Ubisoft Accused of Demanding Good Assassin's Creed 2 Review

[Bretty]

I dont beleive any reviews I read. It seems that now a days people whoe dont even like the genre review my genre's games and obviously never give you the insight you need. Regardless of Publication.

I also think that the fact these reviewers are paid so little makes them a perfect target for bribes.

I listen to my friends, as should we all. Trolling forums gets you the most info and then watching a walkthrough (minus attempts at covering up scripting) will ussually tell you whether you want the game or not.

Good for this German Mag!

 

[samsonguy920]

Methinks this German reviewer either mistranslated Ubisoft's statement, or is making stuff up to trash Ubisoft. Either way, bad on the german magazine. Wonder if they publish tabloid stuff as well, like 'Mario cheats on Peach with Luigi,' or 'Solid Snake in his last days, wills everything to Liquid. Otacon devastated.'

 

[Nova5]

Not even remotely surprising, dude. I'm really surprised that reviewers have let their journalistic integrity slip as far as it has (well, it would be surprising if I still had more than a slim ray of hope left for humanity). It'd be nice if more mags/review sites called companies out on their shit like this (y'know, for shady practices, not just issues with design/gameplay mechanics/hype).

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Eidos much?
Ubisoft is just being stupid. Assassins Creed 2 is bound to be a success and all they can do is fuck up its reputation by attempting such shallow marketing moves.

 

[Trivun]

It is unfortunate, but this kind of backroom deal happens often between game publishers and reviewers. For the record, it is policy at The Escapist to never accept any compensation for editorial coverage.

Unless it's cookies. We love cookies.

Sadly, Greg, you're right there in that this sort of thing happens quite often between reviewers and publishers. Trouble is, it isn't only limited to games. There are countless instances where companies have been accused of bribing reviewers to give good reviews, for all sorts of media. Books, films, TV shows, all sorts of stuff. It just happens, but in this case I'm quite annoyed anddisappointed to see Ubisoft allegedly sinking to such lows. It's basically as if they don't trust their own game enough, even though the first game was extremely well recieved despite large flaws, and those flaws have been apparently remedied this time around. Which should mean that AC2 will be a sure fire hit regardless of what any critics say about it. It's worried me a bit, though of course, not enough to stop me from getting my hands on a copy of the game when it gets released in the UK

EDIT: By the way, can't really blame you for sacrificing your journalistic integrity for the sake of cookies. Cookies are gooooooooood.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

A reviewer at Gamespot got fired cause he dumped all over Kane & Lynch when it was released. Why people still pay attention to paid/bribed game "reviewers" who throw out words like "cinematic" and "compelling" 3 or 4 times in a sentance countinues to make me laugh in a sad way.

 

[Robert632]

what's the point of this? AC2 will sell very well despite this, but this might dissuade people from buying it , as Ubisoft doesn't seem to have much confidence in it. unless these magazines have been bought off by a company to say Ubisoft did this.

 

[Slycne]

what's the point of this? AC2 will sell very well despite this, but this might dissuade people from buying it , as EA doesn't seem to have much confidence in it. unless these magazines have been bought off by a company to say EA did this.

Ubisoft it's even in the damn title. What's worse is you are not even the first one .

 

[Robert632]

what's the point of this? AC2 will sell very well despite this, but this might dissuade people from buying it , as EA doesn't seem to have much confidence in it. unless these magazines have been bought off by a company to say EA did this.

Ubisoft it's even in the damn title. What's worse is you are not even the first one .

sorry, i'll fix it. i don't even know why i said EA.

 

[Treblaine]

De ja vu, anyone?

Here's a pro-tip for Ubisoft if they want good reviews: Make a good game.

I found Ass.Creed 1 - how do I put this - annoying. There were a lot of things I liked about it but so many things spoiled it and other areas it just annoyed me how other assassination games did it so much better. It just made me want to play a Hitman game or Tomb Raider/GTA for more refined murdering/platforming/Sandboxing (respectively of course).

I have a feeling we have the same situation here with the sequel.

Though I have to admit the game looks GORGEOUS and really deserves the full-1080p treatment so I'll likely get this on PC, as long as it's a good port.

 

[Sallix]

i don't understand why this is needed if the game is any good... It brings along the idea of "our game is crap and we know it, so lets just exploit the hype". I SO hope this isn't the fact.

 

[Supreme Unleaded]

*Gives 22 cookies to every Escapist staff*

"Okay now, rate my game Generic Space Marine #99: Battle for Awsomeness a 10/10. I gave you cookies"

O.T. Thats pretty sad if this is true, you'd think that Assasins Creed has enough umf behind it to already encourage someone to rate it good.

 

[Cavouku]

I'm still going to get this game, and love it, but if it's true; shame on you Ubisoft. Expect a slap on the nose with a newspaper.

If not, then I'll have to fly all the way over to Germany, and by then I'll need a new newspaper.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

So a game company tries to bribe a review to give their game top marks...there's news here?

 

[_Nocturnal]

It is unfortunate, but this kind of backroom deal happens often between game publishers and reviewers.

Seriously?
You want to back that up with facts?
Kind of irresponsible to say something like this about your colleagues.

 

[Random Argument Man]

We only have one reviewer's word on this. ONE. I'll beleive it when I'll see at least 5 reviewers complaining about this.

 

[Sonicron]

Methinks this German reviewer either mistranslated Ubisoft's statement, or is making stuff up to trash Ubisoft. Either way, bad on the german magazine. Wonder if they publish tabloid stuff as well, like 'Mario cheats on Peach with Luigi,' or 'Solid Snake in his last days, wills everything to Liquid. Otacon devastated.'

Nah, they're not making things up. Which is actually quite amazing, considering that the original gossip rag that spawned this gaming magazine (among a list of others), the 'Bild Zeitung', is the German equivalent of the 'Sun'.
I've been browsing on some German sites and blogs covering the story and there have been a few updates already, the most significant being that Ubisoft has been getting pestered with hundreds of calls demanding an official explanation of the whole affair - the answer to each and every call apparently being, "No comment." If Computer Bild Spiele were actually making this whole thing up I think Ubisoft would have already sued the pants off the magazine owners instead of trying to sweep it under the carpet.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

This is how I would act in that situation: E.A.: Here is 10K, take it. Me: *Loads shot gun* E.A.: *Pisses pants*

 

[Sylias]

I have to say that, after reading the words "Computer Bild Spiele" the whole article lost it´s credibility somewhat...
Living in Germany and knowing that magazine I can safely assure you people that the whole "Bild" newspaper group ( there are several of the fuckers ) is the incarnation of tabloid press. So don´t take ANY of what they ever told anyone for the truth...

Maye Ubisoft did it... maybe they didn´t... but the last place to search for who was right and who wasn´t would be this piece of gossiping trash...

 

[samsonguy920]

Methinks this German reviewer either mistranslated Ubisoft's statement, or is making stuff up to trash Ubisoft. Either way, bad on the german magazine. Wonder if they publish tabloid stuff as well, like 'Mario cheats on Peach with Luigi,' or 'Solid Snake in his last days, wills everything to Liquid. Otacon devastated.'

Nah, they're not making things up. Which is actually quite amazing, considering that the original gossip rag that spawned this gaming magazine (among a list of others), the 'Bild Zeitung', is the German equivalent of the 'Sun'.
I've been browsing on some German sites and blogs covering the story and there have been a few updates already, the most significant being that Ubisoft has been getting pestered with hundreds of calls demanding an official explanation of the whole affair - the answer to each and every call apparently being, "No comment." If Computer Bild Spiele were actually making this whole thing up I think Ubisoft would have already sued the pants off the magazine owners instead of trying to sweep it under the carpet.

Well nothing saying Ubisoft isn't going to. If this bogus then Ubisoft might be trying to figure out whether its worth dealing with by lawsuit or such. And if it isn't bogus, well Ubisoft just got caught with their pants down. Shame on them if they did, but it is hard to believe they would try this....now Activision might, since their CEO doesn't give a damn about their rep. We will see what comes of this.