It's been a rough fall for Ubisoft, but the company still has another major release on the horizon with its ambitious racing game, The Crew, on December 2. Perhaps realizing it fumbled media embargoes with Assassin's Creed Unity, the company published a blog today explaining why reviews might be late.
While there will be no embargo on discussing The Crew, the game "will be available to media to begin their reviews when the game launches on December 2." In essence, Ubisoft's making the same argument Bungie did with Destiny.
Here's what Ubisoft had to say:
"We also know that many of you will be eager to turn to experts for their professional advice. You want to read how the pros feel after their carefully considered road tests of The Crew. While we totally understand (hey, we read reviews, too!), The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it’s only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world. And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players – something that can’t be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press.
For this very reason, The Crew will be available to media to begin their reviews when the game launches on December 2. There will be absolutely no embargo on any type of coverage once the game is available for sale. While we fully anticipate that you might see some reviews immediately at launch – largely built around the preview sessions we facilitated during the past months or the limited content of the closed and open betas – they won’t be based on optimal conditions or reflect the finished game. We sincerely hope everyone will take the time to customize their ride as they progress through all five regions, explore every corner of the map solo and with friends, dive into our competitive and cooperative mechanics, race to the end of the main campaign, choose a Faction and compete with your crew in Factions Wars, and so much more."
The Crew is an open world, social-driven racing game. You can see why Ubisoft believes The Crew requires thousands of players logging on at once. On the flip side, it also requires thousands of players taking a risk on launch day. Ubisoft had a really bad November, and its games were clearly rushed out the door. Both Assassin's Creed Unity and Far Cry 4 have notable tech issues, especially on the PC. The company hasn't yet earned back that trust, but it's asking players to believe them about The Crew.
Unfortunately for Ubisoft, why should they?
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