The 'Ubisoft Problem'

If you don’t recognise the Ubisoft name you’ll certainly recognise the games that they’ve developed. Rayman Raving Rabbids, Rainbow Six Siege, Far Cry and Assasin’s Creed to name their current biggest ones. As much as these games have a strong history and are revered within the industry, Ubisoft have recently gained a negative reputation for making the same kind of game and no longer having the spark and diversity that they once had. So what is the Ubisoft problem and how can they go to fix it?

The main crux of the issue is that most Ubisoft games nowadays are open world collect-a-thons that have an awareness marker and shoe horned stealth sections. Furthermore, Ubisoft have touted their recent Assassin's Creed games are 100+ hour games and let’s be real here, not everyone has time to put in 100+ hours into one game.

What I feel to be more egregious is the constant nickel and diming of Ubisoft’s games. Most gamers expect micro-transactions in their multiplayer games but the audacity to put them into single player games that are not DLC is quite baffling and very scmmy to me as it’s an obvious indicator that Ubisoft cares about profits over quality these days. So with Ubisoft only releasing the same flavour of games and their single player endeavours being stuck in development hell (trust me we’ll get to that) where did all go wrong and how can they fix it?

From the years 2000 to 2015, Ubisoft was very quickly building itself to be one of the goliaths of the industry. Known for quality across the board, the French Canadian company built their brand on a healthy diet of great quality games. Really changing the scene with Splintercell, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six under their Tom Clancy banner of IP they began to really create a following with the release of Beyond Good and Evil, Rayman Franchise and bangers such as Myst, Diablo, Far Cry 1-3, Prince of Persia, Driver and Anno to name a few. In 2010 Ubisoft dropped a gaming bombshell by announcing the creation of UbiArts Framework, a new venture in which Ubisoft would focus on bringing more artistic games to the front of the conversation and helping support smaller, indie ideas in their development. Their first release of Rayman Origins was met with a staggering 92 on metacritic and in 2014 they would release their first original IP Child of Light which was met with and impressive 89 on metacritic. This was hopefully a sign of new things for Ubisoft as they continued their focus on games by releasing Valiant Hearts the same year. But an issue was upon the horizon. A neon, white silhouetted dancing issue.

UbiArts was also developing the JustDance franchise. A relative juggernaut of the games industry that many gamers may not consider a big franchise but their 40million in sales begs to differ. Alongside this, Ubisoft began to notice a change in the industry. Significantly more sales than UbiArts more artistic endeavours. So now they have been relegated to only developing JustDance seemingly forever as it makes the most money and this pattern of over capitalising on one successful IP is a constant pattern within Ubisoft as of recent.

Gone were the days of single player games dominating the market and now multiplayer games were the talk of the town. So what multiplayer game did Ubisoft have? Rainbow 6. Starting off on a rocky foot, Rainbow 6 Siege is now one of the most popular multiplayer games there is and Ubisoft is very aware of this. Ubisoft very quickly made efforts to capitalise on this and found success in Siege but proceeded to make many more multiplayer games only to send them to dust. Hyperscape, Steep, The Crew are all failed multiplayer ventures for Ubisoft but this issue isn’t exclusively multiplayer for them.

I truly believe that Ubisoft saw the success of Far Cry and Assasin’s Creed and decided that they are the only kind of games that make money. So they rehaulled their studios to only make open world games that have the same kind of feel to them as it is easy money. The biggest proof of this is the existence of micro-transactions in their single player games. Not even being DLC, just extra coins to buy things in game.

Ubisoft saw the success of a few games and tried to replicate that success without realising what made them successful in the first place. It was the quality of the games and how unique they felt. There were no other games like Far Cry or Assassin's Creed and now there’s too many and fans are beginning to get tired of it.

As a company, it really feels like Ubisoft no longer desire to make badass unique singleplayer experiences as they believe that’s not where the money is. They have gone from a company known for it’s uniqueness in gaming to just another EA-style company that constantly throws things at the walls in the hopes that something will stick. Oh battle royale is kicking off? Make an uninspired Hyperscape. Oh Rocket League is huge? Quickly make Roller Champions and give it no press to be DOA. Siege worked and people like Chivalry? Make For Honour. Can you sense a pattern here?

The issue is that, in Ubisoft’s pursuit of money, the quality of the games have suffered. Just Dance gets alot of sales? So they put UbiArt’s other projects in the bin and only make JustDance games. Far Cry is selling well? Make another that’s exactly the same and change Ghost Recon to be a third person Far Cry Game while you’re at it. The strangest of these actions was to the Assassin's Creed franchise. The AC game were known for two main things, its really unique stealth mechanics and its parkour. However, after seeing the success of games like Dark Souls and Zelda, I believe they changed the AC formula to be more combat focused in an attempt to chase money and the games have suffered as a result. How on earth can you make a fun parkour game in a desert? It just doesn’t make any sense. Rather than creating a world where they can tell a nice well thought story with cool parkour and interesting stealth segments, (ie: AC4: Black Flag) they decided to make a very long open world game. Now why do that? Player retention. Player retention is one of the biggest reasons why games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends have the success that they do and make as much money as they do. Id Ubisoft tells its developers that they need to create games with longer staying power, they’re going to want to use their bigger, more recognisable franchises rather than spend money on building a new IP. So gone were the parkour and stealth sections in favour of larger lands with less to do but more to collect in the hopes that they hold onto players and keep themselves relevant in an attempt to chase more money. The reason why AC2 and Ezio are now iconic is because Ubisoft managed to tell a concise enough story in a small city that felt alive. But this was back when they were focused on creating a great experience for their players rather than attempting to extort them for all the money that they have.

And even when seeing the monetary success of Fortnite they fail to realise WHY Fortnite is successful. The battle pass system works in a free to play game if it gives the player back everything they feel that they have put in. Not only does every battle pass in Fortnite give you back enough premium currency to buy the next battle pass. You also get a little extra to spend on skins etc. You can also earn the premium currency in-game without having to spend a single penny. Ubisoft will release a full priced game and treat it like it’s a free to play game and then be shocked when the game doesn’t become a success. Look at Riders Republic, a genuinely fun game with the most fun snowboarding mechanics since SSX 2012. The game is sold at full price (£60) and then there is a year pass (£30) but because it’s a full price game, Ubisoft can’t release any content behind a paywall and justify it so the year pass seems to be only skins and premium currency. But that’s the problem, why are you hiding content behind a paywall when your game is being sold at full price? It’s scummy and will deter players from even touching the game as the skins and content we would like to have cannot be earned in this game they want me to spend nearly £100 on. Stupid.

Now before you get to thinking that this could spell the end for Ubisoft here are some possible greener pastures coming up. Beyond Good and Evil is getting a long-awaited sequel and both Splintercell and Prince of Persia have remakes in the works. But they are all stuck in development hell right now. We have heard, and seen, little to nothing about all of these upcoming projects and remakes for Ubisoft and it’s getting very concerning. I genuinely hope this is because Ubisoft is giving their devs the time and space that they need to develop the games fully so we don’t get another Cyberpunk 2077 on our hands but the sceptic in me thinks otherwise. My sceptical side believes that if Ubisoft can churn out an Assassin's Creed in the pace that it currently does almost every other year, and those being massively open world games, that maybe Ubisoft isn’t giving the time and resources these single player projects and they are not a priority to them at all.

I am incredibly biassed considering Splintercell is my favourite gaming franchise and in interviews devs kept hinting at a PS4 and XB1 release of Splintercell Blacklist but we never got one in the end. This irks me as Ubisoft is sitting on a ton of great IP and studios. So how can they fix this?

Well first they need to stop treating games like they are free to play and actually just make them free to play. Don’t have me pay full price for Riders Repiblic if you’re going to hide content from me behind a paywall. I’ve already paid you so stop acting like I haven’t. Secondly I would have them refocus their single player efforts. Let UbiArts come up with something original again and open up a new studio to fully focus on JustDance as it is making you money. I would release regular dev updates on single player games currently in development and actually get on creating desired sequels to games like Splintercell and Myst.

Will this solve every issue? No. Will it help to alleviate malaise in Ubisoft and reignite excitement for their upcoming projects? Absolutely. I am tired of seeing the same games with different paint come out of UbiSoft. I just hope my once favourite developers can be my favourites again. Until then it goes to NightSchool studio. Thank you for reading.