When you think of Ubisoft, what's the first thing that comes to mind?
Is it canned, potato server, ancestral bug, leap of faith, color six live, or "Healing"?
A few years ago, Hair would make a slightly teasing joke about Ubisoft and then pre-order the latest installments of Assassin's Creed and Far Cry without blinking an eye.
And now when it comes to Ubisoft, it seems that he only shakes his head and leaves a sigh.
Two days ago, I just finished talking about "Agent Xingming", which Sony spent 8 years and 2 billion to build, and it was humorously shut down after 12 days of service. Then, Ubisoft's "Star Wars: Outlaws" followed suit and announced a hit on the streets.
Even Ubisoft's stock price fell to a 10-year low as a result, and Vivendi took a long breath of relief.
Seeing reports that investors are still betting on the future of Assassin's Creed: Shadows is even more unsettling.
It's good not to mention this stubble, but now it's even more difficult to say whether the current historically low stock price will still have room to fall.
In fact, if you look at the works of the past two years, it is not difficult to see that it has been going uphill all the time.
In 2023, which was recognized as a big year for games last year, what games have Ubisoft launched?
Two small and medium-sized works, plus a new work of The Crew, a long-previewed next-generation open-world Avatar, and Mirage of the 15th anniversary of the Assassin's Creed series.
Not to mention, this lineup is quite luxurious.
In particular, Avatar, Mirage, and The Crew are all produced at a 3A-level cost with the blessing of IP.
But the current MC average score shows that none of them have exceeded 7.0.
In the past, Ubisoft's industrial assembly line game, although it was limited in fun and copy-pasted seriously, but at least it could guarantee a passing score and good sales, but now it is not as good as before.
Like last year's Avatar, it reversed.
Aside from the level of the graphics, there is hardly anything to praise about the exploration, combat, growth, and plot.
The vision that claims to return to the old Assassin's Creed is not as original as everyone imagined.
The process is short, the stealth assassination gameplay is too superficial, and the plot unfolds like boiled water.
If the mythological trilogy can maintain the freshness of at least about 15 hours, then this work has basically cleared the level for 15 hours, and includes half an hour when I fell asleep in the middle.
Although the quality of the game is not brilliant enough, the good thing is that the sales can still be seen.
It didn't take long for the sales of Mirage to break 5 million sales, although the stamina was lacking, and no one cared about it after transplanting it to the mobile terminal, but it was not a real work after all, and the results were barely satisfactory.
The Crew also broke the franchise sales record, bringing a wave of growth to Ubisoft last year.
But this is also based on its extremely low production capacity throughout 2022 and the first half of 2023.
Therefore, what happened later is obviously not so optimistic.
Avatar Pandora border, because of the skipping ticket, missed the movie release stall, and as a result, the movie was average, and the game was not good.
It was discounted by 7% just 4 days after it was released, and the price was nearly halved three months later.
And just like that, the final sales are estimated to be 2 million. Its development cost is about 60 million US dollars, including publicity and other expenses, it should be a lot.
Then, take another look at the release watches, and the next ones are really all heavyweights.
The lost crown of the Persian prince is not applauded.
This once Ubisoft's flagship IP is back strongly in 2024.
In terms of side-scrolling action gameplay, there is both a Rayman flavor and a Metroidvania-like exploration design, and the action and feel have the consistent quality of Ubisoft's previous works.
As a result, I don't know if there was a problem with the announcement, or if the old friend of the Persian prince has faded out of everyone's field of vision for too long, and the final commercial results can be called dismal, and he is not even worthy of sitting at the same table with Avatar.
Then there is the brave heart, the fallen leaves return to the roots.
This game 2023 is exclusive to members of Netflix subscriptions, and it will not be available on all platforms until 2024.
The previous work can be called a big name, the plot is a god, and a mobile version is also released.
But this new work has received mixed reviews, and the gameplay, plot and optimization have regressed in an all-round way.
Not to mention the sales, it is a niche game in itself, and it can only be said that Netflix has a lot of money.
In fact, at this point, it can only be said that Ubisoft has lost its original intention, and the quality of the game has declined, which is not as good as before.
But if you look a little further back, you'll see that this year's Ubisoft is all about abstraction.
The game of Blue Sea and Black Sails is the first shot that officially launched the sharp decline in Ubisoft's reputation.
After 9 years of development and an investment of 120 million blue sea and black sails, the number of ticket jumps is almost as good as that of 2077.
Even if the game is not released, depending on the duration and project completion, the ending can basically be predicted.
Finally, of course, the quality of the game is far less than expected, and Assassin's Creed Black Flag players are embarrassed to admit its existence, and it is common practice to reduce prices immediately after release.
Even, there were rumors that this game was to cheat the France government...
The next one is still a heavyweight, uninhibited league.
In the promotion and testing stage of this work, it really filled everyone's expectations, and the free multiplayer had no brains, and it was like hanging the unenterprising garbage COD with a hammer, and many people have expressed their desire to join Ubisoft's arms.
Who wants to go online as soon as the official version is launched, direct bugs are everywhere, the potato server plays stably, the gun feel is reversed and optimized, and all kinds of problems are coming to the door.
Today, although the problem has changed a lot, and it is optimized every three or five times, but the people have gone away and have fallen to the point where they have to fight against the water, and the future is not optimistic.
THE RECENTLY LAUNCHED EA VERSION OF THE PRINCE OF PERSIA: ROGUE, IS AN INDIE GAME-LEVEL MEAT PIGEON.
Although it is an IP-licensed game licensed to the Dead Cell production team, the quality of the two is far from the same, and few people know about the popularity.
Then, I don't know what to think, so I fried a cold rice that transcends good and evil.
In fact, it is now a routine operation to have an HD reset, and there is not much of a problem in the first place.
But what players really want is to surpass Good and Evil 2, and after waiting for so many years, finally waiting for a series sequel plan to be completely canceled.
Cancel it, cancel it, and it's a thought to be broken.
As a result, the 20th anniversary brought the 1st generation up again, so he was scolded again.
Finally, forgive Xiaofa for putting the real heavyweight: Star Wars, at the end.
Because this game is really the last straw that crushes Ubisoft, gathering all kinds of DEBUFFS in one.
In terms of game content, its gameplay is empty, there are many bugs, the plot is boring, the combat and stealth are hard to describe, the space battle is even inferior to the starry sky, and the enemy AI can be called mentally retarded.
Except for the graphics, all aspects of the performance are very immature, as if they have lost the development experience that Ubisoft has accumulated over the years.
Just search for the relevant terms and everyone will only tell you two words: Run.
Don't buy it.
This " Star Wars IP work", no lightsaber, no Force.
Some are just a heroine who came out of nowhere, and the boring game flow throughout, as well as the ubiquitous political correctness, if you can play this game without dozing, you probably have the strength to stay up eagle.
And it's all rotten to this point, and the producers are still expressing their displeasure with the MC's 76 media equalization.
In this regard, the Spain gaming media Gamesrd was blunt:
Not only is the pre-order price expensive, but the current rating is also a lot, all of which are raised by the game media who closed their eyes and scored high scores when they saw Disney and Star Wars, and the actual game experience was very bad, and the end was direct:
" I played this game, you don't have to, now I'm going back to playing Black Myth ».
This Star Wars has the excellent results of last year's "Star Wars: Survivor" as a model, but as a result, people didn't learn the good qualities at all, and they were stunned to make a Star Wars that everyone shouted about.
The succession of failures should be enough to make Ubisoft realize that this is not the way the game is played.
But that's not the end of it, because there are still masters.
This November, the latest, orthodox, politically correct blockbuster of Assassin's Creed is about to be unveiled...
Players need to play as Yasuke, a black ninja, who kills all sides during the Azuchi-Momoyama era in Japan, and dodges around the crowd to complete the assassination.
It's hard to say how the game is.,Now I'm waiting for the release.,See what the final sales are.。。。
No, after watching Ubisoft over the years, my blood pressure is a little high.
I still remember Xiaofa's last Ubisoft game with a decent experience, or Far Cry 6.
Although it is far from excellent, at least it tells a complete story, stealth and shooting, driving around with various vehicles and planes, which can make people brainless.
As a result, in the past three or four years, Far Crying 6 has become the peak.
Even Ubisoft's acclaimed small- and medium-sized games are now visibly declining in quality.
The one that used to be the mainstay of the industry that was not very mistaken, stable output, seemed to have lost his mind.
It is obviously a mature enterprise, but now there are all kinds of out-of-control costs, chaotic project management, and ticket skipping delays, which makes people wonder what is happening inside the company.
I only hope that the current Ubisoft will realize the problem soon.
After all, I really want to play the original Prince of Persia and the Sands of Time remake...