A reader is anxious that if Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a flop, then Ubisoft and the entire video games business will undergo for it.
I’m frightened about Ubisoft. They’re a £4 billion multinational firm and I can barely pay my hire most months, however these days I really feel like I’ve extra frequent sense and enterprise nous than them. Not simply them however a lot of the video games business, and I don’t imply that as a method to large myself up however a sign of simply how incompetent most large Western publishers appear to be in the mean time.
I’m positive it’s all extra sophisticated than I realise however I’ve been involved about latest feedback that recommend Ubisoft is on the verge of actual hassle. Not as a result of they’re my favorite firm (though I like them greater than many, it appears) however as a result of, as has additionally been identified, in the event that they go below or get purchased by another firm – Tencent most probably, in line with what they’re saying in the mean time – there’s hardly anybody else left.
If there’s no Ubisoft then the one large third social gathering Western publishers left are EA, Take-Two, and Warner Bros. And I’m undecided Warner depend, since they’re already half of a big firm. And that’s it actually, when it comes to publishers that may afford to make a triple-A sport. Embracer as nicely, I suppose, however I nonetheless don’t perceive who they’re and so they’ve but to make something of price in all of the years they’ve been round.
There’re others, like CD Projekt, however they’re a lot smaller corporations and whereas they’ll afford to make large finances video games, they solely launch one each 5 years or so. So as soon as Ubisoft go, we’re actually scraping the barrel when it comes to there being a video games business in any respect, quite than simply half a dozen megacorps that simply occur to have a video video games division (which they’re completely completely happy to intestine the second they get a whiff of hassle).
All of which brings us to Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft’s issues have been slowly constructing for years now, with no profitable new franchises and older ones which can be starting to get lengthy within the tooth. Star Wars: Outlaws has been a failure, that clearly value them a fortune, they’re nowhere close to having a brand new Far Cry, The Division, or anything that I’m conscious of. All they’ve acquired is a dozen Assassin’s Creed video games, which looks like far an excessive amount of even for followers.
I might say I’m a type of followers, however I’m very frightened about Shadows, not solely as a result of it doesn’t look that spectacular however as a result of if it fails then Assassin’s Creed itself is in hassle, and it’s the very last thing Ubisoft has that’s a assured hit.
There has been some newer footage for Shadows, that makes me extra optimistic about its high quality, but it surely’s by no means simply whether or not the sport is any good or not. If it has unhealthy phrase of mouth already then there’s most likely nothing that’s going to put it aside, which I consider is what Ubisoft is frightened about in the mean time.
I don’t wish to get into the complaints about historic accuracy as a result of I’m fairly positive that no person that’s been making them is an knowledgeable on sixteenth century Japan, particularly not the same old suspects moaning about it on Twitter and Reddit.
But there has undoubtedly been one thing off in regards to the sport in what they’ve proven earlier than. It’s most likely as a result of the opposite eras Assassin’s Creed is about in don’t normally seem in video video games however as a result of Japan does you’ll be able to sort of inform issues aren’t very life like and Ubisoft is simply basing it on pop cultural quite than the historical past books.
Does that matter? Not if it’s an excellent sport, however nothing I’ve seen up to now appears to be doing something significantly new. Having two separate characters is all nicely and good however once they’re all doing ordinary Assassin’s Creed issues, what does that matter?
I could also be flawed, I haven’t performed it, however nothing I’ve seen up to now – not even the brand new stuff – has blown me away and I believe that’s true for lots of people. But Ubisoft want this sport to be a success. If it’s a flop, and even simply underperforms, they’ve acquired nothing else large scheduled, and they’ll be taking a look at that buyout as their solely means out of hassle.
I actually hope it doesn’t come to that however I’m not assured and it is a state of affairs the place everybody loses if Ubisoft is hoovered up. The much less unbiased corporations we now have within the video games enterprise the much less selection there’s going to be and the much less dangers are going to be taken, and in some unspecified time in the future we’re going to succeed in the purpose the place solely $1 trillion corporations, the place making video games is the twentieth most necessary factor they do, are left.
By reader Scooter
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