I just wrote the following and sent it to UBSoft Support

[rascal101]

To whom it may concern,

I have just read a few posts over at SubSim.com re your Online Services Platform Q&A this was in relation to the soon to be released Silent Hunter5 due for release in March I believe. As a Long Time player and fan of the Silent Hunter Series, and having just read the Q&A I thought to pen a few words of my own about this new development.

http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/

To say the announcement is causing considerable bad press, at least amongst SubSim members is to risk an understatement, any way perhaps you will find that out in good time, here’s my two cents worth

I find it a little hard to believe that a publishing company such as yours would be so keen to lock out potentially 1000's of customers, who are repulsed by this heavy handed approach, not to mention those who simply do not have reliable, or ongoing internet access, or as is the case in Australia, whole regions who don’t even have broadband. Let us not forget those who would be suspicious about buying a game that they may loose access to if something happens to the parent company.

I work in publishing myself and I know well enough when seemingly flourishing companies are all of a sudden bought out by others, when access or just basic customer service or even information disappears overnight or when management makes strategic decisions, that turn out to be wrong. Witness the recent World Economic Crisis; you may have heard of it, a wonderful testimony to the power of long term planning and strategic management if ever there was one.

Any way folks I really don’t think I can say anything that you probably haven’t heard or perhaps couldn’t give a hoot about any way, this and a number of recent announcements about the game-play re Silent Hunter 5 have all but extinguished my interest in this game. Following my experience of Steam and its less than desirable impact on Empire Total War I guess I will now think twice about purchasing any future Ubisoft titles –

Interestingly my appreciation of the wonders of real life as opposed to the games world is growing every day I read another article such as the Q&A I mention above.

You really have to question the mentality of a publisher who despite having a captive audience, i.e. the 10,000’s of SUBSim members who love the Silent Hunter Series; then with the imminent release of a new game in the series you seem to just be working your way through a checklist of bad ideas that are right now causing incredible angst amongst your potential audience, (customers) It seems as if Ubisoft seems to be only too willing to ignore even the basic sentiment of the SubSim forum and its members who strangely as it may seem are united in an odd yet passionate interest in marine combat simulations and submarine warfare in particular.

I wish you all the best in the attempt to bring a U-Boat game to a wider audience, I cant help but think your wider audience is more interested in other games and other genre’s, that’s why Subsim grew in the first place, for those whacko’s like me who love submarines, and you’ve now all but put me right off Silent Hunter 5 and Ubisoft as a publisher and producer.

At the end of the day - without a dynamic/random campaign SH5 was never going to offer much by way of replay value anyway.

Best Wishes to you who may read this and I dare you to pass it on to some one in Ubisoft who might be in a position to reverse a really bad decision before it affects your bottom line

Best Regards
Rascal@twg.net.au

[oscar19681]

Good job. If everybody would just paste this and put there own name under it and also send it to ubi they would maybe get the message!

[TDK1044]

Originally Posted by rascal101

To whom it may concern,

I have just read a few posts over at SubSim.com re your Online Services Platform Q&A this was in relation to the soon to be released Silent Hunter5 due for release in March I believe. As a Long Time player and fan of the Silent Hunter Series, and having just read the Q&A I thought to pen a few words of my own about this new development.

http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/

To say the announcement is causing considerable bad press, at least amongst SubSim members is to risk an understatement, any way perhaps you will find that out in good time, here’s my two cents worth

I find it a little hard to believe that a publishing company such as yours would be so keen to lock out potentially 1000's of customers, who are repulsed by this heavy handed approach, not to mention those who simply do not have reliable, or ongoing internet access, or as is the case in Australia, whole regions who don’t even have broadband. Let us not forget those who would be suspicious about buying a game that they may loose access to if something happens to the parent company.

I work in publishing myself and I know well enough when seemingly flourishing companies are all of a sudden bought out by others, when access or just basic customer service or even information disappears overnight or when management makes strategic decisions, that turn out to be wrong. Witness the recent World Economic Crisis; you may have heard of it, a wonderful testimony to the power of long term planning and strategic management if ever there was one.

Any way folks I really don’t think I can say anything that you probably haven’t heard or perhaps couldn’t give a hoot about any way, this and a number of recent announcements about the game-play re Silent Hunter 5 have all but extinguished my interest in this game. Following my experience of Steam and its less than desirable impact on Empire Total War I guess I will now think twice about purchasing any future Ubisoft titles –

Interestingly my appreciation of the wonders of real life as opposed to the games world is growing every day I read another article such as the Q&A I mention above.

You really have to question the mentality of a publisher who despite having a captive audience, i.e. the 10,000’s of SUBSim members who love the Silent Hunter Series; then with the imminent release of a new game in the series you seem to just be working your way through a checklist of bad ideas that are right now causing incredible angst amongst your potential audience, (customers) It seems as if Ubisoft seems to be only too willing to ignore even the basic sentiment of the SubSim forum and its members who strangely as it may seem are united in an odd yet passionate interest in marine combat simulations and submarine warfare in particular.

I wish you all the best in the attempt to bring a U-Boat game to a wider audience, I cant help but think your wider audience is more interested in other games and other genre’s, that’s why Subsim grew in the first place, for those whacko’s like me who love submarines, and you’ve now all but put me right off Silent Hunter 5 and Ubisoft as a publisher and producer.

At the end of the day - without a dynamic/random campaign SH5 was never going to offer much by way of replay value anyway.

Best Wishes to you who may read this and I dare you to pass it on to some one in Ubisoft who might be in a position to reverse a really bad decision before it affects your bottom line

Best Regards
Rascal@twg.net.au

Why did you use invisible ink?

[danlisa]

^ Someones not using the Smart Dark forum theme.

[Reece]

A good effort but I bet it gets tossed in the bin before the reader even finishes reading it, they couldn't give a damn!!

[TDK1044]

Originally Posted by danlisa

^ Someones not using the Smart Dark forum theme.

Ooops. Fixed now.

[urfisch]

this is a nice idea...but...theres no open ear for such things at ubisoft. i often had angers with them. and if you get a satisfying answer, that does not mean, your text has been forwarded to the command room.

think of my words. ubi is not customer friendly. but which publisher is?

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by urfisch

this is a nice idea...but...theres no open ear for such things at ubisoft. i often had angers with them. and if you get a satisfying answer, that does not mean, your text has been forwarded to the command room.

think of my words. ubi is not customer friendly. but which publisher is?

Yep true. Reminds me of World of Warcraft forums blizzard devs just don't go there very rarely will they answer a post unless one of their sponsored players responds you might get a reply from blizzard. To much rage/bleating in the forums so why bother. One time a blizzard tech answered a reply from a player that had problems with his eyesight color blind or something and asked for help if their was anything blizzard could do. This tech reply back and made a script file mod for the player when using the keyboard - or personally made his very own mod just for this guy to improve his game-play and only he could use the mod. The tech was pretty much loved by all players after that. So devs do rely only when they think its an important issue.

Waits for colorblind threads to popup in Subsim

[SteamWake]

You dident really sign that thing rascal@ ... did you?

[Dowly]

Good effort. But you'll propably get a reply saying "Thank you for your time to contact us. We will take make sure this issue is looked upon." and then your letter is deleted.

Petition letter with all our signatures on it against DRM technology might also help..

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by zulus

Petition letter with all our signatures on it against DRM technology might also help..

Nah, online petition hardly ever work. Besides, we are speaking about SH5 here. I think Ubi affords to lose some customers in this genre when they got all those mainstream titles pumping money into their pockets.

[Kapitanleutnant]

Nobody takes any notice of emails. If you care enough to write all that out, print it, stick it in an envelope and mail it to them. I'm not saying it'll make them change their mind, but one physical letter is worth a hundred angry emails.

Originally Posted by Dowly

Nah, online petition hardly ever work. Besides, we are speaking about SH5 here. I think Ubi affords to lose some customers in this genre when they got all those mainstream titles pumping money into their pockets.

Some ? I thought about this when they decided to end the war in 1943 moreover include only one U-boat type.. Now when DRM is announced in the game it became MOST I think.

Originally Posted by Kapitanleutnant

Nobody takes any notice of emails. If you care enough to write all that out, print it, stick it in an envelope and mail it to them. I'm not saying it'll make them change their mind, but one physical letter is worth a hundred angry emails.

Or it can be a seperate website where only names/surnames and locations could be included those who never liked and doesn;t want to see any DRM in the game.. Weak option of course but at least something.