thenexus

Hey all,

I watched the above video today, we all have seen similar ones and in different games, but I have been thinking the following for some time in regard to Ubisoft as well as other game companies.

Firstly
I just want to make it clear, being a developer, I fully understand deadlines. A game has a release date, you optimise the game, things can get cut and you may have to tune down many aspects of the game to make a deadline or just to make it run smoothly. It happens, especially for consoles.

Secondly
At events like E3 you, of course want to show your product off in the best possible way to the media and the consumers who will purchase those games. There is always going to be of extra shoe polish going on.

In saying that though..

I think Ubisoft especially has a very clear model of production in their games. Clearly we all know how similar their games are in structure, people have compared graphical "features" through the games and so on. But for me, it is ever becoming clearer that Ubisoft put a massive focus on the hype machine and getting those pre-order sales through. It clearly seems to be a big focus for Ubisoft and they do what they can to obtain them. As this video shows pretty much every time Ubisoft show of games, what is delivered in the graphical sense, while some like the division still look nice are a pale comparison to initial showings. Watchdogs was a massive drop. And many will argue, early gameplay fidelity also drops when they get their hands on the retail version from playing it at events or presentations early on.

Ubisoft often reference their pre-orders, even if the games do not rate well, bad reviews or longer term sales are poor, its the pre-orders, fastest this and that of pre-orders. It is the pre-orders that matter.
For me, it seems a very clear approach, get as many pre-orders as possible, make the games look amazing to get those rolling in. Pre-Orders always come up after the initial preview's of games for that matter, either straight the way or very soon after.
Looking at reviews, embargo's and media previews close to release and researching this a little today Ubisoft run a methodology of very tight control to ensure if games do have issues, clearly differ or do not live up to expectations the public knowledge of this is mitigated as best they can. Yes they can and will loose some pre-orders but people are already committed and the money is already in the bag as it were. Too late when you get it day one and realise like everyone else its crap or looks nothing like what you thought even on full settings on PC.
I know Jeff has always said many times don't pre-order and he is not wrong.. But many people do it year in and year out and I think many companies try to use this to ensure sales figures and remove the risk of natural sales on release as they used to, and with companies like Ubisoft they seem to have a very clear business model and process they apply to their games to benefit from that.

- Amaze and wonder with games trailers
- Show very maximized demos
- Maximize early pre-order sales efforts, advertising pushes before the game is even remotly out - Ubisoft push early in terms of their social media campaigns for all their games. Google adwords invest seems quite high early on.
- Allow media to play said games in a controlled environment
- Scale back and make a more streamlined realistic game
- Share resources and assets across game development (EA, Everything Frostbite these days as an example)

Ubisoft more then others suffer from many bugs and issues with their games on releases, poorly tested and poorly optimises - very rushed. I think the Division has suffered the least but it still had issues and I think the numbers have dropped quite a lot.

Ubisoft are definitely not the only ones following this methodology but they are ones that seem to have their business revolve around this process. It should not be allowed in my personal view, its pretty disgusting at the end of the day but on a business level, if it works it works, and it does.

I think to stop this, make such companies change their ways and produce better games and stop this nonsense of smoke and mirrors....

DON'T PRE-ORDER GAMES!
It is nice to get a game day one, but especially if there are review embargo in place etc... Do not hand your money over until your sure the games going to be great for you.

At first some of you may think, Why Amazon?

What many of you may not realise is that they are pretty much the biggest hosting service out there and they have LOTS of infrastructure systems as well with that. This is where they make their current money. Pretty sure Giantbomb is still under Amazon infrastructure? Lots of SAAS systems and web applications are.

I actually know a guy who is one of the guys who just puts hardrives in racks all day or replaces faulty ones with new ones. He actually enjoys it, but he is one of many.

Amazon finally opened a Data Centre in Australia for example for better global performance of their services.

If your something like Twitch where your hosting videos, this can escalate and in costs, so being bought by the people you need to have such a services running better and to grow actually makes a lot of sense.

But from all the talk, and what I knew, the google deal was all but done, So the questions for me is what changed?

I am guessing all the web reactions to it, which were more negative then positive, and people pointing out what some of the changes that it would mean, not just with the copyright, but google plus sign in concerns and so on... And then Amazon may have stepped in.... I think a change occurred.

You know I think the Xbox One not selling as much is not due to the PS4 so much but due to the Xbox360 and PC.

Think about it...

PS3:
Decent with some big hits but it cost to much to start with, did not sell as well as hoped with a few issues from controllers with no rumble to start with and the big success of the 360.

PC:
A lot of the big games are coming to PC and have a better framerate and look better then even the current consoles. It is easy to buy a game from steam and others and play it.

The 360:
Big success, I still got mine and games are still coming out on it. It has a massive install base ,online service and people have invested in it and a big library over along period.
The older consoles have had a longer life span then the ones before it and established themselves.

The Xbox one:
Now ignoring all the bad marketing etc that MS did , that will have course played some part to its sales BUT:

With all of the above in mind... Why do you need to get an xbox one? I don't. My Tv plays stuff and does heaps more then I need it to, I got a 360 but my PC is top end and I use a controller with it to play the top games on that.
And a lot of people will be in the same boat.. With the cost of the xbox one... Do you need to buy it yet?

No really.

Xbox live and features of the 360 were quite good and well polished already.

PS4:

Now of course people love their PS3 but even for me I seen people who have loved the PS3 jump on PS4. PS3 and Sony have fans, but even those fans, from what I can see have always wanted it to be better in many areas. Sony has finally hit those problem points with the PS4 from interface, online features and more with a great price.

A lot more new and existing Sony PS Fans are jumping on the upgrade to get better and more, especially when it comes to the online experience.

So for me, I do not think its a simple matter that more are turning to PS4 then Xbox one.

I think you probably find there is heaps more still actively on the 360.

@amyggen: If you followed this and the forums you would know they finding the boxes of the game, You of course... from one company, will find them throwing away other things at the time. This is also only day one so expect more to follow as well over the coming days.

As people have said though, to have a game flop and have so many unsold games... It is quite a lot for the 80's. They were really banking on the movie's success being the key thing to sell this game and was a big failure. And the urban legend came about.

The interesting thing for me is that this is pretty much the tone that movie games do not work out and that really still holds today. Yes we have seen the odd game be a success but a game based on a movie has not enough budget, to much 3rd party say and not enough time to be completed. And in this day an age it has to run on every platform under the sun.

@guanophobic:

I listen to Spotify at work so often. I saw my Fiancee, Friends playing songs and started asking them about their play choice. "I have not played that, never heard of it" started coming over often.

Being a web developer looking into it... You know what they do?

Spotify uses your friends list to not just show what they are playing but also to promote songs and chooses someone who has spotify and in your list to find a song they MAY like based on their listening habbits and ones it is currently promoting for money.

Sneaky and I am not sure if that should really be allowed.

Quite a few people doubted it:

@iragequit: I am a web designer and UX designer...

I wanted Sony to do a good job, and I do see them taking key positives from what people like on things like the xbox UI. That is always a good thing, look at what people like and what works and emulating that. That is design, its not copying but if something works why do something that does not because it is different?

In saying that I do not think Sony has got the interface quite right. I actually think its rushed and a bit messy in places. That is why I also feel they left it till the last minute show it properly to the world, It was not ready. And that big update makes quite a few tweaks and changes and moreover fixes to the UI etc more then anything else.

Is it fixable? Yes of course and over time the PS3's interface got a lot lot better. Is this something Sony is good at? No, I do not like their Tv interface? Nope (well I do not like any of them but Sony is one of the worst ones for me).

You may love the interface and if you do - great! You may love your PS4 and people who own an Xbox One will love that. Everyones different and that is why we all buy different phones, clothes etc.

I am also concerned with the increasing reports of dead PS4's, failing PS4's and poor build quality - Things that can all be fixed in time but again it shows signs that they rushed to get it out the door.

Microsoft have chopped and changed on Policy with the Xbox One and took a lot of flak for doing so, But they been constantly been showing off build of the console and the UI. For me I can see from my job skill set that there has been effort in the polish of the Xbox UI. I actually do not like the Metro/card what ever you want to call it - I am a mac person but my main PC at home is Windows 7 because I hate windows 8.

BUT I can see the effort, the snappy performance etc effort. I want to get my hands on it to see how it will work, how useful the voice is etc, it may not but what I am trying to say is that I can tell is that if feels ready. It will evolve but I think it has a jump on the PS4 in that front and is coming out a the right time for Microsoft. I think they are more ready and more polished and set to evolve. Sony I can see having more patches, this is a guess but I think that will happen.

In terms of the online structure I think Sony is still lacking, Microsoft are good at that stuff and the Azure framework is actually pretty dam good. And those servers HOPEFULLY will mean smooth online experiences.

TIME, Time is the key here and we got to give them BOTH time to settle. Like a website or new software - You launch it. Its never ready and if you hold off until you think it is ready you will never get it out the door. This is fact, you got to get it out the door. So there will be issues for both and updates to fix them.

It is just down to who has the least issues and who comes through the early days the best. For me right now this could be Microsoft.

These are stacking up:

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-4-Launch-Edition/product-reviews/B00BGA9WK2/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

I have seen a lot of twitter and other feeds talking about poor build quality. Did they rush this out the door?

@klumzee: I would say though the underlining approaches to everything, new franchise or old, was just the wrong ones. To much focus was made on the means to maximise profit margins rather then considering the impact on the game or the reactions and uptake.
Star wars was Star wars and they got a big name people love to make it, but the approaches laid down in the build foundations were wrong. Considering Warhammer before it etc no lessons were being learned.

I think that is the big take away, it was not learning from mistakes and driving EA forward out of the negativity that exists towards it.

Web designer and developer here @adbrown You clearly do not understand modern web design and responsive design. Certain factors, design approaches are considered and considering type of content I could basically tell you Polygon is a rip off of 10 other sites without even thinking about it.

Modern web trends.