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Decline meh Ubisoft (Ubi fuckery general thread)

mediocrepoet

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Codex 2012 Codex+ Now Streaming! MCA Project: Eternity Divinity: Original Sin 2

ghardy

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All abord the clown-train! Step right up!

The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

Assassin's Creed boss discusses "devastating" impact of Shadows' diversity and inclusivity backlash
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[Emphasis added]

Assassin's Creed franchise boss Marc-Alexis Coté has addressed the online backlash which has swirled around the main characters of Assassin's Creed Shadows, the subsequent impact it has had on the game's development staff, and the attempts by bad faith commenters to disrupt and dissuade creative teams from telling stories featuring diverse and inclusive characters in general.

iu


Speaking tonight in London, at an event organised by BAFTA and attended by Eurogamer, Coté offered a full-throated defence of his team's work on Shadows which has come under such notable criticism this year, most notably over the inclusion of Black samurai Yasuke as one of the game's two protagonists. Coté has addressed the subject previously, in particular when the subject was commented on negatively by X owner and billionaire Elon Musk, but never before in such an impassioned manner, in so much detail, at such length.

Discussing the current "shifting cultural landscape", Coté described the current "discussions around representation and inclusivity in media" as an additional and previously unforeseen challenge. "These conversations can influence how our games are perceived, but rather than shy away from those conversations, we should see them as an opportunity," he explained.

"Assassin's Creed has always been about exploring the full spectrum of human history, and by its very nature, that history is diverse. Staying true to history means embracing the richness of human perspectives - without compromise. For example, in Assassin's Creed Shadows, we highlight figures, both fictional like Naoe, a Japanese woman warrior, and historical, like Yasuke, the African born samurai. While the inclusion of a Black samurai in feudal Japan has sparked questions and even controversy, Naoe, as a fictional character, has also faced scrutiny for her gender.

"But just as Yasuke's presence in Japanese history is fact, so too are the stories of women who defied societal expectations and took up arms in times of conflict," Coté continued. "So while both Naoe and Yasuke's stories are works of historical fiction, they reflect the collision of different worlds, cultures and roles, and their inclusion is precisely the kind of narrative that Assassin's Creed seeks to tell, one that reflects the complexity and interconnectedness of our shared history.

"And this isn't new ground for the franchise," he noted. "From Altair to Aveline de Grandpré to Ratonhnhaké:ton [the protagonists of Assassin's Creed 1, Liberation and Assassin's Creed 3 respectively], we've consistently introduced protagonists from diverse, racial, ethnic and gender identities. History is inherently diverse, and so is Assassin's Creed and the stories we tell. So to be clear, our commitment to inclusivity is grounded in historical authenticity and respect for diverse perspectives, not driven by modern agendas."

Coté's tone seemed notably different to Ubisoft's last, vague mention of "polarised comments" by company boss Yves Guillemot, who raised eyebrows in September when he told investors that Ubisoft was "an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda". Guillemot's comments followed a similarly vague blanket apology by Ubisoft for "some elements in our promotional materials [that] have caused concern within the Japanese community" which also stated that "while Yasuke is depicted as a samurai in Assassin's Creed Shadows, we acknowledge this is a matter of debate and discussion". Guillemot had previously condemned the "malicious and personal online attacks" directed at Shadows' development team in the wake of the game's reveal.

...

"By choosing Naoe and Yasuke as protagonists, we are expanding the narrative landscape, offering new points of view that challenge established norms found in many works of fiction, while staying true to the history that shaped them. At the end of the day, Assassin's Creed is not just a franchise, it's a platform for entertainment, dialogue, discovery and understanding. Our commitment isn't just about reflecting on the past, it's about ensuring that the stories we tell continue to unite, inspire and challenge players, regardless of their background, and we'll continue to stand by these values because they are central to the heart of the franchise, and I believe, to the future of storytelling itself. Ultimately, we believe that the diversity and richness of the human experience is what helps Assassin's Creed resonate with players across the globe, and we're committed to standing firm on that foundation."

Coté noted that Assassin's Creed has featured universal themes "like resistance to tyranny and the preservation of knowledge and identity" since its outset, and that it has always featured an opening message acknowledging the game both as a work of fiction created by a team diverse in both its backgrounds and beliefs. "From the very beginning, Ubisoft has embraced this diversity," Coté said. "Assassin's Creed is more than just a game. It can be a platform for meaningful exploration and reflection wrapped in the excitement of unforgettable gameplay, and it is that fusion of creativity, diversity, immersion and fun that continues to define the franchise and connect it with players around the globe."

Coté closed with a broader reflection on the stifling of creative freedoms more generally, as cultural differences become ever more divisive.

"Today, the stakes are higher," Coté said. "The stories we tell, the characters we create and the game worlds we build are instrumentalised by those who seek to silence creativity, to stoke fear and incite hatred. I believe we are facing what [author] Fareed Zakaria calls an 'Age of Revolution', a time when the real conflict is not between the left and the right, but between societies that close themselves off and those that open themselves up to the world. Throughout history, it's the open societies that have always eventually prevailed. While there may be setbacks over years or even decades, it is openness that has continually pushed humanity forward.

"This echoes the selfless bravery of our Assassin's Creed protagonists," he continued. "They fought for freedom, knowledge and the right to chart their own paths, just as we, as creators, fight to tell stories that matter in a world that grows increasingly divided. As the authors of 'How Democracies Die' so powerfully stated, democracies crumble when good people decide to stay silent. The same is true, I think, of our creative freedom when we allow fear to stifle our voices. When we self-censor in the face of threats, we hand over our power, piece by piece, until freedom and creativity both wither away. We cannot let that happen. It's time for us as creators to stand firm on our commitment to our values, by telling stories that inspire, that challenge and that help people connect. Our silence cannot become complicit.

"To our players - the ones who have stood by us, supported us and celebrated our work over the years with enthusiasm and constructive feedback - this stance is for you," Coté concluded. "You are the heart of our journey. We create for you, and your support fuels our creativity and strengthens our resolve to keep pushing boundaries, to tell stories that matter. This journey is yours as much as it is ours, and I thank you for being with us every step of the way. I'm an optimist and a dreamer. I believe that the answer to hate is to continue creating experiences that celebrate the richness of our world and capture the magic of our collective imagination, because in the end, creativity is stronger than fear, and together, we are creating the future of entertainment."

Eurogamer previously sat down with Assassin's Creed Shadows' art director Thierry Dansereau to discuss the game's adaption of Japanese culture, social media pressures and Ubisoft's controversial apology. "Of course we're making creative choices," Dansereau told me. "It's a video game."
 

ghardy

Educated
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321
After Initial Failure Of ‘Star Wars Outlaws’, Ubisoft Tags New Creative Director To Oversee Game’s Future
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[Emphasis added]

As part of their previously promised mission of bringing the widely-panned title into a ‘decently playable’ state, Ubisoft has officially handed the reigns of Star Wars Outlaws‘ post-release development to a brand new Creative Director.

This news regarding Star Wars’ latest video game outing was first broken to the public courtesy of a developer update published to the game’s official website on November 4th.

Therein, Ubisoft announced that not only was the game’s previous Creative Director, Julian Gerighty, no longer in charge of overseeing Outlaws‘ future, but also that he had been replaced in his role by Massive Entertainment’s Drew Rechner.

“I’m very excited to be stepping into the role of Creative Director on Star Wars Outlaws and to be working with the incredibly passionate team here at Massive Entertainment along with our talented co-development studios around the world and Lucasfilm Games,” said Rechner in his own personal statement. “I would like to personally thank you, our community, for your positive response to the game. We see and love all the fan arts, comments, and videos you’ve created around the game, and it continues to provide joy and inspiration to the team. We truly hope you’re enjoying your journey across the Outer Rim with Kay and Nix thus far.”

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...

“The first key area of improvement to the game is combat where we see a real opportunity to add more depth and excitement to the experience, further rewarding your tactics and precision,” the newly-crowned Creative Director explained. “Our second key area is stealth which is not only about improving the readability and consistency of enemy detection, but also providing choice in how you want to approach each encounter. Finally, our third key area of focus is centered around the character controls, which means improving the reliability of cover, increasing the responsiveness of climbing and crouching, and generally improving the consistency of the controls overall.”

...

As of writing, it’s currently unknown as to why the aforementioned Gerighty is no longer serving as Outlaws‘ Creative Director .


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...

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Of course, given his almost delusion-level belief that the base release of Outlaws had been “successful” and was built on “a great foundation”, it’s possible Gerighty may have been fired for being too positive, and thus found unable to properly guide the game into a better state.

(After all, that’s what happened to Concord!)
 

NecroLord

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
Sep 6, 2022
Messages
14,782
I am divided on whether I hate Ubisoft more than Bioware.
But with the release of Veilguard, Bioware has earned my infernal hatred.
Ubishit comes second.
 
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
4,630
I wonder if these actresses and models they get for these face models ever see what the video game studios do to what they look like and get sad? Maybe I missed something, but I don’t think your playing a woman in here 70s or 80s in Star Wars Outlaws, but that’s what they’ve made Humberly González look like.
 

jaekl

CHUD LIFE
Patron
Joined
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Canada
In my experience - and this is just anecdotal - if you tell a girl you're drawing a picture of her and you make it really ugly on purpose, she will get fucking furious. YMMV.
 

rumSaint

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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
He is either blindsided by ideology or really bad at damage control.
they made her look like rambo (uncanny similar), SW is a dead horse IP for me at this point too.

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Not saying it was anything great but SW had it's charm. They bastarized old characters, Harrison ford had the balls to say fuck it and kill me, but Mark Hammil got it rough.

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Extended Universe and games from SW actually had this cool nuance, expanded on the lore like KotOR or Jedi Outcast (Luke was pretty cool in them). But Disney threw it out of the window. Girl power and total crap writing killed whole franchise. I hope they will never recover.
 

Inec0rn

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Sep 10, 2024
Messages
188
Honestly I pretty much don't want to see any IP franchise created before the turn of the millennium again pretty much. They have all been milked dry to the bone, wokefied and ruined by incompetent new-gen writers. The best any of new iterations do if not a complete disaster is make a derivative passable product which isn't good enough.

New IP's, take risks, create or fucking die.
 

NecroLord

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
Sep 6, 2022
Messages
14,782
Honestly I pretty much don't want to see any IP franchise created before the turn of the millennium again pretty much. They have all been milked dry to the bone, wokefied and ruined by incompetent new-gen writers. The best any of new iterations do if not a complete disaster is make a derivative passable product which isn't good enough.

New IP's, take risks, create or fucking die.
Yes, we need more original IPs.
I would really like to see a dark fantasy horror one, an RPG maybe.
There is a serious "Old IP Fatigue" going on.
rumSaint Unlike the recent SW idiocy, LucasArts had so many great games that had actual lore and some semblance of thought put into them.
 

rumSaint

Educated
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Joined
Sep 1, 2023
Messages
179
Location
Poland
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
Honestly I pretty much don't want to see any IP franchise created before the turn of the millennium again pretty much. They have all been milked dry to the bone, wokefied and ruined by incompetent new-gen writers. The best any of new iterations do if not a complete disaster is make a derivative passable product which isn't good enough.

New IP's, take risks, create or fucking die.
Yes, we need more original IPs.
I would really like to see a dark fantasy horror one, an RPG maybe.
There is a serious "Old IP Fatigue" going on.
rumSaint Unlike the recent SW idiocy, LucasArts had so many great games that had actual lore and some semblance of thought put into them.
I agree. From old titles like event Tie Fighter, Dark Forces, Jedi Knight etc. That's why it's so baffling they fumbled continuation so hard.
 

ghardy

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Jun 18, 2024
Messages
321
Ubisoft's NFT game appears to have been completely sabotaged by a single player
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[Emphasis added]

In a so-called "web3" game that uses NFTs to create some kind of value for players, it is important that those ecosystems are fine-tuned in such a way that the value does not fluctuate too much. But there is much to suggest that Ubisoft's take on the concept with the so-called Champion's Tactics is unfortunately not very fine-tuned.

As VGC now reports, some of the few PC gamers who have actually tried the game have discovered that a single player, named either "Schilleri11" or "Paulstar111", is winning all the online matches.

This player has found a way to not only get matched in every online match, but to win them before they even start.

"It is absurd that a company in late 2024 have a game unplayable for days because one guy decided to ruin the game. I am sorry, the level of incompetence here is alarming. Last time I saw Paulstar111 on the ranking he had 56k Matches. There are 10 of us complaining on here, now picture the other [thousands of] players who were trying the game, and probably will never come back, because the game is unplayable."

Ubisoft hasn't commented on this yet, but it doesn't sound like something that would be very appealing to play.
 

ghardy

Educated
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Jun 18, 2024
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321
Ubisoft appoints new chief people officer
Ubisoft-St-Mande.png

[Emphasis added]

Ubisoft has appointed a new chief people officer: Sébastien Froidefond.

The megacorp says Froidefond will assume the role a week today, November 20, and "lead Ubisoft's global people strategy, driving excellence in human resources across the company." Froidefond will report to EVP of communications, Cécile Russeil.

Froidefond's expertise "spans HR strategy, performance management, culture building and employee engagement." He joins Ubisoft following a position as human resources Americans lead at Lactalis Americas.

Previously, he has worked at senior HR positions across a number of sectors, including beauty, pharma, and life sciences.
iu


Froidefond replaces Anika Grant, who left the publisher back in November 2023.
 

rumSaint

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Messages
179
Location
Poland
Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
Ubisoft appoints new chief people officer
Ubisoft-St-Mande.png

[Emphasis added]

Ubisoft has appointed a new chief people officer: Sébastien Froidefond.

The megacorp says Froidefond will assume the role a week today, November 20, and "lead Ubisoft's global people strategy, driving excellence in human resources across the company." Froidefond will report to EVP of communications, Cécile Russeil.

Froidefond's expertise "spans HR strategy, performance management, culture building and employee engagement." He joins Ubisoft following a position as human resources Americans lead at Lactalis Americas.

Previously, he has worked at senior HR positions across a number of sectors, including beauty, pharma, and life sciences.
iu


Froidefond replaces Anika Grant, who left the publisher back in November 2023.
Too little too late.
 

ghardy

Educated
Joined
Jun 18, 2024
Messages
321
Ubisoft's Splinter Cell movie cancelled
Producer says they "just couldn't get it right, script-wise [or] budget-wise"
splinter-cell_XJuVMZ6.jpg

[Emphasis added]

Ubisoft's Splinter Cell movie adaptation has been cancelled, according to one of the film's producers.

As reported by The Direct, producer Basil Iwanyk [I wank?] confirmed the adaptation was no longer in production. Iwanyk signed on to the film in 2013.

"The movie would have been awesome [...] just couldn't get it right, script-wise, budget-wise," he said. "But it was going to be great. We had a million different versions of it, but it was going to be hardcore and awesome. That's one of the ones that got away, which is really said.

Ubisoft's Splinter Cell film has been in production limbo since it was announced in 2012. Variety later reported that Tom Hardy was to be cast as Sam Fisher.

In 2014, Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) was attached to direct, but since then there's been no word on its production status.

While the film adaptation may be cancelled, an anime series is currently in production at Netflix, set to premiere sometime in 2025.

In 2022, there was an eight-part audio adaptation for BBC Radio 4, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Firewall.
 

ghardy

Educated
Joined
Jun 18, 2024
Messages
321
The Division 2 is Crossing Over With STALKER 2
the-division-2-stalker-2.jpg

[Emphasis added]

Ubisoft has released a new STALKER Apparel bundle for Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, just in time to celebrate the launch of GSC Game World’s long-awaited shooter STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. The collaboration was previously teased, but players can now get their hands on the cosmetics designed to bring the STALKER franchise’s post-apocalyptic aesthetic into The Division 2’s fallout.

Released in 2019, the action RPG shooter is a sequel to the 2016 predecessor of the same name, set in Washington D.C. during the aftermath of an exposed virus. The Division franchise is a multiplayer shooter ahead of its time, bringing ingenuity to the genre that’s impacted its progression over the years, and the sequel was commended for improving the level design, graphics, and content on offer. A third installment of the series was announced to be in development in 2023, which is something for fans to look forward to in the years to come.

Announced on The Division 2’s social media accounts, Ubisoft confirmed the STALKER Apparel bundle was now available for players. Accompanying the announcement was a short trailer, showcasing the agents wearing the STALKER outfits up for grabs, including the Seva-D Uniform, the Sunrise Uniform, and the Monolith Uniform, all of which are currently active in the store. The Division 2 is cemented as one of the greatest Ubisoft games of all time, and STALKER 2 has also been touted as a Game of the Year contender by Xbox head Phil Spencer, making this crossover a union of greats.

After over a decade in development, STALKER 2 finally went gold earlier this month. The developer initially intended the sequel to Call of Pripyat to be released in 2012, but it was canceled at the last minute. A new release window for 2018 was later announced, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw development on hold again. Further polishing was the reason behind a flurry of further delays until a 2024 release date was finally locked in.

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STALKER 2 released a gigantic 140GB pre-launch update recently, but the pre-release patch was an Xbox exclusive. The sequel has proven to be one of the most anticipated games of the year, and its crossover with The Division 2 is a neat pairing. Despite bringing two iconic shooters together, The Division 2 players were hoping the collaboration would be an Apparel event instead of a microtransaction addition, as most would rather earn the cosmetics through gameplay than pay.

 

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