Ubisoft's dialogue with community

[spectatorx]

Here is perfect example of this how ubisoft is "listening to" their customers, fans, gamers - community, and how they react on it:
http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/753072-quot-Devs-are-aware-quot

There is no dialogue between ubisoft and community, only community is talking all the time, pointing out problems and providing detailed descriptions of these problems but ubisoft is doing absolutely nothing.

How is that even possible...

 

[RejZoR]

Yeah, like devs were listening on EA forums (until they closed it down for good). Users complained, devs acknowledged the problem and nothing was done after that. Who cares about such "feedback" and "community" when you're always communicating with a brick wall...

I had quite some respect for Ubisoft back in the good old days but they ruined all the respect in my picture. Haven't bought or pirated any of their game ever since they introduced the always-on DRM.
Unless they seriously plan to change that and get rid of the dumb UPlay, then i might become their customer again. Until that happens i'll be only buying their older games on GOG.

 

[AsRock]

And when they are listening they come up with games like GRAW which both GRIM and UBI said they making the next latest and greatest of GR which it could not of been any further from the truth.

Don't believe shit what they say and just wait see if it's worth buying when a demo comes out or if you feel lucky with peoples reviews.

 

[sidspyker]

Ubisoft at its finest. They were good when they had their 2004 logo.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Publishers often won't let developers patch their game unless it is something serious.

 

[lemonadesoda]

spectatorx, I can see you are angry. But why bring the ubisoft playground to TPU? What's the point? Ubisoft aren't reading here, so how exactly will it help? I don't see how it is constructive to vent here... unless you are trying to create link-backs through search engines on all google-SEO-optimised sites like TPU. But that's not really in the spirit of TPU.

 

[Fourstaff]

Even if the devs acknowledge the problem there are many steps to go through before they can push a patch through. Manpower, time, validation, etc, all these takes time and more importantly, money. Very often unless its a critical issue they will just ignore it.

 

[spectatorx]

spectatorx, I can see you are angry. But why bring the ubisoft playground to TPU? What's the point? Ubisoft aren't reading here, so how exactly will it help? I don't see how it is constructive to vent here... unless you are trying to create link-backs through search engines on all google-SEO-optimised sites like TPU. But that's not really in the spirit of TPU.

Because i hope someone on TPU and other IT-media-sites will take this topic as news or even article pointing out problems with support of this company and other companies and all these idiots from ubisoft finally will see what people really think about them and will change way how their support works.

 

[CJCerny]

Because i hope someone on TPU and other IT-media-sites will take this topic as news or even article pointing out problems with support of this company and other companies and all these idiots from ubisoft finally will see what people really think about them and will change way how their support works.

I think it's important to keep things in perspective. We're talking about defects in a game--not mission critical stuff like the software that runs your local power plant. I'm sure the decision makers at Ubisoft are well aware of the issues with their products. I am also sure that those same decision makers meet regularly with their developers to decide if any of the known problems need to be addressed and what ramifications they have on their bottom line if they do or don't fix them. They aren't idiots--they are running a business that needs to make money. Sometimes, their need to make money doesn't match up with your desire to have a perfectly functioning game. If that is the case, just don't buy their product.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

A publisher not listening to complaints on their own forums? For shame.



Serious hat on now. Why do you think this is ever going to be addressed? A developer is beholden to the whims of its publisher, and the publisher just wants monetary compensation. A game like Assasin's Creed will get DLC bundles. If the developers are smart, they will roll fixes into the DLC, forcing EA's DLC to pay for its patching.

Think about this as the developer for just a moment. My studio has a finite budget, which goes into everything from development to testing. Our testing budget did not have any way to account for some substantial issue, but it became apparent when it hit customer's machines. Our publisher wants a stream of DLC to make sure that their investment has the highest returns, given that DLC can amount to the profit of the game without adding substantial costs. Given that the publisher still calls the shots, fixes and patches have to take a back seat. If the team isn't completely hammered, we might be able to get the patches into DLC, but given the aggressive push from the publisher we don't have the time or the resources to do anything but create new DLC content.


Don't get me wrong, Ubisoft sucks hard. I cannot defend the business practices, and the lack of attention should (and hopefully will shortly) cost them customers. I will say that the last Ubisoft game I bought was over 4 years ago. It is my hope that their continued BS practices will soon put them into a world of financial hurt. The complete lack of publisher QC isn't exactly helping their case.

 

[Depth]

Meanwhile, at Eagle Dynamics

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1662836
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=74763
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=100359
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=97500
http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=100638

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Haven't bought or pirated any of their game ever since they introduced the always-on DRM.

Ubi stopped using Always On fall of last year, that's one thing they finally DID listen to feedback on. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/05/ubisoft-scrapping-always-on-drm-for-pc-games/

Ubi's certainly not perfect, and I hate what they've done to Assassin's Creed ever since Revelations, but they're certainly not the worst devs/pubs out there. They've given Far Cry 3 a lot of patch support, and it's one of the better releases of 2012.

 

[jagd]

Player opinions are important , i check steam forums for bugs/fixes before buying a game .If a company famous for '' publish and forget '' type business no buy for me .
It is also wrong from long term business perspective ,you may make a fast cash grab several times but at long term a developer /publisher will get a very bad reputation.Also everyone is not early adopters a lot people wait for deal-discount /bug fixes no bug fixes put your future income to danger .
BTW a lot of games released lately need serious patch/fixes , i dont know developers are lazy or budget/deadline problems.

Serious hat on now. Why do you think this is ever going to be addressed? A developer is beholden to the whims of its publisher, and the publisher just wants monetary compensation.

 

[D007]

Yeah, like devs were listening on EA forums (until they closed it down for good). Users complained, devs acknowledged the problem and nothing was done after that. Who cares about such "feedback" and "community" when you're always communicating with a brick wall...

I had quite some respect for Ubisoft back in the good old days but they ruined all the respect in my picture. Haven't bought or pirated any of their game ever since they introduced the always-on DRM.
Unless they seriously plan to change that and get rid of the dumb UPlay, then i might become their customer again. Until that happens i'll be only buying their older games on GOG.

Yea I remember when they did that BS with silent hunter 4...
It ruined the game
me and my brother spent 6 hard months, modding that game to make battleships, destroyers and even PT boats 100% playable. But they single handedly ruined all of our efforts with that crap DRM and crap server system.

Still Ubi has good games and they are worth buying. You're missing out on some fun games..