I want WWI

We need '60's era subsim with modified fletcher class destroyers and nuke powered subs. Only other thing is jpanese sub sim from WW2. japan did possess a huge sub fleet at start of war and wonder how effective they would have been had the copied German tactics and went after America merchant shipping.:)

Of course not! They wouldn't mess with an established series supported by a passionate fan base, would they?
:dead:

In the press releases about that, they said that they were going to drop the less popular titles and concentrate on releasing more of their popular series, like Assassin's Creed and Silent Hunter, with less time between releases. Whether or not they still see SH as a popular series, who knows.

Yes, in times of recession & recovery companies will always take the safest route relying on proven sales performance, hence Ubi's focus on key franchise titles. However they have made a mistake in forgetting what made Silent Hunter great in the first place, the realism. This is certainly true for the i-pod/ mobiles version and to a lesser extent the PC version.

What happens next depends on the management someone at Ubi Romania must have the guts/balls* to say "SH failed because we didn't have enough time/resources to complete it successfully, because we moved too far away from the established interface model and because it became the "poster boy" for our much hated new DRM system. Let's put that behind us with the next in the series look at what made SHIII so successful and critically acclaimed in the marketplace and focus on that for the next installment".

If they really wanted to expand on the franchise they should even say..." let's have a look at that old destroyer sim and what failed there too. We already have 75% of the assets from previous titles ready anyway... ships, 3d world, WWII technologies etc. This time we will brand it under the established "Silent Hunter" name with a subtitle rather than as an unknown property".

(* delete as appropriate --ouch!)


UPDATE
It looks like Ubisoft Romania won't be doing anything with SH for a while....

"Today, Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 is being developed by Ubisoft Bucharest. The title will launch in Fall 2010 on Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation®3 system, the Nintendo Wii™ system, and Windows PC.

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 plunges fans into an explosive environment where they can become elite aerial soldiers in control of the world's most technologically advanced aircraft. The game will appeal to a wide array of gamers as players will have the chance to control exceptional pilots trained to use cutting edge technology in amazing aerial warfare missions.

"With over one million units sold worldwide, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. has become a very successful brand for Ubisoft," stated Bogdan Bridinel, creative director at Ubisoft "This new H.A.W.X. game is directly inspired by Tom Clancy’s books, and it will enable fans to once again experience the excitement and intensity that established H.A.W.X. as a successful brand."
"

Silent Hunter II was a duck. It was hardly critically acclaimed, in fact, it was a notorious disappointment. Furthermore, Destroyer Command didn't sell the first time. Why would they return to it?

Oops... I missed and "I". I meant of course to say SHIII not SHII. And you are right both SH2 & DC were dissapointing ducks, porked phesants etc... but there's the thing SH2 got a second chance and became the brilliant SHIII whereas DC got no second chance and was simply canned. DC should have been allowed a second chance too, branding it under the SH name would give it greater product recognition and 75% of the work is already done when you've built an SH.

It is nice to "fantasise" and get all caught up in this thread.
I for one am...
but, with the announcement that Ubisoft is concentrating on more "profitable projects", well, is that a surprise to anyone?
Must say, not me...
I will not be a out and out Ubisoft champion, defending them to the hilt...
However, what i will do is say that first and foremost, they are a business, (sure some of you say, a bad one at that in the case of the SH5 saga) be that as it may,
they will go where the money is.
Niche games markets are not lucrative.


Good bye for now, Silent Hunter sequels (Ubisoft releases) :yep:

Silent Hunter 1-4: 1.5 million units
HAWX 1 : 1 million units

Yes, it's easy to see the way the wind is blowing.

The question is if Ubi drops the ball... who takes up the baton?

That's a good question, this is after all a niche market. I suspect if anyone would be willing to develop sub based games, it would probably be an indie developer. Most of the big names are too busy pumping out copy and paste console titles.

The future... if Ubi drops the ball... who takes up the baton? or SCS vs SES vs ....
 

sorry... meant to be a new post not a reply

A whole world campaign with more sides like the British, French, Japanese and so on. And don't rush it out to make a fast buck!

Too much labour, too little return, unless you are willing to pay for it as DLC but even then much as I'd love to see it happen too it's very doubtful.

Besides the bigger you go the less detailed everything becomes.

No matter how much you hate DRM, or don't enjoy what SH5 features (Which is both my case), the SH franchise ending is a tragedy to all of us. New games made new blood pour into our community, and much of it benefitted the older games as well as the new ones and kept them all alive.

Now, we all have voted with our wallet, be it as a direct punishment to UBI or simply as indiference for something we did not like or want to accept, but at the same time a bug-ridden and unfinished games franchise goes down rightfully, the only remaining WW2 submarine games franchise goes down shamefully.

UBI is the only responsable for this, because this is a private market and the losers and those who do not offer the public what they want are doomed. That's the beauty and also tragedy of the market, and it would have been unfair to rescue UBI with our wallets when they were not delivering what we requested.

But still it's a pity.

Farewell, Silent Hunter Series, you were a good and loyal companion, the last hero stadning by us. You decided to self-torpedo, and we regret it. But honestly ... it was deserved, at least in market terms.

Salute :salute:

I totally agree and if that day comes, only then will I buy SH5 as a platform for the modded version. But said mod should essentially be an updated version of SH3 (and SH4 if we're so lucky) with a full campaign and all available boats restored. I have no interest in one sub and only part of WW2. They can also lose the interactive interior since to me that's just a sideshow of sorts. I know a lot of people like it but this is just my preference.

The only problem I have with your argument is if Ubisoft is a business and niche market games are not lucrative, why in hell did they put their foot in it? If they are going to do something...they should follow through to completion and know what they are getting into in the first place. They can't be that blind or stupid (although sometimes wonders never cease).

Silent hunter 6 (If they ever make one.) should include both sides. With other nations included, not just america and germany It should include what the game already has (except bugs) and add onto it.

Other nations submarines...Dream on...

They only found room for 1 type of German submarine in SH5.

I had been hoping for the same thing in SH IV, I was really looking forward to some Japanese I-Boats. Sadly that was a no go. As a For Purchase add-on, what did Ubi release...U-boat Pacific missions! U-boats hardly even operated in the Pacific, and they were so pressed for material that they added a U-boat that was never even operational, the Type XVIII.

It's funny for me to see the way that so many members around here are talking about SH III, 4 or 5 as "submarine simulators". I have one little idea: Let's try to establish one objective fact: SH series are not submarine simulators, none of SH titles truly deserve that status. All we can say is that SH III (but only after heavy modding from the community, represented by GWX, NYGM, WAC, LSH "teams" and a lot of dedicated other groups or individuals) was somehow closest to that idea. A real submarine simulator was Sonalyst's Sub Command.

I remember a number of posts from back in the day where Sub Command was considered too 'arcady', and they were touting 688(i) and Fast Attack as the real simulators. Everything is relative, and compared to what we see today, Sub Command and Dangerous Waters look pretty good. However, I would agree with your point in that the Silent Hunter series was always 'gamier' than the Janes and Sonalysts sims.