Jimquisition: Ubisoft - A Sad History of PC Failures

[Jimothy Sterling]

Ubisoft - A Sad History of PC Failures

Oh Ubisoft, will you never not give us material? Following a recent Watch Dogs PC controversy, Jimquisition looks at Ubi's recent history of being terrible at computer games.

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[Evonisia]

I am instantly reminded of that thread from a few months ago asking why people hated EA more than Ubisoft. Things a bit more clear on why that question was asked.

So is this is the reason you reviewed Watch_Dogs on the PS4, then? I hadn't assumed you bothered with the PC version.

 

[synobal]

Smart move starting in 2010, I could start much earlier than that and just go on and on and on.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Only reported instances of good PC ports:
-Assassin's Creed Director's Cut: none of that horse-ing about, and fast-travel. Yes x10.
-Beyond Good And Evil was alright.
-Prince of Persia: Sands of Time still runs on modern OS, considering that neither Warrior Within nor The Two Thrones do, it's pretty impressive.

That is all. I agree with 100% of what you said Jim. Uplay is f***ing horrendous.

 

[Muspelheim]

Ubisoft made it perfectly clear that they don't want my money years back. Haven't bought one of their products since, and never bloody will.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Watching Ubisoft trying to avoid controversy is like watching a drunk man play Pin The Tail On The Donkey across a minefield.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

The Punge decides what is iconic.

 

[An Ceannaire]

It's times like this that I'm ashamed I own as many Ubisoft games as I do.

 

[themilo504]

The worst part is that in the past ubisoft did make good pc ports, hell the pc port of rayman 2 is my favorite game ever, so I really don?t know why ubisoft decided to join the dark side of terrible drm and bad ports.

 

[Ipsen]

Nice closing pop-off Jim.

I almost wonder how much more misinformed big companies like Ubisoft will make themselves with their, well I don't have a better way to describe it than 'isolationist' policies. Feeding a dev the line about 95% of consumer would pirate their game? Even if the trend of detrimental piracy was true, who in serious business would actually believe 95%? It's like these people don't use computers or the internet. And it's not even isolation from competition, it's isolation from consumers who could be buying their products.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I didn't expect to be laughing so hard at the end there, but it definitely got me.

Anyway, I've been aware of these issues over the years, but I never thought about just how bad it all was once added up. I only have a few ubisoft games, but I've been skipping their titles ever since they sold out AC as it's all looked creatively bankrupt. I mean hell, I couldn't even play far cry 3 after a month or so because uplay couldn't update the game and wouldn't let me uninstall or otherwise modify it in any way to try and get it working. (I was stuck with the uplay version as it came with a new graphics card I purchased). I wound up having to uninstall uplay and I haven't missed the game enough to bother trying again.

I had my fun with Assassin's Creed II and I never did get Beyond Good and Evil to work properly on the pc, so I don't feel like I'm missing much anymore.

 

[Xman490]

Another instance of Uplay shutting down: December 2012. In the 2 months before that, I had been enjoying Driver: San Francisco on PC, but then I couldn't for a month and refuse to play it any more in fear of that happening again.

Ubisoft are now holding back Watch Dogs on Wii U for several months. I swear, if that port doesn't run consistently, I'm just going to pass on that game. I wouldn't even mind much if it's put down to low graphics or doesn't use the Gamepad much. But delaying for the 2nd or 3rd time is just appalling.

 

[lukesparow]

"We won't make it if we can't milk it to death!" (make a franchise out of it).
Is anyone honestly still expecting anything good from Ubisoft?

 

[dragongit]

I'll just leave this here.

http://whatifgaming.com/the-division-developer-insider-we-already-downgraded-a-few-things

saw that coming a mile away. I know Ubisoft and many other companies have promised the moon and given us dirt in the past. but Watch Dogs was paraded as the next generation, what we were going to see with the PS4 and Xbone. To see them double back on effects and graphical settings has forever hurt their reputation for me. Every time I see a game from them now, all I can think is "I wonder what features will be cut, I wonder how poorly it'll look at launch". I feel Far Cry 4 will also not look as nice as it did during E3.

 

[Angry Canadian Gamer]

While I and I'm sure many others agree with the content of your video Mr. Sterling, aren't you a bit worried that with a Jimquisition this inflammatory, you might be risking the possibility of a blacklisting from Ubisoft, similar to the now infamous (and thoroughly deserved) thrashing you gave Konami?

 

[ResonanceSD]

But if people stop buying PC Ubisoft games, then I can't keep laughing at the same people who get excited about a ubi game, preorder it, get disappointed, FORGET ALL OF THIS, and do it again.

 

[VanQ]

And nearly a month after release, Watch Dogs is still completely unplayable on my top of the line, hand built $4000US PC. When UPlay actually decides to let me log in the framerate is so god damn choppy it's unplayable. Thank Jim I didn't pay a cent for it.

[sub]I borrowed the disc from a friend whose computer also couldn't play it. Put down the hammer, mods![/sub]

 

[Fyffer]

Its sad, really. Ubisoft won't stop though, because the gaming community on the whole refuses to deprive themselves of the latest games to send the message that we won't put up with it. And lack of sales is really the only message they'll listen to, even if they'll lie about what it really means.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

Sigh, you could have made a special super-long episode there. There's just so much more shit that should have been mentioned. Like when in 2008, they released Prince of Persia without DRM and immediately used it as an excuse to start that entire always-on thing because 'Price of Persia was pirated' (as it would have been anyway). After which they refused to release the story DLC on PC 'because piracy'.

Or that entire Starforce thing back in 2005 or so. Which was DRM that was essentially malware and fucked up computers. Including mine.

 

[sageoftruth]

Well, that settles it then. No Watch Dogs for me. The last thing I need is another game with Uplay baggage to muck it up.