Ubisoft shaft PC gamers yet again!

[putowtin]

Production accident /= intentional shafting. I'm sorry for your situation, but they weren't being malicious.

Agreed, but as Ubisoft have a number of big launches in the next few months it's time for them to be the bad guess (and allow Bioware to have a few months off!)

 

[Crises^]

Just to let you all know my copy arrived yesterday without a cd key.
I created a support ticket and phoned in to escalate it and within 30 mins I had the cd key emailed to me, so it seems they're defiantly on top of the situation at least.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Production accident /= intentional shafting. I'm sorry for your situation, but they weren't being malicious.

Yup, people these days tend to jump to the conclusion that stuff like this is always done on purpose.

Because in this day and age, we should have perfected everything so that there are no mistakes. =P

Sometimes a mistake is a mistake, no need to start making conspiracy theories.

So now I am FORCED to download a crack (this counts for a pirated copy in ubi's eyes) for the game that I legally own if i wish to play it this weekend.

You aren't "FORCED" to do anything. You can however take the honest route and wait for the problem to be fixed. There is no reason that you have to play the game right as soon as you get it.

1.)Go outside and take a walk.
2.)Come back inside and play a few of your games that do work.
3.)Then check to see if the problem is fixed. If it isn't fixed, repeat from step one.

If I can't play a game because of some problem, I'm not going to play it until I can do it legally.

I bought Final Fantasy One and Two for my PSP back last December because they were really cheap and I have very few games for the thing as it is. Now the problem was that I found out that I apparently had misplaced my PSP since I used it very little as it was. I searched for weeks and couldn't find it. I really wanted to play those games, but I couldn't because I couldn't find my PSP. So what did I do:

I set the games aside until the day I found the PSP. It turns out that it was buried in a box of stuff I didn't even know I had sitting in the living room, covering up the fire place so that the cats couldn't climb in the thing. I didn't find out the PSP was there until a week ago. I am now finally getting to play those games, ten months since I bought them.

I didn't download some kind of emulator and roms to play them because I couldn't find my PSP, because it is illegal to do that.

Granted that situation was my fault, but what if it wasn't my fault? When I booted up my PSP, I found out I needed to download an update from the PSN so that I could play the games. What if I couldn't because the PSN was down because of some stupid mistake Sony did? Oh well, in that situation I still would have waited until I could legally play the games I bought.

It is all about patience to do what is right. I waited ten months, next time you run into a problem, let's see how long you can wait.

Because if there is one thing people need these days, it is patience.

 

[snowbear]

Production accident /= intentional shafting. I'm sorry for your situation, but they weren't being malicious.

Yup, people these days tend to jump to the conclusion that stuff like this is always done on purpose.

Because in this day and age, we should have perfected everything so that there are no mistakes. =P

Sometimes a mistake is a mistake, no need to start making conspiracy theories.

So now I am FORCED to download a crack (this counts for a pirated copy in ubi's eyes) for the game that I legally own if i wish to play it this weekend.

You aren't "FORCED" to do anything. You can however take the honest route and wait for the problem to be fixed. There is no reason that you have to play the game right as soon as you get it.

1.)Go outside and take a walk.
2.)Come back inside and play a few of your games that do work.
3.)Then check to see if the problem is fixed. If it isn't fixed, repeat from step one.

If I can't play a game because of some problem, I'm not going to play it until I can do it legally.

I bought Final Fantasy One and Two for my PSP back last December because they were really cheap and I have very few games for the thing as it is. Now the problem was that I found out that I apparently had misplaced my PSP since I used it very little as it was. I searched for weeks and couldn't find it. I really wanted to play those games, but I couldn't because I couldn't find my PSP. So what did I do:

I set the games aside until the day I found the PSP. It turns out that it was buried in a box of stuff I didn't even know I had sitting in the living room, covering up the fire place so that the cats couldn't climb in the thing. I didn't find out the PSP was there until a week ago. I am now finally getting to play those games, ten months since I bought them.

I didn't download some kind of emulator and roms to play them because I couldn't find my PSP, because it is illegal to do that.

Granted that situation was my fault, but what if it wasn't my fault? When I booted up my PSP, I found out I needed to download an update from the PSN so that I could play the games. What if I couldn't because the PSN was down because of some stupid mistake Sony did? Oh well, in that situation I still would have waited until I could legally play the games I bought.

It is all about patience to do what is right. I waited ten months, next time you run into a problem, let's see how long you can wait.

Because if there is one thing people need these days, it is patience.

I have to disagree with you here. I don't think anyone is really saying they made this mistake on purpose. Does that mean it wasn't avoidable? Does that make it any less annoying?

Of course mistakes happen. If it was just one batch of the games then this wouldn't have even been brought up. But surely you have to admit such a large scale mistake (affecting dozens of countries) as this is incredibly sloppy!!

I don't see why we should cut Ubisoft any slack here and be patient with them. A better example than your PSP would be...

Buying a brand new car to be delivered on a said date. The car arrives completely paid for. You get in your car to take it for a drive and yet you find the starter motor is missing...

To you this is acceptable behavior from a massive company, And you don't want, need or care if a product you've paid hard earned money for works?

You don't think said company should be checking to ensure the product is up to scratch and in fully working order before it was shipped to you?

The problem with patience is, it shows the large company that they can get away with it and customer relations really do mean naff all.

Oh and why should I want to play a game as soon as I brought it? I brought it because I damn well wanted to play it not for it to sit on my shelf and look pretty

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

That's not shafting, that's incompetence.

The rest is shafting.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

snip

I have to disagree with you here. I don't think anyone is really saying they made this mistake on purpose. Does that mean it wasn't avoidable? Does that make it any less annoying?

Of course mistakes happen. If it was just one batch of the games then this wouldn't have even been brought up. But surely you have to admit such a large scale mistake (affecting dozens of countries) as this is incredibly sloppy!!

I don't see why we should cut Ubisoft any slack here and be patient with them. A better example than your PSP would be...

Buying a brand new car to be delivered on a said date. The car arrives completely paid for. You get in your car to take it for a drive and yet you find the starter motor is missing...

To you this is acceptable behavior from a massive company, And you don't want, need or care if a product you've paid hard earned money for works?

You don't think said company should be checking to ensure the product is up to scratch and in fully working order before it was shipped to you?

The problem with patience is, it shows the large company that they can get away with it and customer relations really do mean naff all.

Oh and why should I want to play a game as soon as I brought it? I brought it because I damn well wanted to play it not for it to sit on my shelf and look pretty

I agree that the Ubisoft thing would be annoying. But because they made a mistake doesn't mean that you have some moral/ethical high ground that allows you to use illegal means to make your product work. How long have you given them to fix the problem. Considering the amount of people effected, I would give them at least a couple months, there is potentially a lot of people effected by this problem, so they should be given adequate time to correct the mistake. This is also a mistake where it will take time because it has to be dealt with on a case by case basis, so some people will get the problem resolved fast, others quite some time.

My PSP story, describing a hypothetical situation about a problem that Sony might have that would cause me not to be able to play my games, is a proper analogy.

Your car story is not. Do you want to know why? Well too bad if you don't because I'm going to say it anyway.

Games are a luxury item and things that people don't have to interact with right away. You aren't going to lose your job because you couldn't take a little free time to play a game.

A car depending on your situation, is a need item. There could be true repercussions to getting a botched car. You might not be able to find a way to get to your job and then you get fired because of it. Etc, etc, on big life changing problems that could effect you if you don't get the working car you were promised.

So, your counter argument is in error. Cars have serious life implications if you don't get one when needed. Games on the other hand do not, you aren't going to die or fired or some such thing if you don't get to play your game on time. You will just be mildly inconvenienced, which is something that can be remedied by doing something else you like to do or play other games you have that do work.

If you don't see how your example is wrong, then, let's just stop the argument here, because it would mean you have too much emotion invested in not being able to play a game, and don't have a clear mind to think right now.

 

[Dr Hammer]

I just wanted to throw my tuppence in as well: it was a mistake, I seriously doubt it was a malicious 'shafting' of customers (why would you want to treat the people that pay your salary that badly?).

I seriously doubt there is a factory somewhere with the UbiSoft logo on it churning out CD's/not doing anything for weeks on end. This would be a woefully inefficient supply chain. Companies outsource that kind of thing.

In a perfect world it would've been avoidable but the idea of having somebody from Ubisoft at the factory manually checking every box for its content's is ludicrous. Not to mention there would be a cost attached to this, which may well get passed to the customer.

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

This is good. PC gamers deserve to get shafted.
...
...
...
;O Jokes, kids.

In all seriousness, though, I would never buy another Ubisoft game on the PC. I picked up Assassin's Creed 2 for the PC and it took me weeks to get it to run properly. I don't PC game very much to begin with, so I'm not exactly up to snuff on all of the little things you might be able to do to work a quick fix, but this experience certainly didn't want to make me go there. I heard the new Ghost Recon game was a pleasure to behold on the PC as well, though I can't personally attest to that.

At this point, I think Valve is the only company I'd ever buy a PC game from. There's no one else who doesn't royally screw with their consumer base on a regular basis.

 

[Nieroshai]

Production accident /= intentional shafting. I'm sorry for your situation, but they weren't being malicious.

They sure don't seem very apologetic and keen to correct and compensate for their mistake though...

Which is entirely beside my point. Being slow about fixing a mistake is considerably different from intentionally screwing someone over.

 

[MiriaJiyuu]

After UbiSoft did away with Always On DRM I was really considering getting Assassins Creed III on the PC to support them and their decision of getting rid of always on DRM. After reading this though I don't think I am going to get ACIII. If this is how a company treats their customers I don't want to support this company at all.

It's probably just a coincidence, the office being closed for the weekend was likely planned months ago if no one's around to deal with this. The flyer with the CD key is not their fault in any way, Ubisoft just gives a stack of keys to the manufacturer, they have no hand in actually making the disk, packaging, or shipping it. They're probably quite upset with he manufacturer since they now have to fix thousands of games, I actually feel somewhat sorry for whoever has to, they had no hand in the problem itself.

-snip-

While I agree with a lot of what you said 2 things to quickly consider next time:

1. They've done away with a lot of their more insane DRM and are slowly wising up to the fact that the more harsh DRM is, the more the game is pirated.

2. Ubisoft does not manufacture, package and ship the discs. They gave a manufacturer a stack of product keys and the assembly line screwed up somehow and managed to not put fliers in the game. It isn't the first time it's happened and is never the publishers fault. I don't know who manufactured this particular game, but that's who you should be angry at. I doubt Ubisoft KNEW this would happen.

While I am against a lot of Ubisofts practices, this wasn't their fault.

 

[Nieroshai]

Production accident /= intentional shafting. I'm sorry for your situation, but they weren't being malicious.

Agreed, but as Ubisoft have a number of big launches in the next few months it's time for them to be the bad guys (and allow Bioware to have a few months off!)

Fixed.
I'd rather Assassin's Creed not suffer from this. I wish it hadn't happened to Bioware, but for it to happen to Ubi too would just be awful for what's left of quality in the industry.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yes because if a company fucked up they clearly hate you and want to drive their customers away. THAT MAKES PERFECT SENSE!

Someone on Ubisoft's end really fucked up here and heads will roll. Nothing more to say... ugh I guess it'll serves as thin reasoning for people who hate Ubisoft to reenforce their hate... that's about it.

 

[Rad Party God]

People buy Ubisoft's games, they get screwed. People pirate or don't buy their games, they still get screwed.
No one can seemingly win in this situation.

 

[snowbear]

snip

I have to disagree with you here. I don't think anyone is really saying they made this mistake on purpose. Does that mean it wasn't avoidable? Does that make it any less annoying?

Of course mistakes happen. If it was just one batch of the games then this wouldn't have even been brought up. But surely you have to admit such a large scale mistake (affecting dozens of countries) as this is incredibly sloppy!!

I don't see why we should cut Ubisoft any slack here and be patient with them. A better example than your PSP would be...

Buying a brand new car to be delivered on a said date. The car arrives completely paid for. You get in your car to take it for a drive and yet you find the starter motor is missing...

To you this is acceptable behavior from a massive company, And you don't want, need or care if a product you've paid hard earned money for works?

You don't think said company should be checking to ensure the product is up to scratch and in fully working order before it was shipped to you?

The problem with patience is, it shows the large company that they can get away with it and customer relations really do mean naff all.

Oh and why should I want to play a game as soon as I brought it? I brought it because I damn well wanted to play it not for it to sit on my shelf and look pretty

I agree that the Ubisoft thing would be annoying. But because they made a mistake doesn't mean that you have some moral/ethical high ground that allows you to use illegal means to make your product work. How long have you given them to fix the problem. Considering the amount of people effected, I would give them at least a couple months, there is potentially a lot of people effected by this problem, so they should be given adequate time to correct the mistake. This is also a mistake where it will take time because it has to be dealt with on a case by case basis, so some people will get the problem resolved fast, others quite some time.

My PSP story, describing a hypothetical situation about a problem that Sony might have that would cause me not to be able to play my games, is a proper analogy.

Your car story is not. Do you want to know why? Well too bad if you don't because I'm going to say it anyway.

Games are a luxury item and things that people don't have to interact with right away. You aren't going to lose your job because you couldn't take a little free time to play a game.

A car depending on your situation, is a need item. There could be true repercussions to getting a botched car. You might not be able to find a way to get to your job and then you get fired because of it. Etc, etc, on big life changing problems that could effect you if you don't get the working car you were promised.

So, your counter argument is in error. Cars have serious life implications if you don't get one when needed. Games on the other hand do not, you aren't going to die or fired or some such thing if you don't get to play your game on time. You will just be mildly inconvenienced, which is something that can be remedied by doing something else you like to do or play other games you have that do work.

If you don't see how your example is wrong, then, let's just stop the argument here, because it would mean you have too much emotion invested in not being able to play a game, and don't have a clear mind to think right now.

As far as I'm concerned a car is a luxury. But replace car with any other luxury item you desire. Obviously I'm not going to die from not playing it when I get it that's not really the point.

So say you've just got the brand new assassins creed, you even went to the midnight launch, you've got it home opened it ready to put in your console yet there's no disc...

Your saying nobody has the right to be annoyed and should just suck it up till ubi pops round with a disc?

You wouldn't feel in the slightest bit annoyed that you've brought a product yet cannot use it.

As far as cracking the game goes, as far as I am aware its not actually illegal ( depending on what county your in) anyway so what's the issue there. Just because ubi sees it as a form of piracy doesn't mean it is.

 

[Crises^]

I got given a second key from Amazon yesterday for it.
So I rang up Ubisoft making sure it wouldn't invalidate my key used on steam, they said it wouldn't and that I can use the second key as well and thanked me for letting them know that Amazon are sending out different keys.

So now me and my friend both have the game for the price of one.

I think they had great support for this and are trying to turn a new leaf with the pc community on this one.

 

[snowbear]

I got given a second key from Amazon yesterday for it.
So I rang up Ubisoft making sure it wouldn't invalidate my key used on steam, they said it wouldn't and that I can use the second key as well and thanked me for letting them know that Amazon are sending out different keys.

So now me and my friend both have the game for the price of one.

I think they had great support for this and are trying to turn a new leaf with the pc community on this one.

Nice! Glad to hear something good came of this.

Though thinking about it, you will have to buy a second cable. Win win for everyone in this case I suppose.