Dear Ubisoft
 

Far be it for me to jump onto the "let's bash Ubisoft & Silent Hunter 5" crowd, I find that you have really screwed up.

I have enjoyed playing the Silent Hunter series, and granted it is not a huge money maker like first person shooters, I think it is a series that should be fostered and improved.

You broke so much ground with SH3, it was the first sub sim where I truly felt like a captain.

Sh4 was a let down, due to bad quality control on your part.

Now Silent Hunter 5 comes and once again a ground breaker, but it is also rife with some serious bugs.

Now you do something that is so much a kick in the face of those that have been loyal to the series.

For no given reason you have delayed the 2nd patch. This has spawned several stupid "unbisoft is never coming out with the patch" threads at the forums. Frankly I think these threads are deserved. Why do you ask?

Because, you fail to provide a reason for this delay. We of the subsim community are not for the most part people that get a kick out of a game that requires little skill or even thinking. We simply wont be satisfied with a message saying the patch is delayed.

Good customer service would "we are sorry to announce that the patch for silent hunter five is delayed due to these reasons....., " and then go on and explain why the patch is delayed. We will understand I am sure.

SH5 is in a condition that shows quality control was very lacking. You have given us development tools to facilitate modding, but you provided very little documentation on how to use it.

I am starting to think about many here that Sh5 was the space shuttle of the silent hunter series (so few know that the shuttle was actually meant to kill the manned space program) It has all the signs it was mean to fail.

Delaying the patch with no good explanation is just re-enforcing that notion.

Communicate ? when ? and what ?

Today : No patch today maybe next week and good bye

that´s all what Ubi say. No reason why, no news what we can
expect etc. I´m sorry but in my point of view this is no communication to
coustomers. Especially after a grand mistake to relase a product that is not
finished, and this not for the first time.

This is simple a bad managment.

Greets
Turtle

That seems correct. In general I think it is time for us as consumers to own up and take some responsibility for our own actions. We live in a world where information is easy to come by. There are plenty of reviews, previews various opinions formulated by individuals on forums such as these, yet many of us still rush out on release day to get the game just to get what we want before it is even available. Preferably for free. I think it is plain for all to see that there are quite a few out there, both reviewers and forumites, that dislike SH5. Isn't it our obligation to bother to do some sort of research before we purchase something instead of just running out getting it and then throw a dozen tantrums a day because you feel "cheated" out of something? I struggle a bit with understanding that mentality.

For the record, I enjoy the game without a single mod.

You purchased a game from a company that you claim have a track record of bad management and miss-communication, and now you are pissed at them?

Ubi hasn't given a reason for the delay? Well then if that's the case they've dropped the ball (yet again).
Just tell the people why the patch is delayed, geeshh. Everybody would accept reasons like they're still ironing out the bugs. Who the heck is in charge of the PR over there anyways...

good post and agreed... I dont even have the game, but i have SH3 and SH4 and Sh3 was good, SH4 was bug ridden, and SH5 seems to be completely screwed. I feel that this is the way the gaming market is going lately, especially for PCs. Addons and sequels seem far more buggier than the last. Another example of this is the Total War series. Its too bad.

At least the modding community will prob turn Sh5 into a 9/10 game. But we'll just have to wait. All the tools are there so there is still promise. I definately wont be buying till the price drops to about 10 bucks, and by then im sure the mods will be out full force.

:o Ubi has beta testers

In fairness, I can't remember buying any software that worked perfectly from version 1.00 straight out of the box. And I'm not just talking about games. I think this is just the way that the PC software market works.

And I think almost every game community comes up in arms exactly like this one every time it happens. I think its just about right to move with the times and accept that this is the way it is going to be. I personally don't give the PC game market more than another 5 years. It always used to be the case that people bought high-spec PC's and games because they always looked better than their console counterparts. However this seems to have ended, we're now in a world that the PC version and the XBOX version not only look, but play in exactly the same way. The only thing that the console users miss out on is mods, and to be fair the average console user doesn't really know they exist, so doesn't miss them! (and who knows that the next generation of consoles will bring....)

I love PC gaming, have been a PC games since before I remember, and its such a sad state that the PC games industry has gotten itself into. :cry:

I do love your command of the English language 4Para. Whatever you write - it always makes me smile:up:

It's a simple case of managing the clients expectancy. They even have names for them in the real world....Customer Relationship Manager for example.

The reaction to mismanaged expectancy encountered here is very normal, for humans anyhow. There's no point trying to have a go at people who are frustrated by bad expectancy management....it wont make them feel better. No, the only thing that makes customers feel better is good expectancy management.

There, I give you that one for free. Will there be anythig else ?

Cheers, UG.

Just a quick comment on that, as long as people had computers on their desks, there were games to play on it. Don't worry, there'll be games for computers long after we're both dead.
It's just in a bit of a slump now.

Is 4Para Brian Blessed in disguise? I swear I could imagine Brian saying that....

Not if it stays cloudy! :nope: (Forgot to wear a coat today and it's raining... bleh)

My son got a Playstation 3 the other day.....its quite pretty.

In the interests of getting with the times I bought Battlefield 2 Bad Company. I had such a ball playing Battlefield 2 on the PC, and still play it using the Project Reality mod (excellent mod by the way).

I got bored of the Playstation version after 10 minutes. It doesn't come across as a serious gaming platform in my humble oppinion. The controls are not very responsive or accurate....but I did like the 5.1 sound.

If consoles are the future of gaming then i'm gonna get some fishing rods and a deck chair.

Cheers, UG.

One can only hope!