Ubiquitous Failures
The Tragedy Of Ubisoft’s Self Immolation
In what seems like eons past, video game publishers used to be concerned with the business of publishing great video games. Putting forth magnificent works of art underwritten by technological prowess. Pieces that would not only explore the human condition in different, often entertaining ways yet all the while pushing the boundaries of software engineering. Sadly, in today’s world this is no longer a given. As video game publishing became a fruitful financial venture today’s corporate norms have infected the industry. Much like other segments of the mass market, It does seem that every aspect of the entertainment and arts industry has been infected with political activism to the detriment of the end product. Every published work a manifesto of religious beliefs and perceived grievances unceremoniously foisted upon the consumer. Interestingly, it does seem that the end goal of these innumerable religious screeds isn’t conversion, rather, its the subjugation of the end user. While politics and religion can be cleverly interwoven into the narrative thread of any work of art, current day corporatism has hired vandals to spray paint their fetishes all over published works using them as cathedrals for self-indulgence.
The entertainment and arts industry has been infected with political activism to the detriment of the end product. Every published work a manifesto of religious beliefs and perceived grievances unceremoniously foisted upon the consumer.
As with any conquest, the forward march of religious zealots has left behind a trail a destruction of once great monuments to human ingenuity. Through subversion the very leaders of these movement have taken the helm of once great companies and are using them as vessels to propagate their propaganda. Sadly, their advancements eventually gnaw at the very foundation of once great companies leading to their demise. While the downfall of Ubisoft stems from a variety of issues at the company, chief of which seems to be gross mismanagement, their open embrace of doctrines and dogma anathema to their core audience has hollowed out the company and its products. This titan of industry not only owns some of the most recognisable and profitable pieces of intellectual property in the world, they also own industry leading technology that has been used to bring said intellectual property to life.
Ubisoft is one of the few video game publishers to develop and manage its own game engines. These are the Snowdrop, Dunia and Anvil engines. Snowdrop has been used in the creation of The Division Series Games, Avatar Frontiers Of Pandora, Star Wars Outlaws and others. The Dunia engine has been used to build the Far Cry Series of games while the Anvil engine has been used to develop the Assassins Creed Series of Games. These game engines are feats of software engineering and far outpace many of the competitor products from other companies. Mainly however, they give Ubisoft developers freedom to create video games as they please without the restrictions of using someone else’s technology. They can make and break the rules of their creation as they go along. If Ubisoft falls this technology may be lost in favour of the now ubiquitous Unreal Engine.
She is a living breathing political statement through which gamers are forced to experience the worlds of the fabled galaxy far far away. A constant reminder of the politics of the developer and a mobile pulpit for their propaganda.
Ubisoft’s latest outing, Star War’s Outlaws, built using the Snow Drop Engine continues Ubisoft’s tradition of creating breathtaking worlds that feel lived in. While the game was beset with bugs at launch, most of which have been fixed post launch, the great engineering has been overshadowed by the company’s activism. Rather than note the high note of the musical score and environmental design, gamers have been subjected to a barrage of political activism primarily through the design of the main character and star of the story, Kay Vess. Her character model is hideous and it does seem deliberately so. Exceptionally hideous it has become a distraction from gameplay. She is a living breathing political statement through which gamers are forced to experience the worlds of the fabled galaxy far far away. Simply a vessel for an empty message and a courier for vapid political ideology. A constant reminder of the politics of the developer and a mobile pulpit for their propaganda. An ever present yet silent witness to the downfall of this once great company. One can’t help but wonder if the game released in a sorry technical state because the developers were more focused on delivering a message rather than a finished product. This being said, it is worth noting that the culture of releasing broken products at launch isn’t unique to Ubisoft. ReSpawn’s Jedi Survivor released in an unfinished state and more than a year later it still feels unfinished in spite of numerous software patches from the developer. While ReSpawn’s game focused on a great story with great characters, the same cannot be said of Ubisoft’s offering even though both are set in the same universe.
Ubisoft needs to eschew its religious crusades and return to its core business of making games. The loss of Ubisoft won’t simply be a loss for Ubisoft. It would be a loss for the world as this once great company harbours great talent. Talent the world would be poorer without. Talent that has enriched lives through rich storytelling in the multimedia art form that is Video Games.
Image credits in order of appearance: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay; Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay