Ubisoft Kills Ghost Recon: Future Soldier on PC

[Whoracle]

[...] Developers don't go out of their way normally to release an early demo for various reasons(Up to you to interpret the reason, if their hiding something etc..). [...]

You know, that's a pretty good point right there, and the main reason why I mostly don't even bother to pirate games even as demos anymore: If the dev can't be arsed to put out a demo, he does not want me to see the game before shelling out the cash, and thus it stands to reason he himself thinks it's not worth it. Compare that to someone who is actually proud of his work: He'll not let any opportunity to show off his work slide.

And I don't even want to sample or steal a product that the creator himself doesn't deem worthy enough to show off.

Think about it: If people don't even want to STEAL your product anymore, you've got bigger problems than piracy, wherever and how much ever it may occur.

 

[Conza]

More reason to boycott Ubisoft FOREVER. Wankers - fuck them seriously.

 

[Metalrocks]

really sweet of them. thanks ubi. i will keep that in mind that im a pirate and all my games have to be illegally downloaded.
so does that mean i can get AC revelations for free?? hey, sure, no probs with me. as long it works of course.
i even got my self myst 1 and 2 from steam. unfortunately part 2 is not working well on newer systems. but still managed to finish the game.
well, i have few ubi games i actually enjoy. rainbow six vegas 1+2, AC and myst are one of them.

 

[shadowmagus]

Oh FFS. I have bought, -bought- and paid for every Assassins Creed game that's come out, on PC. Hell "Brotherhood" was a release week purchase. I don't generally get offended but this tripe but this kind of thing actually makes me torn about buying Revelations.

Fuck.

 

[TheNaut131]

...well fuck.

Lets ask ourselves, whats the main complaint in the industry about piracy? That the developer loses money, right? So, to avoid having to deal with that shit, what does Ubisoft think the most logical thing to do?

CUT OFF AN ENTIRE BRANCH OF POSSIBLY PAYING CUSTOMERS!

Really, I wasn't planning on buying this game anyway, but fuck you, Ubisoft! And if you really listened to your customers, you'd stop using such bullshit DRM and maybe people wouldn't pirate your games as much.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

I'm a pc gamer, and a nautical salvage expert, but sometimes I do buy games.

Giving something away for free may be good (it can also be crap), but being too lazy to earn money, get your consumers' attention, or take pride in your pc projects is just not winning. They can view all pc gamers the same, and yeah, we can be a dodgy lot, "yarrr haarrr harrrrrr" "shut up boys", but really it is a sad thing to hear. You start to see how the consumer is viewed. How even slightly skilled users of the pc are viewed--as dodgy rip-offs.

Sigh, ubisoft see's things how they appear, from their own position.

The good new is, we can always strangle any company to death, if we all really want.

 

[Quickening666]

The reason I didn't buy Assassins Creed 2 and The Settlers 7 was that I refused to be reliant on their shitty servers to be able to play even single-player. And what happened on the first day of release in both cases? Sure enough, people couldn't play the games. So, no, I haven't pirated Ubisoft's games, but nor have I bought any in recent years for that reason.

I actually think it's entirely possible that he never meant the ninety-five percent figure to be taken literally. People exaggerate and throw out figures in conversation all the time. But whether he meant it to be taken literally or not, his attitude is terrible, and even if I was a console-only gamer, I'd boycott them forever.

The prospect of Ubisoft giving up on the PC as a gaming platform doesn't bother me one bit. It can only reduce the amount of shiny, vacuous nonsense that gets churned out. I mean I enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed, but when I look at games from the series with their -20 hours of playtime and compare them to the likes of Skyrim, the Total War series, Arkham Asylum and City, or just about any popular, modern series, they pale by comparison. So I won't be weeping over the loss of a massively over-hyped series (Assassin's Creed), a whole bunch of generic shooters, or a series that hasn't been good since the second instalment (The Settlers).

The biggest concern to me about all of this is that there is someone in authority over at Ubisoft who is sitting there, seeing all of this and telling himself, "yes, this is a perfectly professional way for our company to behave."

 

[meepop]

Now, while the number of 95% may be off, it can't be that different. Personally (And this is pure honesty) I have never pirated a game. It's wrong and you're taking money from the developers. I don't want to pirate a game, because I'm worried I'll pirate more. I think Ubisoft's just butt-hurt their always-online DRM failed them.

I criticized people who had forsaken From Dust on PC because of the DRM, and were going to swear off all Ubisoft games. That was not a legitimate reason, and they were probably lying anyway. But this. This is worth some rage.

Personally, I don't really care because I've only bought two Ubisoft games (From Dust, Rayman 2: Revolution).

But shouldn't pirates be blamed for this too? Not as much blame or infamy as they are getting, but still. There are very few excuses for pirating, like unless you want to try a game out and there's no demo for the game. But really, if you want to try a game, you buy it or rent it (Which isn't an option for PC unfortunately). If you don't have the money, save up like the little kid you once were.

 

[Quaidis]

I don't understand what gamers are up in arms about. I can highly believe that 95% of the people that get their Ubisoft (amongst other) games on PC get them by free means. I know tons of people that seek out free. After all, it's Free! And Free is incredibly easy to access on a PC. Why buy something when it's sitting right there in arm's reach on some random website? Oh sure, I get the normal excuses. "I'm testing the game out to see if I like it before getting it," is pretty damned common. It's also followed by, "It's an okay game.. but I'm poor and I'm going to instead save my money for _ in a month", which then repeats the process.

The younger generation of today especially likes pirating games on the PC. I believe it's because they feel like they are 'beating the system' and 'getting away with it'. And that mentality will never go away, just find completely new avenues to exploit.

And the whole DRM whining I hear from gamers is crap as well. DRM didn't just come along to piss off everyone. It was an answer to a problem. There must have been a ton of people stealing games from the company's backdoor before they started imputting DRM. Now that they know DRM isn't working, and pirating is as bad as ever, not making the game for said people is the only logical next step.

If you're still reading and don't understand the last paragraph, here's an example: Say you're a company that makes a pretty decent game. You sell 100M copies on Xbox, 70M copies on PS3, and 5M copies on PC. Then, on top of that, more than 300M people are accessing the game online over the board, and you know that well over a good one third of that blanket number isn't coming from the Xbox online server or PSN server. Theoretical numbers, but it gets my point across. Would you, on your next game, waste your money on packaging, coding, porting, and all the other time-and-money-wasting efforts to release the game on the PC?

 

[NoNameMcgee]

DRM is simply fluff on the outside of a game. We don't boycott a game because it has one feature we don't like, if we like all the other features, do we? So why is DRM any different to that. When it comes to the DRM issue, one thing I can agree with on Ubisoft's side is that PC gamers are whiners, who make mountains out of molehills.

A friend of mine wasn't able to play the last 3 games he bought from Ubisoft because of their DRM. This DRM punishes the people who buy the game because they have more problems than pirates.

So yes, DRM was, is and will be the issue when it comes to Ubisoft and their inability to understand how to animate people to actual spend money on their games. It is NOT "fluff outside the game" if it is so much less hassle to find a crack instead of the game instead of trying to get the game work normally.

Actually, I now understand where the 95% come from. Most of their customers are sick with this stupid DRM, buy the game and crack it then. I actually know several people who do that.

A lot of people have problems getting games to work on PC. Ubisoft games ain't an exception. Sometimes games bug out, it just so happens in Ubi's case its the DRM. Whats the difference? Again I ask how its any different from any other issue we might have with a game.

Yeah the DRM is stupid and intrusive, I'm certainly not arguing that. I am arguing that it's not a big enough deal to ignore the quality of an ENTIRE game over it. It sucks that your friend couldn't get his games working, but he's actually in the minority there, the technical problems people are generally having with Ubi's DRM are problems with the connection while playing, not getting the game to work in the first place. I can name 3 or 4 games I own that are fairly popular and I haven't been able to get working in the past due to bugs or hardware incompatibilities. It's the nature of PC gaming.

Also, not buying a game because of the DRM doesn't really say that to the devs. What it says is "we don't want your game, fuck off". By doing that you're judging an entire game, thats taken a year of hard work by talented designers, based on DRM thats forced on at the last minute by some twat in a head office. It's not even part of the actual game. Just buy games based on the games themselves and if the DRM annoys you get a damn crack, its really that easy.

 

[AlexLoxate]

So they're combating piracy by not releasing games. Well played Ubisoft, you cunts.

 

[Baresark]

I have read some of this thread. I don't see why it's turned into a moral issue about piracy. Ubisoft simply stated that they believe a large majority of PC gamers are pirates, and based on that, they will not be releasing certain future titles on the PC.

Pros:
-A large reduction of shitty console ports (most Ubisoft games are among the worst ports).
-A large reduction of games that, besides a few notable titles, are by and large not good or well made title anyway.
-No more stupid online disputes about their shitty DRM. I get that a lot of people aren't bothered by it, which is great, but it's mere existence has lead to giant flame wars within a community that needs to be more united than anything else.
-No more shitty ass Ubisoft Launcher. I mean, give me a break. Another login, for another launcher, all so I could spend my achievement points on costumes, that is retarded.

Cons:
-We will be missing out on some good titles, but not very many.
-Any publisher against a certain platform is a strike against that platform, no matter how shitty said publisher may be.
-This will act as evidence towards the piracy fallacy that is perpetuated by a small percentage of gamers.


I am a devout PC gamer. I know that console pirating is a bit more time consuming to accomplish. But it still happens. And if they want to miss out on money earned from titles that a large number of our group is looking forward to, that is fine as well. I would not have personally bought any of their pc games anyway. I have been burned by one PC title after another from them. They are not good games usually or are at very least ported in such a bad manner that the game experiences are ruined. As an example, I got stuck on Assassin's Creed 2 for over a week, thinking my game kept freezing, because the game wanted me to use the numbers to switch weapons instead of the radial menu. It was just plan bad.

I'm glad the won't sully my Steam account with too many more PC titles.

Edit: They haven't produced a good Ghost Recon title in some years anyway. So, no loss.

 

[ruben6f]

I understand taht there is SOME piracy on PC but it's not like there isn't piracy on the console either, if I go outside and talk to random kids most of them will tell me how many PS3 games they downloaded online.

 

[Hemothorax]

I never buy Ubi products anymore since their horrible DRM systems. Seems I have no reason to stop this boycot.

 

[Baresark]

So they're combating piracy by not releasing games. Well played Ubisoft, you cunts.

Haha, maybe they'll stop making games altogether. A guy can dream.

 

[AlexLoxate]

So they're combating piracy by not releasing games. Well played Ubisoft, you cunts.

Haha, maybe they'll stop making games altogether. A guy can dream.

And while they're there perhaps they'll consider committing suicide because they clearly have no touch with reality.

 

[Baresark]

I criticized people who had forsaken From Dust on PC because of the DRM, and were going to swear off all Ubisoft games. That was not a legitimate reason, and they were probably lying anyway. But this. This is worth some rage.

People weren't outraged by the DRM so much as they were outraged that Ubisoft said they weren't going to put always on DRM on the game, then they did it anyway. So, some people may have not bought the game if Ubisoft had been honest, but they were dishonest and lied to get some sales, then blamed everyone for being mad.

As a funny aside from that, I remember vividly the horrible PR wording based around that choice. First they said they weren't going to have always on DRM. Then they released a statement that was very confusing and very hilarious that said, "The game will not have always on DRM, but you will need to be online if you wish to play it". It was a ridiculous statement.

But shouldn't pirates be blamed for this too? Not as much blame or infamy as they are getting, but still. There are very few excuses for pirating, like unless you want to try a game out and there's no demo for the game. But really, if you want to try a game, you buy it or rent it (Which isn't an option for PC unfortunately). If you don't have the money, save up like the little kid you once were.

No. Pirates should not be blamed for this. I'm not excusing the act of pirating. I'm simply saying that Ubisoft can't control piracy, but they can control themselves. If a person hears a rap song about killing cops, then goes and kills a cop, it's morally wrong to blame the rap music. Why? Because people have free will and can choose to do the things they do. You relieve Ubisoft of it's culpability by saying anyone but they are responsible for their actions or actions that inflame a situation against them. Pirates are responsible for piracy. Since all PC gamers are not pirates, you can't blame PC gamers. Ubisoft blames all PC gamers for what a few do and chooses not to release games based on that. So, when PC gamers dislike Ubisoft for acting on an emotional bias against them, then they have every right to not support Ubisoft in any way.

But, I don't see a point in saying hurtful things towards them, it is my opinion they say and do things that is hurtful towards themselves. They hurt their own image. This day and age, there are a lot of great games coming out. To point where people have the freedom to not buy games from companies such as Activision, EA, Ubisoft and all the other large publishers. For every game they don't release because they are afraid of piracy, ten are released in their place. The size of the market makes it so people like these guys don't matter. They can't corner the market except in very rare situation (EA Games and their sports titles, for instance).

 

[Baresark]

So they're combating piracy by not releasing games. Well played Ubisoft, you cunts.

Haha, maybe they'll stop making games altogether. A guy can dream.

And while they're there perhaps they'll consider committing suicide because they clearly have no touch with reality.

Haha, they have already swallowed the bottle of pills, now they just need to chase it with some good cheap vodka to finish the job.

 

[AlexLoxate]

So they're combating piracy by not releasing games. Well played Ubisoft, you cunts.

Haha, maybe they'll stop making games altogether. A guy can dream.

And while they're there perhaps they'll consider committing suicide because they clearly have no touch with reality.

Haha, they have already swallowed the bottle of pills, now they just need to chase it with some good cheap vodka to finish the job.

Cheap vodka indeed because anything else would be too good for them, hah. Oh, it's hilarious how they're digging their own grave in the gaming world.