Officially boycotting all Ubisoft games on all platforms

[Azu]

That's another thing. You're kinda being a little dumb to be putting that much value on the PR of a company. 99% of the time the PR people don't know shit about anything and more often than not they aren't gamers themselves but just people selected for the job for their looks/talent of speaking shit even when they don't know anything about it. Who gives a shit if a PR person says something stupid? That's not the attitude of Michel Ancel and many others who actually MAKE the games over at Ubisoft. Sure, some of their studios release buggy crap, but, again, Ancel's studios haven't done any of those.

If that's really your way, go ahead and boycott Sony, EA, Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple and... pretty much every other bigger publisher. They've all said stupid things about their customers and messed around with horrible DRM crap. If you boycott all of Ubisoft's games (and not just the ones where decisions/comments like "no PC version because pirates" were made), then you'd be hypocrite not to boycott the rest too. I think it IS wise to not support them when they do something stupid, but on the other hand there are Ubisoft games like Rayman Origins and developers like Michel Ancel & his studio where they go out of their way to make sure that what they do is as good as it can be.


And are you kidding me with that DS/Wii comment? Publishers DID start avoiding DS, Wii & PSP because of pirating, or at the very least they stopped putting any effort in their games for those platforms. Games in the veins of "HORZEZ 2" were still being made because parents were still buying DS games for their kids whereas millions of these hc gamers who play the most in the world were pirating the hell out of all PSP & DS games worth a shit. We even have a user here at PSU Forums who not only pirated all of his DS games, he pretty much proudly announced it in every DS thread.

I'm sorry, but that kind of behaviour IS very common and as much as it sucks for gamers, sometimes decisions do get made based on that fact. A lot of people simply don't like to pay for stuff anymore. I do think it's wise to boycott publishers in cases like these where they do make stupid decisions, but to boycott all of their products even when they get it right? No, especially when it's something so creatively awesome as Rayman Origins (how many similarly awesome 2D platformers does PS360 have? Zero) or as ambitious as what Beyond Good & Evil 2 seems to be based on comments from Ancel. You're not only keeping yourself from playing one of the best platformers ever, you are not supporting the few things Ubisoft does right. It's alright voting with your wallet, but sometimes it might be better to put support behind the good things instead of stopping support altogether (especially when Ancel & Co have got nothing to do with such comments nor even the game they are about).

[F34R]

Need to post this... Timing can't be just a coincidence?

http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-pi...-in-more-sales


;_;

Great fucking quote! +rep/like

[LfCpS3]

Gabe is just too awesome.

[F34R]

Gabe is just too awesome.

Always has been...

[keefy]

Not that awesome, Last year Valve removed the bunnyhop from HL2DM which totally destroyed the game play most players had gotten used to, its not soemthing you see other developers doing that is changing the movement physics 5 years after releasing a game.
They did it for HL1 as well a few years before which is why the mod "adrenaline gamer" (AG) was created.

[Rapture]

Need to post this... Timing can't be just a coincidence?

http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-pi...-in-more-sales


;_;

This is a prime example of why Valve are held up so highly by gamers and why they are so successful. They know if they treat their customers well then they'll see a return of equal or greater cooperation. People, businessmen, developers, and customers alike, need to realize that this is a mutual relationship and both sides benefit from the other.

Piracy is just a fact of life now, and it has created a new paradigm in the business world. When it comes to digital media, old business models simply don't work, not as well anyways. A modern business that relies on digital products for profit needs to rethink their strategy. Abusing your customers and hunting down pirates with lawyers isn't the way to go, and our purchases will (normally) reflect that.

I like piracy because it offers publishers competition, competition that drives them to treat their userbase better. The ones that fail to advance with the times and adhere to the status quo are left behind. I'm very happy that some developers, specifically heads of companies, are well aware of these concepts and facts.

[itachi73378]

Umm
http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1213362p1.html

[squirrelbo1]

valve and gabe are just so good

[Varsh]

I'm sorry, but that kind of behaviour IS very common and as much as it sucks for gamers, sometimes decisions do get made based on that fact. A lot of people simply don't like to pay for stuff anymore. I do think it's wise to boycott publishers in cases like these where they do make stupid decisions, but to boycott all of their products even when they get it right?

I'm not being dumb because let me ask you one thing, what have they got right in the last 2 years involving DRM and PR? Nothing, in fact it's got worse and this statement just hit it rock bottom. Boycotting their entire games is a way to show them that we won't support a draconian DRM and also will show them how much money they have lost and what the PC market is really worth.

The only "right" they can do right now is remove this absurd DRM then I'll think about purchasing the game, but if it's an "always on" game then hell no. I've already felt the wrath of failure on that one on day one of Anno 2070 last week!

But boycotting the other companies? There's something that those companies do that Ubisoft don't and that's top rate customer service. Something goes wrong and they fix it, a PR disaster and they fix it, Ubisoft on the other hand have a PR blunder and a DRM they're so proud of that they don't fix it but make things worse! There's a huge world of difference there.

And no I'm not kidding about the Wii/DS (or even PSP too), they both are still pirated to death, and in fact Skyrim is pirated more on the X360 than the PC version! But no one complains about consoles do they, just the PC market because they're too bloody lazy to bring either a decent port or don't have the talent to do it.

I don't care what you think of me Azu but Ubisoft are an exception (and yes I have boycotted a lot of companies before including EA, SecuROM games (by Sony), and plenty of others. SecuROM is rarely used now and EA removed their always online DRM for a simple "it's past that date and now you can play it once activated past the launch date".

[Minnzy]

Somehow I felt this was appropriate!

Anyways yeah, I've always thought it was funny when devs/pubs rant about piracy and what not harming them while others prove making good games and giving customers respect gives good sales

[F34R]

Umm
http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1213362p1.html

My God they are idiots. smh

[Duff-MaN_]

I would join in but assassins creed is awesome..... so yeah never mind

[sainraja]

I don't blame you. I wanted to get Settlers 7 for PC and skipped it because of the DRM -- I actually bought it for pretty cheap at one point on their site, since it wasn't working they refunded my money but I didn't order again once I found out about the DRM.

I won't be skipping their games on consoles....but definitely will on the PC until the correct their act.

[AaronSOLDIER]

+rep!

[keefy]

A while ago I bought The Prodigy's latest album "invaders must die" I also bought "Experience expanded" which has DRM on it which at the time annoyed me since it meant I couldn't copy it to a CD and play on my car stereo or walkman GRR, I have just now tried to listen to them and they will not work, windows media player cannot find the license page so cannot play them I bought these form the official Prodigy website shop as well.
Soon after I found out they were DRM protected I did some research and found software to rip the music from them so I do at least have a version of the tracks in mp3 form but it is a slightly lower quality

Invaders must die had no DRM.

1 instance of DRM screwing a legitimate customer that isn't gaming related.

[Nuvian]

Not sure if any of you have heard this yet (or even mentioned this in another forum here) but Ubisoft not releasing "I Am Alive" and half giving the new Operation Flashpoint game to the PC because of "95% PC Gamers are pirates" has finally driven me past the last straw. I was being nice to them by purchasing Anno 2070 as it's without doubt one of the greatest strategy games I've ever played - despite its DRM that I couldn't play the game for several hours because the server was down, even in single player mode!!!

But that's it, calling me a pirate they can now finally go a fuck themselves, not only will I not purchase a game of theirs on PC (past or present) ever again but will also not support them on consoles neither.

I think it's time Ubisoft has felt the wrath of the consumers by not treating them like pirates and actually giving us games that are not bugged to death or don't actually work at all (From Dust for instance). They want purchases? Get rid of that always online DRM and implement an offline mode that actually works without you needing to be online - no I'm not kidding here. Couldn't play Anno 2070 in offline mode because I had to sign into the Ubisoft Uplay servers, that defeats the point of offline mode in the first place!

Now they say that they can't sell 50k copies of a game on the PC so they're calling us pirates. Let me get this straight, the Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia sales on PC has actually been over a million EACH!

They need to stop plucking numbers out of their arse and sort things out because right now I'm honestly thinking the European court will be looking into a Trading Standards lawsuit, and we all know how tough they are on software companies (hell Microsoft still owe more than a billion Euros - that'll bail out Greece).

Maybe your in that 5%

Most PC gamers i know pirattheirer game, i would say 1 out of 5 actually buys them.

It still wonders me that publishers release PC and console versions at the same time.

[Dave-The-Rave]

I'm sure they do care.

You must seriously just like disagreeing with people if you think they care about one person "boycotting" them.

[F34R]

You must seriously just like disagreeing with people if you think they care about one person "boycotting" them.

Why wouldn't they care.. one person turns into two, etc. Of course they care.

One person isn't ever just "one person". You take all the "one person" people out there, add them up, and I bet they care.

[Completely Average]

Need to post this... Timing can't be just a coincidence?

http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-pi...-in-more-sales


;_;

The irony there is that the latest patch for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim changes all versions of the PC game to REQUIRE Steam's always-online DRM. Even if you bought the retail version from a brick and mortar store, a Steam account and an active online connection will still be required to play this exclusively single player game.

So excuse me if I laugh a bit at Gabe's hypocrisy rather than praise him. Steam includes DRM.

[Mael Duin]

The irony there is that the latest patch for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim changes all versions of the PC game to REQUIRE Steam's always-online DRM. Even if you bought the retail version from a brick and mortar store, a Steam account and an active online connection will still be required to play this exclusively single player game.

So excuse me if I laugh a bit at Gabe's hypocrisy rather than praise him. Steam includes DRM.

That was Bethesdas choice thought, not Valves.

[*goo]

The irony there is that the latest patch for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim changes all versions of the PC game to REQUIRE Steam's always-online DRM. Even if you bought the retail version from a brick and mortar store, a Steam account and an active online connection will still be required to play this exclusively single player game.

So excuse me if I laugh a bit at Gabe's hypocrisy rather than praise him. Steam includes DRM.

Erm. Can't games be played in Offline mode?

[F34R]

The irony there is that the latest patch for The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim changes all versions of the PC game to REQUIRE Steam's always-online DRM. Even if you bought the retail version from a brick and mortar store, a Steam account and an active online connection will still be required to play this exclusively single player game.

So excuse me if I laugh a bit at Gabe's hypocrisy rather than praise him. Steam includes DRM.

That was Bethesdas mandate, not Gabes. Also, Gabe never said that Steam doesn't have DRM. I don't see any hypocrisy there.

[keefy]

Steam isn't always online, steam has an offline mode which works if people know how to use it. IF internet dies when playign you can still play and restart in offline mode than continue playing any and all of your installed steam games.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...3160-AGCB-2555