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