I Am Alive Producer Dismisses "Bitching" PC Gamers

[Bostur]

Good riddance I say. We don't need UBIsofts obnoxious DRM schemes to pollute the PC market.

Can I get a refund for those of your games that needed a crack to work?

 

[DigitalAtlas]

Guys, we're missing the main point of this article!

Ubisoft still seems to believe this game is actually coming out.

 

[maninahat]

Well, I might have bought it before, but now you don't have a chance even if there was a PC version. Nice job alienating a chunk of the market!

Not a very big chunk, allegedly.

Despite the candid PR, they probably do put a lot of thought into whether they should port these titles. It isn't some fat CEO at a desk, going "nah, lets not bother". They have marketing teams and accountants and all sorts weighing these decisions up. If they ultimately feel that the game won't sell well enough, then I am fine with them making that decision. Sucks for those who wanted it, but there is no reasonable alternative. That is why PC gamers are considered to be "bitching"; because they never weigh in the fact that these company's need to make money, or the fact that they are entitled to nothing.

Saying that, they could at least get a better PR man. This guy sounds like a jerk. At least they could have told PC gamers to go fuck themselves in a polite way.

 

[AKmontalvo]

I actually kinda get this, they're tired of bad people getting free games, at this point its probably not even about the cost effectiveness in the market, just that they are tired of having their games massively pirated, you also gotta imagine they get tired of creating DRM as much as we are getting tired inputting it

 

[deckai]

Just because one game, series, or company can invest the time and energy to make a PC release successful despite its challenges doesn't mean ALL companies desire to.

Fact is, the money argument isn't a matter of 'Look, it can make this amount of sales!' Because that's not actually a good enough reason.

Let's say it the return on the investment of man-hours is guaranteed double. For every 5 dollars of costs you put in, you profit 10 in return. That sounds like a great deal!

Now let's say you've got $350K of labor to use on a project; at first glance the one that gets you $700k in sales is a no-brainer! However... you've also got another project that promises $1050k in sales for that same labor. If you don't assign that $350K to the $1050K project... you're actually losing $350K. It's no different if you simply burned $350K after working on the $1M project.

Now what if you don't only have one project like that... but you have three. Or four. That $700k project will never come to fruition, because it's not worth doing.

It's similiar to your carry limit in Skyrim--it doesn't matter what the cost of the item... you're always better off carrying 10 shoes worth 10 gold each that weigh 1 unit, than carrying a single piece of armor that gets you 100 gold, but weighs 40 units.

But the main difference between any Ubisoft game and "The Wither 2" is, the use of DRM, the GoG edition didn't even use any kind of DRM...

On the later part, I would say, you are correct, if you have a limited workforce, it's the only logical thing to assign it to the most profitable project. BUT there are a few things you didn't consider (well, at least I think you didn't). First, Ubisoft destroyed their Pc market on their own, they are known for some of the most obnoxious DRM there is, which doesn't help if you want to sell your games, I would even say, it hurts their sales because less people buy their product and even more people pirate it. Second, It's one thing to make your games console exclusive but changing it mid-development and blaming part of the target audience for it, is really bad PR, and I mean really really bad PR, you see on your own what kind of response their decision created. I'm sure trough this kind of reaction they lost a lot more in the long run, trough lost customers, people that won't buy their games in the future (and not only in the "Pc only" crowd).

Longterm planning and thinking is one of the most important things in the economy, by only thinking about the next quarter you end up losing a lot more then you wished for (just look at the recent financial crisis, short-time planning was one of the major reasons why it happened the way it happened).


(I can't think of a proper Skyrim analogy for my argument : / )

 

[Zay-el]

I can go by any number of reasons why one doesn't wish to develop a game for the PC as well. Whether it's a good point or not, at least they tried coming up with an excuse.

With that said, I draw the line at presenting your point in the most obnoxiously dickish way possible. "Well, ya guys are gonna do it anyway, so fuck you", is not the kind of reasoning that I could call reasonable in any shape or form.

Also, I find it rather ironic that this statement is uttered in relation to a game that has been in development hell for Cthulhu knows how long and a company that is really becoming notorious for stacking vaporware. Posting a single damn trailer or picture every 3-4 years will not get people excited about BG&E2 Ubisoft, not even those who HAD been waiting for it for quite a while now.

 

[repeating integers]

You see, this is why some people worry that PC gaming might be dying.

Developers are just losing the ability to give a shit.

I'm not a PC gamer, but I feel for you guys.

 

[Shjade]

Oh wow, they're not making a PC version of this game? Dang!

...

What is this game again? I've never heard of it.

 

[Uncreation]

Ok, i have two questions:

1 What is I am Alive?

2 Who cares about ubisoft?

 

[Pandabearparade]

1 What is I am Alive?

No clue. Looks like Fallout 3/New Vegas, but with all the fun taken out.

2 Who cares about ubisoft?

Well, I used to. Assassin's Creed 2 was a great game, but they started to decline in quality about the same time they started to turn into giant bungholes, so.. er.. I'unno who cares now.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Just as well. If Ubisoft are too infantile to realize it's their DRM that's causing the "too much piracy" (in itself a fallacy 'cuz not even a quarter of the entire gaming population pirates), they have no business making games in the first place. More money to the indie market where there isn't any DRM to be found.

 

[Omnific One]

Okay, has anyone ever noticed that Ubisoft was really bad in PC titles BEFORE they started with the whole DRM thing? All my Ubisoft PC titles come from the discount pile and most of them don't work.

Even worse: a couple of months ago I bought the ubisoft discount pack on steam. 4 games for 10$ or something. Call of juarez crashes after the intro movie, Assasin's creed forgot to draw the player half way through the game and nowhere was a solution to be found, and Far cry 2 was just 'ugh'. The only ubisoft PC games I've ever found working are the Tom Clancy series

The Rayman Raving Rabbids PC version did not work on most PC's for no apparent reason. A friend of mine bought it full price and could not get it to work. FYI, hes a computer scientist. A patch was never released.

The point I'm trying to make is: ubisoft is so bad in PC titles, they are actually doing us a favour with not making a PC version. Seriously, if it's ubisoft, go directly to console, do not pass start and seriously do not collect any pity about a missing PC version.

I agree... but not even Tom Clancy is immune. SC: Conviction is the worst port I have ever played. They didn't even bother to optimize it. 15-20 FPS (low settings) on a PC that pulls 45-60 on near maxed Crysis.

 

[moosek]

PC Gamers are an extremely vocal minority. So no one cares because the minority, no matter how loud they are, has less people buying than the majority. I'll probably grab I Am Alive if it reviews well; I'll spend my hard-earned $15 on a product that is good.

I'm not gonna brow-beat any pirates, they should just know that people don't care about their complaints when they perceive the entire PC gaming group as hypocrites.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

To curb some of the flame in here,this is an article that Andy will not post:

http://kotaku.com/5862513/i-am-alive-creator-insists-hes-not-opposed-to-a-pc-port-and-didnt-mean-to-piss-off-pc-gamers

 

[Amnestic]

this is an article that Andy will not post:

Prove it.

As for the article itself, it sounds like a whole lot of backtracking based on the large, negative response from his initial comment.

Before:

"We've heard loud and clear that PC gamers are bitching about there being no version for them. But are these people just making noise just because there's no version or because it's a game they actually want to play? Would they buy it if we made it?"

"It's hard because there's so much piracy and so few people are paying for PC games that we have to precisely weigh it up against the cost of making it. Perhaps it will only take 12 guys three months to port the game to PC, it's not a massive cost but it's still a cost. If only 50,000 people buy the game then it's not worth it."

After:

"We have worked hard to resurrect this project and we would love to have the PC build as well."

"Some sentences of me have been reported and somehow strongly focused on, leading to me looking like despising PC gamers.

"I would really love to see a PC build of the game and I don't think I meant to say, 'the game won't happen on PC.' It's probably an English language miscommunication. What I meant is that the pc version did not happen yet. But we are still working to see the feasibility of it, which is not necessarily simple. I gave some examples to illustrate the problematic, but obviously it is not in my hands and not my part to talk about this."

Looks like backtracking to me.

 

[LT Cannibal 68]

lol bitching i guess the pc market isn't viable anymore, *looks at the witcher 2* riiiiiight! lol, but in all seriousness pc gamers like to ***** A LOT.

 

[sleeky01]

this is an article that Andy will not post:

Prove it.

As for the article itself, it sounds like a whole lot of backtracking based on the large, negative response from his initial comment.

Before:

"We've heard loud and clear that PC gamers are bitching about there being no version for them. But are these people just making noise just because there's no version or because it's a game they actually want to play? Would they buy it if we made it?"

"It's hard because there's so much piracy and so few people are paying for PC games that we have to precisely weigh it up against the cost of making it. Perhaps it will only take 12 guys three months to port the game to PC, it's not a massive cost but it's still a cost. If only 50,000 people buy the game then it's not worth it."

After:

"We have worked hard to resurrect this project and we would love to have the PC build as well."

"Some sentences of me have been reported and somehow strongly focused on, leading to me looking like despising PC gamers.

"I would really love to see a PC build of the game and I don't think I meant to say, 'the game won't happen on PC.' It's probably an English language miscommunication. What I meant is that the pc version did not happen yet. But we are still working to see the feasibility of it, which is not necessarily simple. I gave some examples to illustrate the problematic, but obviously it is not in my hands and not my part to talk about this."

Looks like backtracking to me.

I agree. Especially when he says, "It's probably an English language miscommunication." I consider myself fluent in both English and Québécois ( Joual Français if you really want to know) I find it hard to believe he was unable to get his point across better. He was originally being flippant and cute, and now he's trying to backtrack.

 

[Vonnis]

This just in: PC gamers dismiss bitching Ubisoft employees.

Congratulations Ubisoft, you will never see another cent from me. I wish I could unbuy HoMM6 now, I feel bad about having given them money.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

this is an article that Andy will not post:

Prove it.

Ok, I do hope you know that Andy at least has something negative towards Ubisoft. His history of Ubisoft threads around only negativity about them brings a little evidence to this. I have nothing against him about this nor do I place anything against him on it but I'm merely stating this. Many sites have updated their articles about this with the dev's new clarification on this issue. It's just that I honestly don't think he would update his thread with this man's new message.


I agree that he sounds like he was backtracking but he is right about people saying that he hated pc gamers when he never stated that at all.

 

[Trikeen]

Wow. I am legitimately shocked. This is the kind of thing i expect to read on a message board posted by some self-righteous twat, not as a quote from a game company Creative Director.


I think I'm done with Ubisoft for a bit... and by 'for a bit' i mean, completely.