AC4 developer states that optimizing a PC port isn't necessary.

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I for one find this developers attitude outright disgusting. It has pretty much sealed the deal about not purchasing AC4. I was on the fence previously but this helped me see that employees at Ubisoft still have animosity and disrespect for the PC platform despite all their PR nonsense that they have changed.

Seriously, just get over it. Just be glad a game you want to play is available on your platform. There's plenty of games I've played on PS3 that weren't optimized for the PS3 and they provided me with countless fun. Bayonetta is still my favorite game of the gen and it was by no means optimized for PS3, and if I boycotted it, I would've missed out on one hell of gaming experience. If you want to punish the publisher and developer for doing something you don't like, then want a month or so for a price drop as you know that 1st month is the key month, but there's no need to punish yourself. Lastly, the PC just has lowest priority for most publishers and developers because many more people buy the console version so obviously less resources and time will go towards the PC version.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Oh for fuck sake, what an idiot. I realize now that it was taken out of context, but it's all over the internet now, and considering the reports of bad optimization, it will be difficult to calm the masses without providing them with a nice shiny patch.

 

[Rutabaga_swe]

I for one find this developers attitude outright disgusting. It has pretty much sealed the deal about not purchasing AC4. I was on the fence previously but this helped me see that employees at Ubisoft still have animosity and disrespect for the PC platform despite all their PR nonsense that they have changed.

Seriously, just get over it. Just be glad a game you want to play is available on your platform. There's plenty of games I've played on PS3 that weren't optimized for the PS3 and they provided me with countless fun. Bayonetta is still my favorite game of the gen and it was by no means optimized for PS3, and if I boycotted it, I would've missed out on one hell of gaming experience. If you want to punish the publisher and developer for doing something you don't like, then want a month or so for a price drop as you know that 1st month is the key month, but there's no need to punish yourself. Lastly, the PC just has lowest priority for most publishers and developers because many more people buy the console version so obviously less resources and time will go towards the PC version.

Are you for real? We should not care that a port is complete shit, just be happy that there is one to begin with. Right. Gotcha. So the next time you are unhappy with something, i want you to think back to this post and remind yourself to be grateful that even though whatever it is you are unhappy about is shit, at least it exists.

Obviously less people will buy the PC version when it's a bag of crap with one of the most obnoxious DRM system ever. Until developers start trusting PC gamers, console versions will do better.

 

[BaronVH]

While I don't like to hear that, it is refreshing to hear somebody being honest. That gives me an insight into my hobby that I can react to. I am also sure that is how most other developers approach games. I have always been surprised how well games run on consoles compared to PCs with much more horsepower.

 

[Rob Robson]

Well since Ubisoft is run by a bunch of cunts who openly hate and declare pc gamers pirates, I'll just let them continue shouting into their echo chamber. And continue to not buy their games.

This. Shame though that their cancerous, toxic attitude is trickling down to their developer studios. I had hoped that the developers under Ubisoft actively hated their lives and had remorse and guilt for working for what is essentially an industry tumor. This just shows that the developers are just as low-life as their masters.

 

[Sansha]

I bought the smaller of the special editions of AC4, and I'm picking my copy up tomorrow. I'm confident in my PC's ability to run it as well as if not better than my house's 360 can do. I never had a problem with AC2.

I honestly don't get why my fellow PC gamers hate Ubisoft. I've never had a problem with Uplay, and frankly I agree with their condemnation of the PC majority as pirates.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Okay, so it looks like an out of context quote, and not the actual views of the development team. Still, they should maybe sit down and think about why people are so ready to believe something like this. Sure, it's partially because some people are willing to eat up bad press of any kind, especially for companies they've already decided they don't like, but part of it is that Ubisoft has a history of not giving a shit about PC gamers. Just look at their always online DRM and their consistently late ports.

If Ubisoft wants trust of PC gamers, it's something that needs to be earned.

 

[Sansha]

If Ubisoft wants trust of PC gamers, it's something that needs to be earned.

Their games play on my PC without lag or bugs. That's literally all the trust I needed to spend more dollars on a special edition of Black Flag.

I feel like I've been living under a rock, then I come out and everyone is bitching out Ubisoft, and nobody will give me a straight answer why.

 

[shrekfan246]

I bought the smaller of the special editions of AC4, and I'm picking my copy up tomorrow. I'm confident in my PC's ability to run it as well as if not better than my house's 360 can do. I never had a problem with AC2.

ACII isn't ACIV. On release, ACIII ran terribly on most high-end machines too.

I honestly don't get why my fellow PC gamers hate Ubisoft.

Really?

I've never had a problem with Uplay, and frankly I agree with their condemnation of the PC majority as pirates.

Remember that they're including you in that condemnation of PC gamers.

But between being called filthy thieves, consistently treated like afterthoughts with games coming to the platform months after the console release and as terrible, choppy, clunky ports, the biggest advent of always-online DRM in single-player games paving the way for games like Diablo III and SimCity, and endlessly pumping out more and more crap like Raving Rabbids and repeated sequels of Assassin's Creed while teasing and ignoring their fans' questions about something like Beyond Good & Evil, are you really surprised people are annoyed with Ubisoft?

Regardless of the context of the quote in question here, Ubisoft has consistently proven that they think very little of the PC community and have a long history of terribly-optimized PC games.

 

[Sansha]

I bought the smaller of the special editions of AC4, and I'm picking my copy up tomorrow. I'm confident in my PC's ability to run it as well as if not better than my house's 360 can do. I never had a problem with AC2.

ACII isn't ACIV. On release, ACIII ran terribly on most high-end machines too.

I honestly don't get why my fellow PC gamers hate Ubisoft.

Really?

I've never had a problem with Uplay, and frankly I agree with their condemnation of the PC majority as pirates.

Remember that they're including you in that condemnation of PC gamers.

But between being called filthy thieves, consistently treated like afterthoughts with games coming to the platform months after the console release and as terrible, choppy, clunky ports, the biggest advent of always-online DRM in single-player games paving the way for games like Diablo III and SimCity, and endlessly pumping out more and more crap like Raving Rabbids and repeated sequels of Assassin's Creed while teasing and ignoring their fans' questions about something like Beyond Good & Evil, are you really surprised people are annoyed with Ubisoft?

Regardless of the context of the quote in question here, Ubisoft has consistently proven that they think very little of the PC community and have a long history of terribly-optimized PC games.

As someone who's sunk too many hours into AC2, here it is from my view:

1. Millions of PC gamers are filthy thieves, and fuck them for it. I don't even recommend PC games to one of my friends anymore because his first stop to pick up a copy is the Bay.
2. I never had a choppy or clunky experience with the game.
3. I never even knew Uplay was always-online. I've never been kicked off it mid-game or have it fail to start.
4. Rabbids and AC sells copies and makes profits. Why shouldn't they?

I am surprised, yes. So they develop primarily for the consoles. Of course they do, it's where the money is. It's not like they have the shitty business ethics of EA. Hell, given that it'll be ten centuries before we see a GTA port, I'm happy they even bothered to punch out a port on release week at all.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I for one find this developers attitude outright disgusting. It has pretty much sealed the deal about not purchasing AC4. I was on the fence previously but this helped me see that employees at Ubisoft still have animosity and disrespect for the PC platform despite all their PR nonsense that they have changed.

Seriously, just get over it. Just be glad a game you want to play is available on your platform. There's plenty of games I've played on PS3 that weren't optimized for the PS3 and they provided me with countless fun. Bayonetta is still my favorite game of the gen and it was by no means optimized for PS3, and if I boycotted it, I would've missed out on one hell of gaming experience. If you want to punish the publisher and developer for doing something you don't like, then want a month or so for a price drop as you know that 1st month is the key month, but there's no need to punish yourself. Lastly, the PC just has lowest priority for most publishers and developers because many more people buy the console version so obviously less resources and time will go towards the PC version.

Are you for real? We should not care that a port is complete shit, just be happy that there is one to begin with. Right. Gotcha. So the next time you are unhappy with something, i want you to think back to this post and remind yourself to be grateful that even though whatever it is you are unhappy about is shit, at least it exists.

Obviously less people will buy the PC version when it's a bag of crap with one of the most obnoxious DRM system ever. Until developers start trusting PC gamers, console versions will do better.

LMAO, I didn't say you shouldn't care, I even said wait for a price drop until you feel the price matches what you feel the value of said game is. If a game is not as optimized as it should be, it's still going to be pretty much the same game, the experience isn't going to be vastly inferior. I played Bayonetta on PS3, that is an example of a pretty poor port job, but I still fucking enjoyed the shit out of the game. My life is better for playing it than not playing it.

I'm pretty sure console versions of most games sell way more than the PC version (regardless of how good or DRM free the PC version is). I'm sure there's several games that do sell better on PC, but those are almost always series that started on PC or genres like RTS that are just better on PC.

 

[shrekfan246]

As someone who's sunk too many hours into AC2, here it is from my view:

Again, ACIV isn't ACII.

1. Millions of PC gamers are filthy thieves, and fuck them for it. I don't even recommend PC games to one of my friends anymore because his first stop to pick up a copy is the Bay.

So you see no problem with being accused of being a criminal when you're innocent? Because you don't get to be excluded by virtue of being you.

2. I never had a choppy or clunky experience with the game.

II happens to have fairly low requirements and is a few years old to boot, and as such isn't the best context for trying to state that Ubisoft games run well on the PC.

3. I never even knew Uplay was always-online. I've never been kicked off it mid-game or have it fail to start.

That'd most likely be because in the last year or so, they patched out the always-online DRM after the massive backlash over it. Though, related to the last point, "it didn't happen to me" isn't a good enough reason to suddenly say "fuck PC gamers, there's nothing wrong with Ubisoft".

I am surprised, yes. So they develop primarily for the consoles. Of course they do, it's where the money is. It's not like they have the shitty business ethics of EA. Hell, given that it'll be ten centuries before we see a GTA port, I'm happy they even bothered to punch out a port on release week at all.

ACIV has been out for a few weeks on the consoles, at least in many sections of the world. As were all of the previous AC games, only one of which released any time close to the console release. But they weren't pushed back long enough for it to actually be because of any reason like extra bug-testing or optimization. It's not a problem of them primarily developing for consoles, but for actively scorning the PC community because of completely fabricated reasons.

 

[somonels]

Egosoft had the same mindset, go read about the X Rebirth launch issues.

It really isn't about (hurr buy better graphucks) because optimization is very hardware specific, causing possible outcomes that can make better cards perform significantly worse. But it's Ubisoft so it's hard to care about their well being.

 

[Something Amyss]

Well since Ubisoft is run by a bunch of cunts who openly hate and declare pc gamers pirates, I'll just let them continue shouting into their echo chamber. And continue to not buy their games.

Which they will then blame on you being a filthy pirate, because it fits their narrative to assume if you're not buynig their shoddily put together games with crippling DRM then you must be STEALING!

Ah, the joys of being a corporation. When I do something wrong, it's my fault. when they do something wrong, it's because pirates.

 

[Double A]

This is exactly why the only Ubisoft game I've bought in the past... three? years is Blood Dragon.

Well since Ubisoft is run by a bunch of cunts who openly hate and declare pc gamers pirates, I'll just let them continue shouting into their echo chamber. And continue to not buy their games.

Call an innocent man something enough times, and he might just become it. They really are digging their own grave. It's just a grave for a bunch of money though. Console players don't give a singular fuck about any of this.

 

[ThePariah]

TBH I'm sick of game developers & companies being downright hostile and patronising to PC gamers.
Essentially treating us like 2nd class citizens because we choose to play on an open platform, and not getting suckered into buying a "next gen" console.

So, no decent PC development/port - no buy.

 

[Enizer]

i'm pretty tired of every thread about some system having a better version, and every one of these threads, someone suggests people just buy the other system.

where i live(iceland) console games range from 2x-3x the price of pc games, and that's before steam sales,
console games pretty much never go on sale here.
so this means for gaming, PC is far more games for the money,
steam holiday sales net me dozens of games for less than the price a single console disk.
(i will admit though i dont have much experience with the sony or microsoft online stores)

and none of this adresses the point of whether or not this is actually true, and if so, this is a pretty annoying behaviour to see from anyone, sadly, not remotely surprising coming from ubisoft..

Hiding behind piracy is ********, while piracy is a problem, this still looks to me like a car manufacturer saying: "look, someone is going to steal some of those anyway, so we wont put much effort into making them properly.
We may however put anti-theft devices in to disable the car in case of theft, and you should trust us it will only affect thieves"

on a last note, i'm also annoyed with sales number quotes, these are all classified by the publishers, and it's not actually legal to post the real numbers if you do have them, which is VERY unlikely.
console sales numbers however, are all accessible to one company, (microsoft and/or sony) making the numbers THERE more likely to be accurate.

example: just after skyrim was launched, the advertised total PC sales numbers were LESS the number of current users running it on steam, just days after launch(i checked this just hours after the reports were in the news)
so, any sales number regarding PC you see, are likely to be total ********, reported however the numerous publishing companies like, and they hide these numbers from each other, so they likely dont have the correct figures even if they felt like sharing.