Three Blind Mice
The Tragic Tale Of Ubisoft
Contrary to reported statements recently made by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot to investors and industry insiders, the video game publisher has never been at war with its fans. It was always at war with itself. In a video presentation at Paris Game Week the beleaguered CEO describes the tension around the release of Assassins Creed Shadows. Ubisoft, per the CEO, had to demonstrate that this was more of a video game than a message. In order to rally fans around the IP he contends that the video game publisher had to pivot from focusing on the haters to rallying their allies in support of their studios and their latest offering. To paraphrase Professor McGonagall, heroic these actions may be but why were they necessary? While Assassins Creed Shadows was fertile ground for the culture war, Ubisoft didn’t just cultivate the land, they ploughed and watered it. Now they are reaping bountiful harvest and enjoying the fruits of their labour. It is very telling that Mr. Guillemot speaks of allies but not critics or reviewers of the latest product being brought to market. Perhaps inadvertently highlighting the unethical relationship some publishers have with journalists in the video game space. Ubisoft chose to consult with a charlatan in writing a make-believe story about a non-existent afro-Samurai. Furthermore, Ubisoft and its “allies” chose to focus on his skin colour rather than the story they were attempting to tell and the innovation they were bringing to the video game. To top it all off, they still released an incomplete and far inferior product in comparison to their previous outings. Using as a cloak a purported hate campaign to deflect from genuine criticism of its product. A lesson it would seem that has still not been learned.
While Assassins Creed Shadows was fertile ground for the culture war, Ubisoft didn’t just cultivate the land, they ploughed and watered it.
Ubisoft as a video game maker has some of the best and most talented developers on the planet. They are industry leaders bar none. They build and create using their own technology. A rare feat in today’s development environment. Even Halo Studios has abandoned its own Slip Space Engine to adopt the now ubiquitous Unreal Engine 5. While it has its advantages its myriad failures have been well documented across the full spectrum of games built using it. From indie publishers all the way to titans of industry, the Unreal Engine Stutter is very real. To the contrary, Ubisoft’s teams know how to work within their limitations and extract the most out of their own proprietary engines. Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora and Star Wars: Outlaws, developed by Massive Entertainment under the Ubisoft Umbrella, using the Snow Drop engine, demonstrate some of the best virtual worlds ever brought to life. These games not only complement the borrowed IPs they are based on, they add a sense of scale and layer in depth and richness into these virtual worlds. Truly bringing Mr. Cameron’s and Lucas’ wild machinations to life. True “imagineering.” The former title was praised for its technical achievements in spite of its lukewarm reception amongst players. The latter was criticised for its technical problems at launch with some criticism aimed at the lead character’s design. Neither received as much criticism as Assassins Creed Shadows. Ubisoft chose to court controversy by fabricating whole cloth facets of history. Tokenising people of black ethnicity by bequeathing a title and role unto an actual historical figure a title and role he never had. A particularly pernicious form of racism which elevates people of black ethnicity over others by allotting to them that which belongs to others. Never original creations, forever stuck in the hand-me-down economy of ideas and innovation.
Tokenising people of black ethnicity by bequeathing a title and role unto an actual historical figure a title and role he never had.
Ubisoft’s share price has cratered over the past few years with each passing moment ushering in fears of an impending collapse of the company. While some, in particular combatants in the Great Western Culture War, may be celebrating this collapse, it is a moment for mourning. If Ubisoft fails it may simply be the harbinger to the collapse of Triple A publishing. In spite of all the flaws of big budget developers, they are still needed in pushing innovation and this medium of art further. Without Warner Brothers Christopher Nolan films would not have introduced the wider world to auteur film making. Great art deserves as wide an audience as possible. Art not only comforts and challenges us. It also inspires us. Ubisoft is one of the world’s premier art factories. Because of the goods they traffic in they are able to produce unique even if somewhat corporatised pieces. In spite of being a live service game, The Division 2 still has great environmental story telling and world building. The great sound design and beautifully scored music help add character to this fallen world. The weather effects, lighting and interactivity add a realism not a great many games can afford to muster and still run at a near locked 60fps on console with 4k visuals. This is Ubisoft at its finest. This cannot be lost. This must not be lost. Not to mismanagement, not to social activism within the company, not to the Great Western Culture War.
In all fairness, it is doubtful that Assassins Creed Shadows did not meet sales expectations due to the criticism it drew from wading into the cultural arena. Of late, more and more games are failing to make back their budgets and for a variety of reasons. Shadows is still considered to be a success albeit a moderate one compared to past outings in the same franchise. It was never going to compete with the numbers Assassins Creed Valhalla did during the lockdowns. That was a perfect storm for great sales. Perhaps these numbers buoyed investor expectations who mistook the escapism offered by video games at the time for genuine popularity. Valhalla still had numerous issues chief among them being player fatigue with Ubisoft’s open world formula. This being said, it was still a competently made game. Shadows feels feature incomplete and reeks of incompetence and/or mismanagement. Great music in Shadows is near non-existent. Ubisoft’s great voice acting and direction is absent as is the exploration aspect of the video game. The world in Valhalla never comes to a standstill. Often much happens without direct player input egging the player on to explore and discover the world. Matched perfectly with great visuals and a great score to go along with the experience. In Shadows this is markedly lacking. There isn’t much to explore and the little there is cordoned off by never ending, at times impregnable, vegetation. All in all, a mediocre title made using remarkable technology.
This title was for their allies and not really for the fans. Blind mice leading each other. The rest of us blinded by the bloat sinking Ubisoft’s ship.
Mr. Guillemot’s analysis of the failures of Shadows and Ubisoft’s financial woes don’t seem to match reality. Each title Ubisoft puts out should feel like another hit from a greatest hit collections album of video games. The company does take in considerable income each year from its legacy titles. However, this is a legacy many are willing to not only look up to but to come back to. A game for each season of life and for each type of player out there. Shadows was a game which had its heart clotted up with the fat of social activism. Regardless of how hard other parts of the body pumped greatness into it, this was not enough to save it. Compounded with other failures within, the lacklustre sales make sense. Sadly, evidently, not to Mr. Guillemot. This title was for his allies and not really for the fans. Blind mice leading each other. The rest of us blinded by the bloat sinking Ubisoft’s ship.
Video companion piece here.
Image credits in order of appearance: Image par Gordon Johnson de Pixabay; Image par OpenClipart-Vectors de Pixabay; Image par Prawny de Pixabay