community starts to boycott Ubisoft

[_Gabriel_]

Hi

i found that at some german news sites:

http://ubi.spiderfighter.de/


Greetings

Gabriel

[Letum]

Can you provide more details for us non-Germans?
Thanks

[Gizzmoe]

Can you provide more details for us non-Germans?

The English text is below the German one.

"Ubi-victims"... Aww, booo hooo hooo...

[CCIP]

Yow.

I think an all-out boycott is immature. Sure, I agree, don't buy their bad products. Support their good ones. No need for silly extremism when in fact Ubi are NOT really that much of an exception...

[_Gabriel_]

Can you provide more details for us non-Germans?
Thanks

Hi,

well the community is upset about that Ubisoft currently didnt patch several games like Rainbow 6, Splinter Cell, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and older games too, like our good old SH3, they dont response to any community questions or things like that.
The community is also annoyed that ubisoft first brings out console games and then they do a unkind PC conversion (Splinter Cell).

Greetings

Gabriel

P.S. Sorry for that bad english :)

[GSpector]

I too would like more info on this.

Hey Gizzmoe, True the initial purpose of the site is in both English & german but only 1 post was in English. It's hard to tell whom you agree with and for what reasons IF YOU CAN"T READ GERMAN.:damn:

_Gabriel_, Do you know of any other sites like this one?

[Gizzmoe]

It's hard to tell whom you agree with and for what reasons IF YOU CAN"T READ GERMAN.:damn:
Do you play many Ubisoft games and think that most of them are too buggy/unfinished, that the customer support is bad and Ubisoft should be boycotted because of this? If so, you agree with them. If not, you don´t. :)

I don´t get it, no one is forcing them at gunpoint to rush out and buy a game the day it comes out. They could wait a week and check the reactions on the forum. If they see that too many people are unhappy with the game they don´t buy it and perhaps wait until the first patch comes out. Then they check the forums again...

[_Gabriel_]

_Gabriel_, Do you know of any other sites like this one?

Yes there are a few but all currently in german.


Greetings

Gabriel

[GSpector]

Thanks _Gabriel_.

Agreeing with the main topic is not the same as agreeing with every post. That's why it's important to be able to read the other post just to see which points you agree or disagree with.

I personally have not had any real issues with UBI Software but I am also careful about which copy protection many company's use.

SPORES is a title I would like very much to get but if they use the same copy protection that SIMS 2 used then it would be a waste of my money because SIMS 2 will not install on a system that has NERO. Of course, if you ask the Phone techs, they just act like they don't know about it when it is documented on their website if you dig deep enough. Their Phone Techs just want you to make a whole lot of tweaks to your system and try to find every excuse to blame your system instead of their software.

I was lucky to be able to return SIMS 2 back to Circuit City which has a NO RETURN policy for opened software only after I was able to prove to them that I could not install the software because of the Software's built-in scanning software.

[baggygreen]

Strewth, look at what EA/Dice have done with the Battlefield franchise through their lack of support and so on.

Ubi are a beacon of customer service and support compared to them!

[Gizzmoe]

Agreeing with the main topic is not the same as agreeing with every post. That's why it's important to be able to read the other post just to see which points you agree or disagree with.
That´s true. But I can assure you, I´ve read quite a few of the 390+ posts and, no big surprise, there´s nothing that would truly warrant a total boycott. Generally speaking, people are unhappy with the state of some Ubisoft games, and mostly rightfully so, but that´s it. Like CCIP already said, Ubisoft is not really much of an exception, every single major publisher had released some games that shouldn´t have been released in their current form.

I´ve currently nine Ubisoft games installed, and I´m not unhappy with one of them.

[STEED]

The other side of the coin is the consumer wants it and must have it as Gizzmoe has pointed out your not being forced to buy the games. So take a step back and stop and think. :hmm:

[Abraham]

I'm unhappy with the title of this thread.

"community?", what community? A German site?
"boycott?", what boycott?

It is the policy of subsim.com that - while being free to criticise its products - we respect the industry for providing us with games.
As Gizzmoe pointed out: nobody forces us to play games.
We at subsim.com always take a very critical look at all the aspects of a new game, from technical perfection to historic accuracy and every thing in between. And guess what? Every games has some shortcomings, because the perfect game doesn't exist.
So - like Steed said - let's step back. Let's look at the companies, like UBI. For them our games are just a product to make money, because that's their business.
Let's be gratefull that a company like UBISOFT invested heavely after the SH II misery in a far from perfect but still great game like SH III and wanted to continue the series with SH IV.

So criticising games is O.K., but talking about boycotting the industry is stupid.

[Fish]

- we respect the industry for providing us with games.


I respect a industry when it provide us, the customers, with playable games, and respons to the communitie.
You like to buy a car as bugged as some games are? :hmm:

[Brag]

When Ubi came out with SH III it had responded to many player's concerns and complaints. The Stock SH III with 1.4 patch is a very playable game. Though not perfect, UBI has responded to its customer base in this instance. Had it not, it would have been torpedoed right out of the market. All one needs to do is read this forum to see there is general satisfaction with the product. It would seem strange that a company would have different levels of quality for their different products. They could have some bad dev. team. ;)

[The Avon Lady]

It would seem strange that a company would have different levels of quality for their different products. They could have some bad dev. team. ;)
Ubi buys out and subcontracts numerous development companies and shops for their products.

[Konovalov]

It would seem strange that a company would have different levels of quality for their different products. They could have some bad dev. team. ;)
Ubi buys out and subcontracts numerous development companies and shops for their products.

Good point.

Abraham hit the nail on the head for me. :yep:

[bradclark1]

Let's be gratefull that a company like UBISOFT invested heavely after the SH II misery in a far from perfect but still great game like SH III and wanted to continue the series with SH IV.

So criticising games is O.K., but talking about boycotting the industry is stupid.
UBISOFT is in this to make money. Not to be good old boys. If they didn't think they would turn a profit they wouldn't have done it. Nothing to be grateful for, it's business.

[Gizzmoe]

Nothing to be grateful for, it's business.
I´m grateful that Ubisoft chose to put their money into the development of a niche product, SH3, and thus taking a certain risk. They could have easily taken the safe route and put the money into a project that guaranteed them a much bigger investment return. Yes, it´s a business and it´s about money, but I believe that Ubisoft isn´t a soulless company.

[Sonarman]

I think that Ubi deserves our support too. Unlike all of the other software companies out there they have decided to take the risk of investing in a subsim.

SH2/DC was not great but the bulk of the blame for that lies with "The learning company/SSI" and Ultimation along with Sony the developers of RTime who would not let Ultimation modify the multiplayer engine source code. Ubi came in very late in the day and tried to make the best of a bad situation.

With Harpoon IV they learned from their mistake, even after spending a years extra dev time/money to try and fix the game to a release standard they still had the integrity to cancel the product and write it off as a loss rather than release it.

With all that in mind it is to Ubisoft's credit that they decided to develop SH3 the best subsim ever and even delayed release by about 8 months specifically to satisfy our demands for a dynamic campaign.

SH3 was relatively bugfree on release apart from the bow wake problem which was caused not by UBi but by nVidia changing elements of it's graphic drivers. Ubi then went on to release patches up to v1.4 including extra features/fixes such as the protractor etc.

They have continued to support us by developing SH4 and we should continue to support them

Vive la France!

[Abraham]

Nothing to be grateful for, it's business.
I´m grateful that Ubisoft chose to put their money into the development of a niche product, SH3, and thus taking a certain risk. They could have easily taken the safe route and put the money into a project that guaranteed them a much bigger investment return. Yes, it´s a business and it´s about money, but I believe that Ubisoft isn´t a soulless company.
Gizzmoe stated what I ment. Subsim games were not a big deal. Most were like Silent Service where with a lot of imagination from the gamer you moved a blob over endless ocean squares, your biggest risk being that you ran out of fuel. Which by the way had no realistic consequences.
Aces of the Deep was the first game with a thrill; a band and girls waving your boat goodbye, "Rauchsäulen am Horizont, Herr Kaleun!", etc.
SH II promised much but it was due to modders like Vickers on this site that the game could be played at all. And many still remember the long and winding road that led to SH III.
So UBI could have stayed out of the subsim business altogether, could have made a simple product, but decided to take i'ts job seriously and came with a fully moddable game, with 'sexy' features like birds, lighthouses, nice waves AND A CREW!
With all the critic on the system of watches, I'm convinced that there will never be a sub game without lookouts on the bridge, thanks to UBISOFT. And now UBI decided to stay in the market and bring out SH IV, which should have perfected many of new features of SH III. And perhaps SH III will later be brought up to SH IV standards...
For me one thing is clear; UBISOFT is marketleader in good subsim games, and we owe the growth of our Subsim.com community largely to those games.
I don't know how much real interest the top management of UBISOFT had in subsim games, but I do know - I spoke with some - that the development team was highly motivated and enthousiastic about the project, which showed in the product.

[bradclark1]

I'm not saying they are soulless. What I'm saying is it's a business. Before SHIII came out all you could get were FPS's. There was a lot of bitching about no sims. Ubi saw that and filled the void which was good but they did it to fill the market which is what business is about. If they didn't see a market for SHIII they wouldn't have published it. Yes there are still companies that are enthusiastic about their product but it's also becoming or has become a fact that their is some not so good games out there as mentioned previously that support is pretty shabby.
On a side note I'd say console games are part of the problem but thats another story.

[geetrue]

For me one thing is clear; UBISOFT is marketleader in good subsim games, and we owe the growth of our Subsim.com community largely to those games.
I don't know how much real interest the top management of UBISOFT had in subsim games, but I do know - I spoke with some - that the development team was highly motivated and enthousiastic about the project, which showed in the product.

Ubisoft distributes games that sell or don't sell ... the Producer's so to speak

SSI and Ultimation were the directors so to speak of SH III

Code and graphics are the actors

The script is WWII and history

Any good movie to be considered a winner has to have a good
beginning, a good middle and a good ending ...

The results aren't in yet, but I believe SHIV will be a winner ...

Out of these three faith, hope and love ... love is the strongest
ingredient of them all ...

Avon lady had the right answer:

Ubi buys out and subcontracts numerous development companies and shops for their products.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

I don´t get it, no one is forcing them at gunpoint to rush out and buy a game the day it comes out. They could wait a week and check the reactions on the forum. If they see that too many people are unhappy with the game they don´t buy it and perhaps wait until the first patch comes out. Then they check the forums again...

Thats exactly what I do. Before I bought Red Orchestra Ostfront, I did some pretty heavy research into the kind of support it would get, and since there's a specialised team of developers specifically for adding new content and patching the game, I went straight out and bought it. I highly recommend it, by the way.

On the subject of Ubisoft, they're nowhere near as bad with customer service as Electronic Arts. EA Games, when you go to their support section, is pretty much like:

1) Please Choose a Game
2) You have selected Battlefield: Vietnam - please choose a question that most represents the problem you are having
3) To view the answer to this question, please register.
4) You have chosen 'My problem is not displayed here' and thus, you must be reporting a problem that doesnt exist. Good day.

[_Gabriel_]

Well just 4 info,

i want only show you what some guys start, i dont vote for the boycott, it was only a info nothing more.


Greetings

Gabriel

[Wim Libaers]

Can we boycott Lucasarts too?

1. Buy Star Wars Battlefront 2. Install. It works!
2. Install patch. Doesn't work anymore, complaining about the wrong disc being inserted (it's still in there).
3. Search their site for solutions. Nothing.
4. search their forum. Notice many threads of angry people complaining about the same error.
5. E-mail tech support. A reply comes quickly, recommending that several registry keys be removed. After this, the game acts as if it isn't installed. Good thing I made a registry backup.
6. Search sites for cracks. Find mini-image. Mount with Daemon-tools. Everything works!

It's a strange world when the crackers provide more help than the publisher, and game copy protections refuse to recognize the genuine disc but will happily accept a mounted fake image slightly bigger than 1MB. :damn:

Oh well, I can play without the CD in the drive now. Convenient. :)

[Abraham]

Well just 4 info,

i want only show you what some guys start, i dont vote for the boycott, it was only a info nothing more.


Greetings

Gabriel

Hi Gabriel, no hard feelings from my side...
You just started a nive little discussion.

[nightdagger]

I think that Ubi has made a lot of good games and some bad ones. I don't think that anyone starting the boycott is a programmer, though, because they obviously don't appreciate how much work it takes to make a patch, much less a slightly flawed full game.

I'd also agree with Wim Libaers though. Crackers are talented enough where they can get out a patch quickly that fixes a lot of problems. The only danger is the pr0n from cracker sites.

[GSpector]

Hello Wim Libaers,

I almost agree about Lucasarts/Lucas Games

They did a great job with Totally Games when they came out with Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

Many had asked or hoped for a continuation of this sim. How did Lucasarts respond? They created Secret Weapons over Normandy:damn: :down:

This was 100% all the way designed for a Console but put on a PC:huh: Since then, they have not impressed me.

I have almost ever Flight & Space Sim prior to that release.