Mike Laidlaw leaves BioWare

[Roguey]

Most games need a bunch of systemic content now to discourage players from selling them back to Gamestop within a week/month. Blame Skyrim.

 

[Immortal]

DA:I and Witcher 3 were made in the same time frame more or less.
Let that sink in.

 

[fantadomat]

The best thing about the game were the astrarium puzzles. I never get the problem people have with the first area,it could be cleaned(the level possible content) in 3-4 hours. The later level become a lot more shit when it comes down to collectables,the big desert one was terrible and long. I would recommend you to never bother with the shards,don't even get near a telescope. The worst part was the reward for all that shit,it was some vendor junk from what i remember.

 

[RepHope]

And he says, he acknowledges the criticism the game gets but doesn't agree with it. Because people don't have to do the side content, its just something they choose to do on their own. So in other words, its perfectly okay to pack your whole game chock-full of mindless boring filler content because after all the players don't have to do it. So to boil this down even further, he says, its okay to make a game boring because players don't have to play it. Its okay that a huge chunk of your game content is boring because you are not supposed to play it and have fun.

I've always thought this kind of design is meant for players with a strictly casual mindset towards gaming. That is, players who are basically playing the game with only the dimmest awareness of what they're doing in it on a timescale longer than a few minutes. They don't even think of games in terms of "content", as a structured space where you're supposed to systematically find and achieve objectives. They're just kind of fucking around and randomly running into stuff.

In other words: Skyrim. A big "pro" for Skyrim in the eyes of it's fans is that you never have to even touch the main quest. You can just run around and pick ingredients and shit.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Skyrim is structured completely differently and doesn't feel half as atrocious as DA:I in that regard.

 

[LESS T_T]

He joined the new Bioware of RPGs: https://quebec.ubisoft.com/en/mike-laidlaw-joins-ubisoft-quebec/

Creative Director Mike Laidlaw Joins Ubisoft Québec

After a successful fall season marked by the release of its critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft Québec ends the year on a high note by welcoming Creative Director Mike Laidlaw into its studio.

Involved with the studio for the past nine months as a Creative consultant on an unannounced new project, the Edmonton-based developer decided to move his family and take up residence in the Quebec City area.

“From day one, I was blown away by the talent, the creativity and the passion of the Québec team” said Mike Laidlaw. “Over the past few months, I also discovered the city and its welcoming people, which convinced me to move here and officially join Ubisoft Québec.”

Mike has worked in the video game industry for 14 years. At Electronic Arts’ BioWare studio in Edmonton, Alberta, he was the Creative Director of the Dragon Age series for 8 years. Prior to his work as Lead Designer on Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II, Mike played a key role in the development of other BioWare titles, such as Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Most recently he was the Creative Director for 2014’s Game of the Year Dragon Age: Inquisition. For the past few years, Mike has been exploring and supporting independent titles on his popular Twitch channel: twitch.tv/Mike_Laidlaw.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mike into the Ubisoft Québec family”, mentioned Patrick Klaus, studio Managing Director. “With his vast experience and his unique creative vision, we know he will bring something bold to the studio.” Senior Producer Jeff Skalski added: “Having Mike join our team and studio is a game changer and we’re excited to have him onboard. He’s the perfect fit for our project and I can’t wait for everyone to experience the results.”

Mike Laidlaw joins Ubisoft Québec at a key moment for the studio, with the recent announcement of the creation of 200 new jobs and the opening of a second site in the Saint-Roch neighborhood. Over the past three years, Ubisoft Québec successfully led Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the latest installment of the popular franchise, which hit stores on October 5, 2018. With its growing teams and the momentum on their side, Ubisoft Québec thinks big and promises to keep on creating outstanding worlds, both immersive and innovative.

Many positions are available at the studio located in the Saint-Roch neighborhood. Check them out by clicking here.

 

[Atlantico]

After a successful fall season marked by the release of its critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft Québec ends the year by ensuring that will never happen again by welcoming Creative Director Mike Laidlaw into its studio.

That's more like it.

 

[Immortal]

After a successful fall season marked by the release of its critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Ubisoft Québec ends the year by ensuring that will never happen again by welcoming Creative Director Mike Laidlaw into its studio.

That's more like it.

BUTTON .. AWESOME.. BUTTON.. AWESOME

 

[LESS T_T]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/joining-ubisoft-quebec-city-mike-laidlaw/

Joining Ubisoft Quebec City

So here’s a cool new thing: I have joined Ubisoft’s Quebec City studio as the Creative Director for a not-yet-announced project!

As you might know, I’ve been working as a consultant for the past year. It’s been an amazing experience, as it allowed me to work with teams of all different sizes and compositions around the world.

In particular, I’d like to congratulate the Waylanders team: I worked with them for over one year and they just successfully completed their Kickstarter. Sadly, I won’t be able to work with them full time, but I firmly believe they are in great hands now that Emily Grace Buck has joined the team and is taking over many of the parts I was handling.

The most exciting aspect of consulting was the opportunity to meet many incredibly talented folks across the industry and offer insight on some truly interesting projects. One of which, in fact, is the one I’m joining here at Ubisoft.

In my months working with the team here, I’ve been really impressed with the combination of passion and raw talent in the studio. If you’ve played the excellent Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – which was principally developed here in Quebec City – you already have some taste of what that combination can produce.

Alas, I can’t discuss exactly what I’m doing, but I will say it’s exciting enough to make me move half way across the continent. My family will be joining me and while the studio is very comfortable and welcoming to those of us who speak English, I’m excited to finally put those years of French classes to the test as I explore historic and beautiful Quebec City. Just have to…you know…shake 20 years of rust off.

Pas de problème!

Incidentally, the studio’s hiring right now should you care to join me in this particular adventure: https://quebec.ubisoft.com/en/jobs/

 

[LESS T_T]

And a year later, he left: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6629054584323219456/

Today was my last day with Ubisoft.

I’d like to thank the talented and welcoming folks at the Ubisoft Quebec City studio for the time I spent there, and wish them all the best of luck with future ventures including the upcoming Gods and Monsters.

I’m not 100% sure what my next steps are just yet, but returning to consulting for a while seems likely. In the meantime, a chance to relax, take stock and enjoy this gorgeous city while continuing to practice my French.

 

[Wunderbar]

 

[vortex]

Maybe he rejoned Afterlife Ent with his former colleagues.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

Laidlawesome is worse than Todd Howard. Here's hoping he wont be put in a position to fuck up another video game series ever again.

 

[Tytus]

So where is going to work next? Back at Bioware?

 

[LESS T_T]

Apparently Mike Laidlaw was working on a King Arthur RPG at Ubisoft but was canceled it because CCO "didn't like the fantasy setting": https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...ing-arthur-game-had-to-be-better-than-tolkien

Ex-Ubisoft creative boss canned Dragon Age dev's King Arthur game
Which had to be "better than Tolkien".

Ubisoft has been shaken by a wave of sexual abuse and harassment allegations in recent weeks, leading to the resignation of several high-profile executives and a pledge from boss Yves Guillemot to reform Ubisoft's processes and editorial board. One of the executives who has since resigned, chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, has been accused of enabling and facilitating a culture of toxicity and misogyny - along with blocking plans for a solo female protagonist in the Assassin's Creed series.

Yet beyond the allegations of misogyny, it seems Hascoët also stifled creativity in other ways, as a new report claims he cancelled a potential King Arthur game led by Dragon Age creative director Mike Laidlaw.

According to the report from Bloomberg [paywall], Laidlaw was hired by Ubisoft in 2018 to work on an RPG code-named Avalon. Made by a team at Assassin's Creed Odyssey studio Ubisoft Québec, it was intended to be a big-budget adventure about King Arthur and his Round Table, focused on telling their stories in a fantasy world "full of knights and legends". Those who worked on the project felt it had been progressing well, and Avalon would have featured a cooperative multiplayer world similar to Capcom's Monster Hunter series.

Yet Laidlaw quit in January 2019, and the project was cancelled due to the interference of Hascoët. The exec allegedly disliked the fantasy genre, and demanded the game had to be "better than Tolkien". Those who worked on the project told Bloomberg they were shocked the project stalled because Hascoët didn't like the fantasy setting, and attempts to switch the theme to a Greek mythology or sci-fi setting were all shot down.

While Hascoët has been credited for big franchises such as Far Cry and Assassin's Creed, last year Ubisoft's The Division 2 and Ghost Recon Breakpoint both failed to achieve commercial success. As a result of this, Ubisoft reorganised its creative process, but two of the people given promotions - Maxime Béland and Tommy François - have both been investigated by the company following harassment allegations, and Béland has since resigned.

Reports continue to emerge detailing allegations of sexual harassment and HR failures at Ubisoft (via Business Insider [paywall]). For now, Guillemot has temporarily taken on the role of chief creative officer - and when asked if he knew about the sexual harassment at Ubisoft, claimed that those around him "betrayed the trust [he] placed in them". As for Hascoët, one can only wonder what sort of games we could have seen from Ubisoft without his influence.

I wouldn't be surprised if that CCO guy was an extra huddle when Pierou tried to pitch M&M 11 (along with the failture of M&M 10).

 

[Decado]

I would love a good King Arthur game, or anything set in the Crusades. I mean, I don't think Ubisoft is the company to deliver said game, but I'd still like one.

The last good King Arthur game was Conquests of Camelot.

 

[Quillon]

Serge Hascoët did nothing wrong! This has to stop! Fantasy-fags trying to cancel a man with great vision!

 

[Xamenos]

demanded the game had to be "better than Tolkien".

Demanding it be better than Tolkien is not something someone who dislikes Fantasy would do. I'm getting the feeling he just wanted quality (according to ubi's metrics, naturally), and that rubbed the snowflakes the wrong way.

 

[Atlantico]

Demanding it be better than Tolkien is not something someone who dislikes Fantasy would do. I'm getting the feeling he just wanted quality (according to ubi's metrics, naturally), and that rubbed the snowflakes the wrong way.

Sounds very likely, along with some hard-hitting accusations like:

The same happened in Ancient Greece-set Assassin's Creed Odyssey, when its original pitch was to have Kassandra the only playable character. This too was ditched to give players a choice between Kassandra and her brother Alexios.

Here it's presented as "bad" that he wanted to offer players choice, in a computer game. Clown world.

 

[J1M]

Having every member of the round table with a small playable campaign would have solved the issue of players having to pick only one class.

Could even have skills learned there feed back into Arthur as a form of character progression.

 

[Decado]

I want an authentic crusader game where you play as the minor son of a noble house who travels to the holy land to rescue your father/brother/whatever via ransom and you unapologetically kill Saracens and then fall to your knees and praise god after every battle, then you can team up with the Templars and defend a doomed castle, then work for Guy, King of Jerusalem, trying to carve out a habitable living space for your European brethren. Give me chain mail and a kite shield, a mace and a sword, and let me crack open the skulls of Muslim heretics and re-consecrate defiled Christian churches.

 

[Trojan_generic]

Anyone have any statistics if girls even play any more games than before? (Before = 99% men + 1% men dressed as girls)

 

[Xeon]

Dunno about that but someone said Ubisoft said 75~% played Alexious compared to Kassandra so unless the majority of the girls like playing with male characters, I am guessing still not that many girls into gaming or at least RPGs or something.

 

[Decado]

All of the gaming companies have the telemetry data on this. People pick male protagonists when they have a choice, by a large margin -- both men and women players. Female-fronted games like Tomb Raider, etc, also sell well. This confuses idiot marketers but the data are pretty clear.

1) If you give people a choice, they tend to pick "Male."
2) If you don't give them a choice, and make them play a as a woman, most gamers will still play the game if it doesn't suck.

This bothers a certain type of person because you're not choosing what they want you to choose, but will still likely play a game as a female. Overall what it indicates is that most people don't give a shit, which runs contrary to their thesis that video games are a battleground for the culture war. Without this belief, Anita Sarkeesian et al have nothing to talk about and nothing to do, and nobody to scam on YouTube.

 

[JarlFrank]

I play female characters in 100% of cases and not being able to play as a female makes me less likely to buy the game (instead putting it on the wishlist for the next sale and choosing a game where I can play a woman this time)