Back onto Ubisoft. If nothing I do look forward to what's happening with the next Rayman game.

I know most of you only really pay attention to the sandbox sims Ubi releases but I'm not really a fan of that genre.

Eh, I still like most of their games that I play. Far Cry 4, Watch Dogs, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag would all be fairly recent ones that I thought were great. Never played some games like The Crew and Unity that I knew I wouldn't like. I played AC: Syndicate recently and didn't really like it though. Far Cry Primal was okay. Watch Dogs 2 is looking like a nice improvement. So yeah, I can't say I've hopped onto the "Ubisoft sucks" bandwagon. However, I think I've had my fill with some of their franchises like Assassin's Creed and maybe even Far Cry. Unless the next games in those franchises do something different or something that otherwise interests me, I probably won't bother.

I really enjoyed Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, and Watch Dogs. I really never got into their other franchises though like Rainbow Six or Splinter Cell. I am really looking forward to Watch Dogs 2. I have gotten a bit behind in the AC franchise though as I still need to play Unity and Syndicate.

I still like the AC games. It seems like every open world game they make though, it's all the same gameplay wise, and not at all optimized. Their somewhat recent non open world fare, like SC Blacklist and R6 Siege, were pretty awesome. I do, however, recognize the fact that their series of ip are nowhere near where they should be, and UBI has been responsible. They let a lot of their franchises like PoP stagnate, or release shoddy ported, carbon copies of their previous games with all the same mechanics and shit stories.

Greed, basically.

I dunno Ubi game even if they are in my city, just don't interest me outside of South Park.

But I know your pain ... Capcom and Konami used to be incredible...

Yeah I am still a big fan, the latest Far Cry's and most of the Assassin's Creed games have been incredibly fun. They might do something weird here and there I don't like or agree with (securom, that stupid launcher for PC titles, always-online singleplayer, etc) but I still have hope their games are OK.

It's dwindling, though; I first noticed it with Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which was just shitty. Then they did the most recent one and they tried to add all these "social" features and really poorly implemented co-op and online bullshit. Splinter Cell can have multiplayer, that's cool, but ITS A SINGLEPLAYER GAME!

Then they did Anno 2205 and I love that series but that game was shit once you were finished with the campaign. The whole strength of city builders/logistics sims is that the game takes off AFTER the campaign. Hell, the campaign is generally just one long tutorial in many of these games. Anno 2070 was amazing...2205? Not so much.

And I hear bad things about Wildlands, like it's a half-baked Just Cause and super casual and lame. Tom Clancy games don't have to be realistic simulations (like ArmA), but they need to be heavy, serious, and have as much realistic stuff as they can afford to have.

But like I said, I still hold out hope for Ubisoft, but yeah...has not been a good run of late.

pretty much how i feel. probably why i can act a bit bitter towards them. black flag is the only game i've enjoyed from them in recent years.

and unfortunately i don't think there's any turning back. the horse has bolted

The last Ubisoft game I enjoyed was FC3

They started to go downhill after PoP: The Sands of Time, so I'm used to them sucking. I don't think they will capture my interest again. Except with Rayman, perhaps..

Once Ubisoft went the easy way becoming a publisher they've released nothing good mostly.

They've followed EA path.

this is an english speaking forum pal

Here's a thread about Ubisoft games coming in the next 6 months or so.

http://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/ubisoft-overload-33361069/#36

Here's Steep

@gooch4011: Seems like it was so long ago the memory feels like it is from another life.

Assassin's Creed II was the last time I was excited by Ubisoft.

For me it was with the announcement of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

I enjoyed AC1, loved AC2 and was very excited for AC3, but we didn't get it, instead we got Brotherhood, which was just 2 again, but with MP, then we once again didn't get 3 but instead got Revelations, which was the same as Brotherhood. By the time we did get AC3, I was so tried of the series, that I could even finish it.

Black Flag did bring me back, because I loved the Pirate Theme, and we hadn't had a good Pirate game since Sid Meier's, but didn't pick up Unity or Syndicate yet, might do sometime next year for something to play in droughts if my backlog gets small enough to allow me to buy more.

I don't really hate that much of their games. I enjoy the AC-series, WatchDogs and Rayman. And that's pretty much all I've played. AC is maybe a bit tired, but I like the series. It's fun running around history and doing missions. And it was cool being a pirate in Black Flags. WatchDogs didn't really disappoint me. I never got on the hype-train for that series. I never saw the E3-presentation. All I knew is it was an open-world game with hacking. Didn't disappoint. And Rayman has never disapponted me. It's a fun series (if I cleverly ignore Raving Rabbids).

I never really understood the hate Ubi gets. Actually, I don't understand the hating period. If you don't like something, don't buy it. (mini rant more directed at the people in the news article, not those here in this thread).

Ubisoft has brought out more new IP in the last 3 years than the next two, maybe next three AAA publishers combined. Now I'm not the kind of person who would ever find Steep to be worth buying, but I like that they're trying to put out something new. When was the last time gamers had a good extreme winter sports game? SSX3?

Disliked UBI ever since they dumbed down the R6 and Ghost Recon series over a decade ago.

Michel Ancel Appears To Be Teasing Beyond Good & Evil 2

Yeah they do make a lot of games, most of them decent.

But, to answer your question about the "hate": I believe it comes from the fact that they've taken much-loved titles and either dumbed them down, or turned them into something horrible. For example: what used to be a really fun, intellectually-stimulating tactical first-person shooter is now a dumbed-down FPS with crappy level design and social and online features no one wants. I think that is deserving of some hate.

And I'm not talking about cutting superfluous features and making the game more streamlined and accessible; that I can tolerate, and is often mislabeled as dumbing down. No, I am talking about taking something good and pure and completely redoing it to appeal to a new audience, while abandoning the old player base. If you want to appeal to new players, make a new IP! They already own the Tom Clancy name, just make a new game called "Tom Clancy's Herp Derp: Kid Soldiers Derp 'Merica Oh Shiny Collectibles Derp".

My biggest problem with Ubisoft is they seem to favor style over substance, presentation over gameplay. They've become the "artsy fartsy" developer and publisher, offering games with plenty of cinematic "epic" moments, but very little in the way of stimulating gameplay.

I still think they can make some good games here and there, but I've been gaming for 25 years now and I've seen their quality go ever-so-slowly downhill. I'm pretty close to writing them off, but then I remember all the good times, and think they deserve another chance or two.

Anno 2205 has left a bad taste in my mouth, though, and I will never forgive them for what they did to Splinter Cell.

haha that artwork was awesome!

Me too, it was called Sands of Time and came out for the Gamecube

How much you bet you will still have to climb towers and clear out outposts?

another +1 for this and what they did to splinter cell (how they can have nearly perfected the espionage game blueprint in chaos theory back in 05 and ten years later we've somehow ended up with conviction and blacklist?), rainbow 6 now mp only (admittedly the last vegas games were enjoyable, although 1 > 2) and far cry (2 was an abomination, 3 and 4 lost all the original's individuality and over the top cheesiness, becoming just a mish mash of existing ubi game mechanics and over stuffed with side activities). let's not even mention watch dogs.

@suicidesn0wman: the 'hate' is more disappointment in what they've gone from to what they've become. 10-12 years ago they were churning out many high quality games that were unique and complex enough not to patronise and were one of my favourite devs, these days it just feels like they're releasing from a conveyor belt of mediocrity with a quantity over quality mentality

It sure is. He posted another picture.

Michel Ancel Posts Another Beyond Good & Evil 2 Teaser To Excite Fans

to excite, or to tease/troll?

Has it been officially announced?

For the most part, the same.

Although I must admit to really enjoyed Blacklist and Far Cry 4, but these are anomalies.

Most of there games feel very cynical. No humanity.

To Tease.

It hasn't been announced.

I can understand disappointment with them, I still enjoy SC, even Double Agent was fun imo, but there's a fine line between being disappointed that they took a fan favorite franchise in a different direction, and the actual 'hate' that I was seeing in the article with people actually wanting to see one of the 5 largest publishers go belly up and put thousands of employees on the street.

I think people didn't understand that I was being literal with the word hate, and as I said it was not directed at anyone here.

That said, I am still hopeful that Ubi can provide us with some more fun and exciting games. They're bringing Ironside back for the next Splinter Cell, maybe it's a sign they're going to try and go back a bit closer to Sam Fishers roots with the next game. Though I'm not sure if you knew that since I don't think GameSpot reported it even though the news came from Ironside himself.

I'm willing to let them push their franchises in new directions so long as they learn from the mistakes they make and come back with something better next time around.

@Black_Knight_00: Konami doesn't even count anymore. What are they even doing these days besides milking MGS? We haven't heard anything about Castlevania since LOS2 (and didn't they just publish that one?) and Silent Hill is pretty much dead because they hate the joy of gamers. They went from having some of the best series in gaming to barely even being a gaming company over the course of a generation and a half.

Expect more companies to do the same in the near future. Successful mobile games are making the same or more money of a AAA release, with zero production costs. To give you perspective, a Call of Duty game costs $150 million to make and market and rakes in around one billion dollars (a 600% return on the investment, server maintainance excluded) and then peters out to virtually nothing in about a year; Clash of Clans was reported earning $2,5 million PER DAY in 2013 and I'd be shocked if it cost more than 100k to develop and maintain. That's $2 billion in the last 3 years alone, and counting. The best part is that half of that revenue is generated by less than 2% of the userbase. Imagine what they could earn if they could figure out a way to squeeze money out of just 10% of users. Makes your head spin.

Add to it that the casual audience is easy to please, as opposed to the entitlement and incremental demands of core gamers, and it's no shock that companies are looking to go where the easy money is.

i didn't know that. that's already upped my interest in the next game. great news.

absolutely. i just haven't seen much evidence that this is the case with their marquee franchises. the latest splinter cell, far cry, rainbow 6 and assassin's creed games haven't gone on to bigger and better things, compared to the earlier game / game(s) imo

You seem to forget the amount of mobile games out there compared to the ones who actually make money. If you could simply make a mobile game and it would make that every time, No developer would be able to persuade their shareholders to make anything else.

The success rate is much higher when it comes to prober games, Just take Rovio, who before Angry birds had 0 major hits and 0 after Angry birds, their whole existence is based on income from angry birds. which is why you are not seeing a decrease in proper games compared to a huge increase in mobile games. What you however will see is a added attention to mobile gaming, more games will incorporated the platform and also expand on it.

Also i think COD and MOBA´s disagree with your statement about casual "audience" vs core gamers.

Which is why I said "successful" mobile games.

The reason companies are still making AAA games that are bad for their bottom line is because they haven't figured out a way to make the transition. Yet.

Yes, and successful mobile games is not that easy. Again as i mentioned before. The chance of hitting that sweet spot is much higher with AAA/indie console/pc games than it is with Mobile games.

Take Rovio again as a example, without Angry birds they would have 0 extra income, they have no other game out there, which is why they "reinvent" that same game again and again but even that has now cost them a lot of profit, because there is only so many birds you can throw before people get tired of it.

So the reason why Ubisoft and all the rest is making AAA games, is because they know how hard it is to hit it big on mobile compared to the main gaming market.

Yep, rumor hit GAF in August. Rumor came from the set of a movie Ironside was filming in Toronto I believe. He basically confirmed to a few different people that he was pulling double duty while in town, recording lines, maybe even doing some mocap for Ubisoft. Asked if it was for a new Splinter Cell game he simply said "It's happening".

This is also most likely the reason Ubi is so confident they don't need Far Cry or Assassin's Creed in 2017, they'll have For Honor, Steep, South Park: Fractured But Whole, Splinter Cell, and possibly BG&E: Prejudices of Philosophers to fall back on for the year.

YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH! Ironside back as Fisher?! So down! He WAS Fisher!

@gooch4011: @Macutchi: Yep, forgot to add the link to the page on GAF. Here you go.... http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1263153

@suicidesn0wman: By the Power of Greyskull! I need this! Maybe Ubisoft is going in the right direction with this. I really enjoyed Blacklist but it just wasn't the same without Ironside.

@gooch4011: Yep, I wasn't happy with the change either, but I still enjoyed the game. I think it even had one of the best stealth levels I had played in a while iirc. The one where you have to escape from prison...

Anyway, yes, I am extremely hopeful this rumor is true. The source on GAF has a history of leaking genuine info early, and if it's coming from Ironside himself that only seals the deal for me. I am HOPEFUL that it is a sign Ubisoft is finally listening(coupled with the Assassin's Creed delay this year maybe they are), but of course, it's a believe it when I see it situation.

I just hope that they allow the game to be shown off at an Xbox event this fall, or at PS Experience in December, or even the NX reveal next week(rumored). Don't want to wait until E3 2017 to finally find out if the rumor is true or not.

exactly lol. i think i would have been more forgiving of blacklist if they didn't turn sam into captain generic with his merry band of cliches for a team

@Macutchi: As generic as any tv show that is a cop drama or hospital drama. I'm looking at you Chicago Med! A bunch of crap I have to watch the last 5 minutes of waiting on Reddington and his shenanigans on the Blacklist.

@gooch4011: @suicidesn0wman: you've both said you enjoyed blacklist and i know plenty of others did too so i can't help but feel like i'm some cranky old geezer being overly negative but some of the things i disliked when playing (and it is a while ago so my memory may be a little hazy so they may not be entirely accurate) were things like:

• the player detection meter system had been lifted straight out of far cry 3,
• there was this kill from above helicopter section lifted straight out of a call of duty game (felt out of place and only used once),
• i was bounding round a building from ledge to ledge like altair (felt more assassin's creed than splinter cell),
• no ironside and an annoyingly forgettable cast,
• mandatory fight scenes where stealth wasn't an option,
• no map or binoculars to scope out an area,
• no remote hacking (hold down a button / key to hack instead),
• pick up a body and pick up a gun are the same button so you're screwed if you want to move a body that's next to a dropped weapon,
• invisible walls (poor level design),
• having to pay for your own upgrades when you work for the military?
• sudden switch to first person view right near the end

etc etc.

basically it didn't feel like a splinter cell game. how did you guys feel about these things? did they bother you? i was a big fan of the first three games and didn't mind double agent (the original xbox version was really good and much more chaos theory-esque than the 360 / pc version). i guess i was disappointed with the decline and "modern ubisoftification" of what was once a very unique and special series (to me)