The 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' situation is crazy...

Summary

The video discusses the recent turmoil surrounding Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise, particularly focusing on the unexpected delay of 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' to February 2025. The delay comes after the company canceled press previews and their Tokyo Game Show appearance, leading to speculation about the game's quality. Ubisoft's internal memo revealed concerns over polish and player experience, prompting a shift to a simultaneous release model and a return to Steam for day-one launches. The video also touches on the controversy surrounding the game's character Yas and Ubisoft's need to regain player trust.

Takeaways

• 📜 Ubisoft canceled press previews for Assassin's Creed: Codename Red at the last minute, which is an unusual move in the gaming industry.
• 🗼 They also canceled their appearance at the Tokyo Game Show, adding to the confusion around the game's promotion.
• 📉 Ubisoft revised their financial targets, indicating lower than expected net bookings, mainly due to decisions around Assassin's Creed: Codename Red and the softer launch of Star Wars Outlaws.
• 🗓 Assassin's Creed: Codename Red will now be released on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2025, delayed from its original November launch window to allow for additional polishing.
• 🔍 The delay is a response to feedback from the Star Wars Outlaws launch, aiming to avoid similar issues with bugs and gameplay mechanics.
• 💳 Ubisoft is moving away from the traditional season pass model, promising that all players will enjoy the game at the same time, with pre-orders receiving the first expansion for free.
• 💻 The game will be available on Steam on day one, marking a departure from Ubisoft's own launcher, in an effort to remove barriers to entry for players.
• 🔧 Ubisoft is mobilizing large teams to refine Star Wars Outlaws based on player feedback, aiming to improve it as a long-term performer.
• 📊 There's speculation that poor pre-order numbers or other undisclosed issues may have contributed to the decision to delay the game.
• 🔮 The scandal around the character Yas and the game's marketing approach has created a polarized response and potential backlash, which Ubisoft is trying to navigate.

Q & A

Why were the press previews for Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows canceled at the last minute?

The script suggests that Ubisoft canceled the press previews at the last minute, which is unusual in the gaming industry. The exact reason isn't specified, but it's implied that there might have been issues with the game's readiness or other unforeseen circumstances that led to this decision.

What was the initial reaction to the cancellation of Ubisoft's appearance at Tokyo Game Show?

The cancellation of Ubisoft's appearance at Tokyo Game Show was seen as another puzzling move following the last-minute cancellation of press previews. It fueled speculation about potential issues with Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows.

What changes did Ubisoft announce regarding Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows?

Ubisoft announced several significant changes: the game would be delayed to Valentine's Day 2025, they would depart from the traditional season pass model, and the game would be released on Steam day one.

What does the delay of Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows to February 14th, 2025, indicate about Ubisoft's strategy?

The delay indicates that Ubisoft is taking additional time to polish the game and address issues based on feedback from the Star Wars Outlaws release. It shows a commitment to providing a better player experience and avoiding past mistakes.

How is Ubisoft changing its approach to the season pass model for Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows?

Instead of offering early access through pre-orders, Ubisoft will release the game on the same day for all players. Those who pre-order will receive the first expansion for free, moving away from the early access model.

Why did Ubisoft decide to release Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows on Steam day one?

Ubisoft is removing barriers to entry by launching the game on Steam day one, likely in response to player feedback and to increase accessibility.

What was the controversy surrounding the character Yas in Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows?

The controversy revolved around the character Yas, who was portrayed as a samurai and was criticized for not being historically accurate. Ubisoft was accused of taking liberties with the character's design and background.

What does the internal memo from Ubisoft's CEO reveal about the company's mindset regarding game quality and player expectations?

The memo indicates that Ubisoft recognizes the need for high-quality, polished games at launch to meet player expectations. It also acknowledges the company's past tendency to fix issues post-launch and the decision to delay the game to address these concerns before release.

What does the script suggest about Ubisoft's current state and the challenges it faces with Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows?

The script suggests that Ubisoft is in a state of panic, trying to recover from the controversies and issues surrounding Assassin's Creed: Code Red Shadows. They are making changes to win back player trust and excitement.

What does the future hold for Ubisoft according to the script?

The script implies that Ubisoft needs to learn from its mistakes, win over players from day one, and potentially change its monetization strategies. It suggests that the company is running out of time to turn things around.

What is the overall sentiment expressed in the script about Ubisoft and the gaming industry?

The script expresses a mix of concern for Ubisoft's current challenges, hope for a redemption arc, and a desire for the company to deliver better games and compete effectively in the industry.

Outlines

00:00

🕹️ Assassin's Creed Franchise Turmoil

The script discusses the unusual events surrounding the Assassin's Creed franchise, particularly the cancellation of press previews for 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' at the last minute. This is an unprecedented move in the gaming industry, which has led to much speculation. The company also canceled their appearance at the Tokyo Game Show, which is considered strange given the likely significant investment already made in preparation for these events. Ubisoft corporate then posted a revision to their financial targets, indicating a change in outlook for investors. This was followed by an announcement that 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' would be delayed until Valentine's Day 2025, a move influenced by the feedback from the launch of 'Star Wars Outlaws', which had issues with bugs and AI. The decision to delay is aimed at providing additional time to polish the game, ensuring it meets the high expectations set for the franchise.

05:01

📈 Ubisoft's Strategic Shift

The script outlines a strategic shift by Ubisoft, moving away from the traditional season pass model to a model where all players can enjoy the game simultaneously. Pre-orders of 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' will include the first expansion for free, marking a departure from early access bonuses. Additionally, the game will be available on Steam on day one, indicating a move to remove barriers to entry for players. The company is also responding to player feedback by dedicating significant resources to refining 'Star Wars Outlaws' and planning to launch it on Steam in November. This approach is seen as a direct response to the issues faced with the early access launch of 'Star Wars Outlaws', where a progress bug forced players to delete their save files.

10:04

🛠️ Polishing to Perfection

The script details Ubisoft's commitment to polish 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows' before its launch to avoid the pitfalls of the 'Star Wars Outlaws' launch. The company acknowledges that they typically address minor issues in post-launch updates, but with 'Shadows', they aim to remove these 'small frictions' prior to release. This approach is seen as a positive step towards delivering a high-quality gaming experience. The script also touches on the controversy surrounding the character Yas in 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows', suggesting that Ubisoft's attempts at historical accuracy have been met with skepticism and criticism.

15:05

📉 Ubisoft's Market Position and Response

The script discusses Ubisoft's market position and their response to the challenges faced with 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows'. It suggests that the company may be overconfident in their ability to attract players without significant marketing efforts, drawing a comparison to the successful launch of 'Assassin's Creed: Valhalla'. However, recent controversies and the need for a last-minute delay of 'Shadows' indicate that Ubisoft may be underestimating the importance of winning over players from the start. The script also speculates on the reasons behind the delay, suggesting that poor pre-order numbers or other undisclosed issues may have contributed to the decision.

20:06

🚀 Ubisoft's Future and Redemption

The script concludes with a discussion on Ubisoft's future and the need for a redemption arc. It suggests that the company needs to learn from its mistakes and commit to delivering high-quality games that win over players from day one. The author expresses a desire for Ubisoft to figure out their processes and regain player confidence, warning that the company is running out of time. The script also highlights the impact of a few dozen executives on the company's direction and the unfortunate consequences this has for the thousands of hardworking employees at Ubisoft.

Keywords

💡Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed is a popular video game franchise developed by Ubisoft, known for its historical settings and the blend of stealth, action, and adventure gameplay. In the video, the series is discussed in the context of its latest installment, 'Assassin's Creed: Shadows,' which has faced several controversies and delays, indicating the franchise's impact on the gaming community and Ubisoft's reputation.

💡Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a leading video game publisher responsible for the Assassin's Creed series, among other titles. The company is central to the video's narrative as it discusses the recent decisions and challenges surrounding the Assassin's Creed franchise, including the cancellation of press previews and the delay of game releases, reflecting Ubisoft's current corporate strategy and public image.

💡Press Previews

Press previews are advance showings of games to media professionals before public release, allowing reviews and coverage. The video mentions the cancellation of Assassin's Creed: Shadows press previews, which is unusual and indicative of last-minute issues, suggesting a lack of readiness or confidence in the game's current state.

💡Tokyo Game Show

The Tokyo Game Show is an annual event showcasing video games and related technology. The video discusses Ubisoft's decision to cancel their appearance at this event, which is significant as it implies larger issues behind the scenes, possibly related to game development or corporate strategy.

💡Financial Targets

Financial targets are the projected revenue or earnings a company expects to achieve. The video describes Ubisoft revising their financial targets, which is a strategic move often made when there are changes in product release schedules or market expectations, highlighting the business impact of game delays and the importance of meeting investor expectations.

💡Valentine's Day Release

The video mentions the rescheduled release date for Assassin's Creed: Shadows, which is now set for Valentine's Day. This timing is strategic, as it aims to capitalize on a less competitive release window compared to the holiday season, but it also sets high expectations for the game to perform well amidst other major releases.

💡Season Pass Model

The season pass model refers to a business strategy where players can purchase access to future downloadable content or expansions. Ubisoft's decision to depart from this model, as discussed in the video, signifies a shift towards a more player-centric approach, aiming to improve player satisfaction and potentially increase sales by offering the first expansion free to pre-order customers.

💡Steam

Steam is a leading digital distribution platform for video games. The video discusses Ubisoft's decision to release Assassin's Creed: Shadows on Steam day one, which is a significant move as it makes the game more accessible to a wider audience and removes barriers to entry, reflecting a response to player feedback and a shift in digital distribution strategy.

💡Star Wars Outlaws

Star Wars Outlaws is another game mentioned in the video, used as a comparison to the issues faced by Assassin's Creed: Shadows. It serves as an example of Ubisoft's past challenges with game launches, including bugs and AI issues, and how the lessons learned from its launch influenced the decision-making process for Shadows.

💡Player Centric

Being player-centric means focusing on the needs and preferences of the gaming community. The video highlights Ubisoft's claim of adopting a player-centric approach, which is evident in their decisions to delay the game for polishing, change the season pass model, and release on Steam day one, aiming to address player feedback and improve the overall gaming experience.

💡Controversy

Controversy in the context of the video refers to the negative reactions and debates surrounding certain creative choices in Assassin's Creed: Shadows, particularly regarding the character Yas. It illustrates the challenges of balancing historical accuracy with creative freedom and the impact of public opinion on game development and marketing strategies.

Highlights

Ubisoft canceled press previews of Assassin's Creed sh Shadows at the last minute.

Ubisoft also canceled their appearance at Tokyo Game Show.

Ubisoft corporate posted a revision to financial targets, indicating a change in outlook for investors.

Assassin's Creed shadows will be released on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2025, delayed out of the November launch window.

The game will have additional time to polish due to learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release.

Ubisoft is departing from the traditional season pass model, with all players enjoying the game at the same time.

Pre-order customers will receive the first expansion for free, a change from the Early Access model.

The game will mark the return of Ubisoft's new releases on Steam day one.

Ubisoft is responding to player feedback by mobilizing teams to refine Star Wars Outlaws.

Star Wars Outlaws will also be launching on Steam in mid to late November.

Ubisoft acknowledges the need to polish their games and deliver outstanding gameplay.

The delay of AC Shadows is to offer an optimal experience from launch on all platforms.

Ubisoft aims to remove the small frictions typically addressed in post-launch updates.

There is controversy surrounding the character Yas in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

Ubisoft's approach post-Assassin's Creed Valhalla assumed players would come to them without much effort to win them over.

Ubisoft is trying to excite players with promises of polished games and a pro-consumer approach.

Ubisoft needs to win over players from day one and may need to delay monetization strategies post-launch.

The industry is ultra-competitive, and Ubisoft cannot afford to make mistakes or launch buggy games.

Ubisoft has 20,000 employees, and the few dozen executives seem to be causing most of the company's difficulties.

The delay of Assassin's Creed Shadows is unprecedented for a major game from Ubisoft.

Transcripts

so the last week for Assassin's Creed

has been among like the weirdest in the

history of the franchise and frankly

it's been fascinating to watch I've been

talking about this over on my second

Channel Luke Stevens live where I stream

and do stream highlights blah blah blah

you've heard it all before but while we

were trying to unravel what was going on

there were all sorts of reports coming

out that just further confused the issue

in case you missed it there were initial

reports from Tom Henderson that Ubisoft

was canceling press previews of

Assassin's Creed sh Shadows at the very

last minute which is pretty bizarre that

doesn't really happen as you can see he

says that according to various sources

the AC Shadows press previews were

scheduled to take place next week and

the Embargo date for those previews

would be announced then probably

relatively soon after that and so to

cancel that at the very last minute when

people are probably packing their bags

to go to this event is pretty

interesting I can't think of a time that

that's happened for other games at least

that we've heard about through leaks and

stuff so that's crazy then it was

announced that they were canceling their

appearance at Tokyo game show and you

could probably handwave away one of

these things like if they announced that

they were just backing out of Tokyo game

show you could maybe say ah the demo

they had was having issues or maybe they

didn't think that the trailer they cut

was that good so they canceled it or

maybe there's some legal issue on the

side that is just not worth delving into

you could maybe excuse it that way but

when there's two instances back to back

like this the smoke starts to fill the

room and often where there is smoke

there is fire and that fire was

confirmed this morning Ubisoft corporate

posted this it is a revision to

financial targets basically this is

something that happens when a big

Corporation is changing the outlook for

investors so for example when take to

interactive moved the expected release

window for GTA 6 out of this fiscal year

into the next one they had all sorts of

last minute bookings adjustments and and

uh they tempered quote unquote

expectations for Revenue because they

were relying on this game generating

billions of dollars and once they move

to a different fiscal year now they have

to tell investors that that's not going

to happen and that's basically what

happened here with AC Shadows they

outline how they're moving things around

and that they are expecting net bookings

to be significantly lower than they

previously stated and they say the

revised targets are mainly a reflection

of decisions taken for Assassin's Creed

shadows and the softer than expected

launch for Star Wars Outlaws listening

to players feedback and as an

illustration of our player Centric

approach the following important

decisions relative to AC Shadows have

been taken okay we get three points that

are each pretty significant for one

Assassin's Creed shadows will now be

released on Valentine's Day February

14th of 2025 being delayed out of the

November launch window into the spring

while the game is featured complete the

learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws

release led us to provide additional

time to further polish the title this

will enable the biggest entry in the

franchise to fully deliver on its

ambition notably by fulfilling the

promise of our dual protagonist

adventure with nawe and Yas bringing two

very different gam playay Styles so

right away they are saying based on the

launch of Star Wars Outlaws we see that

having bugs having like crappy AI That's

broken and busted in certain missions

that doesn't work we can't just handwave

that away and there's other like

Revelations we'll just say later on that

I'll get to in a minute which are very

very telling but I I think that this is

fascinating they are saying last minute

we've just decided that we can't do this

the way that we did with Star Wars

Outlaws we have to polish it and get it

where it needs to be frankly we can't

rely on like Goodwill to carry the day

here which is fascinating the second

point we are departing from the

traditional season pass model I didn't

see this coming all players will be able

to enjoy the game at the same time on

February 14th and those who pre-order

the game will be granted the first

expansion for free this is a change

because prior to this they were doing

like the Early Access thing where you

buy the whatever pre-order season pass

whatever and you get early access to the

game maybe by 3 to 5 days and then you

get some other bonus stuff they are

moving away from that and instead

releasing the game full stop for

everybody on the same day this to me

seems like a direct response to the

problems they have with Star Wars

Outlaws where the game became open for

Early Access on August 27th but it

didn't officially launch until August

30th however they ran into a problem

where basically there was a progress bug

where you couldn't continue the game and

to fix it you had to delete your save

file so people were playing Star Wars

Outlaws having pre-ordered it for Early

Access and having to delete their save

files and restart the game before it

even technically launched which is

it's a prettyy funny bug let's be honest

it's pretty

stupid but that seems to be probably why

they are taking this step and then the

third point is crazy the game will Mark

the return of our new releases on Steam

day one they are not going to be doing

Ubisoft plus launcher whatever it's

called day one where you got to buy it

there if you want to play they are

trying to remove the barriers just put

it up on Steam even though people are

probably going to MK down vote it and

and ra it poorly they're putting it up

there because they need to remove as

many barriers to entry as possible they

also outlined some other stuff like they

are responding to player feedback by

mobilizing huge teams to work on

refining the game uh Star Wars Outlaw

specifically to be a strong long-term

performer and they're going to be

launching that on Steam in November uh

mid to late November as well and this is

not the only time that a big company has

chosen to forgo their own launcher to

bring games to steam on on PC day one

most notably like Dragon Age The Veil

guard they are not requiring the EA

launcher to play that game even if you

buy it on Steam it doesn't do that weird

thing where it boots to the EA launcher

which is like broken half the time and

then launch the game it just launches

the game and I hope this is like the new

trend where we just get over all of this

weird fragmented launcher crap and we

just have like platforms which are

competitive you can buy the game where

you want to but if you buy the game on

this that's where you're choosing to

spend your money you don't have to jump

through all these hoops of like booting

up two different launchers to get to the

game you know it's just I bought the

game let me just play the game why what

are we doing so having said that the

delay okay that explains maybe why like

the media events have been delayed or

cancelled or whatever and then that also

explains why like Tokyo game show that

was was canceled as well but it still is

baffling because they already spent

Millions preparing for those preview

events they already spent tons of money

on marketing materials that they

probably have to reprint I imagine they

were going to do like posters and murals

and whatever stuff to market the game

and all of that is down the drain so

something happened in the last week

where Executives were so freaked out

that they chose to lose those millions

in favor of delaying the game into

February which is already pretty stacked

I mean we've got Kingdom cup we've got

AOW we've got Monster Hunter now it's

going to be a busy busy time and they're

kind of threading the needle with that

February 14th date so I'm so fascinated

like I just I want to know I want to

know what they are are seeing that

freaks them out so much is it that

pre-orders are like really really bad

and so they they're freaked out because

they're like Star Wars Outlaws had

decent pre-orders and it just didn't go

anywhere what are we going to see with

this is this going to be like a coloss

flop I mean bear in mind this game could

reasonably have cost Ubisoft 4 to $600

million I mean they could have a Concord

and a half for that price and there's

the potential that this just launches

and then there's no splash it's just

like a little bloop and that's it and I

don't think they can afford to do that

but Tom Henderson The Cheeky little

fella he managed to get his hands on a

copy of the internal Memo from the CEO

of Ubisoft Eve gimal and he shared it

and you know there's always going to be

corporate double speak in here but what

I find fascinating is that at one point

in this memo Eve gal kind of says the

quiet part out loud the part that we all

know but the part that you wouldn't

expect any executive to ever admit even

to his own teams let me show you so he

goes through Star Wars Outlaws saying

how they were happy with some of the

reception but they specifically had some

issues focused on Save issues stealth

mechanics more frequent Quest

checkpoints and better NPC AI I'm

confident these updates will

significantly improve the player

experience blah blah blah um he then

says in today's ultra competitive market

players expect extraordinary experiences

and Ultra polished games on day one I

mean I would say like polished Ultra

polished I I think of like Rockstar like

if there's a bug or two I run into it's

not the end of the world but when like

stealth sequences are broken or when I'm

getting soft locked and I have to

restart the console like that is a

problem you know I I would say

personally but um I don't think that

would count as Ultra polish but what do

I know they continue we need to continue

to improve when it comes to fine-tuning

our games and delivering outstanding

gameplay this is what will enable

Ubisoft to again create the best games

in the industry consequently we decided

to delay AC Shadows to February 14th of

25 the game is already playable and of

high quality and has all the features

the team wanted to integrate into this

ambitious experience this unusual

decision at such an advanced stage is

motivated by our desire to offer an

optimal experience from launch on all

platforms and various PC uh

configurations and to remove the small

frictions we typically used to address

in post-launch updates and I find this

fascinating remove the small frictions

we typically used to address in

postlaunch title updates so like they

acknowledge that there are issues that

they they've run into these frictions

and and they would typically just fix

those after the game launches you know

it's not that big of a deal we'll get to

that after launch we just need to get it

good enough and then we'll put it out

there but it's pretty clear with Star

Wars Outlaws at the very least they are

not able to consistently figure out what

is a small friction and what is a big

issue because some of these things he

outlines up here such as save issues

stealth mechanics frequent checkpoints

NPC aai that stuff I'm sure those were

classified before Star Wars Outlaws

launched as small frictions you know

things will fix after the game launches

not a big deal but down here he's saying

we just we just can't do any of that we

we would typically fix that remove the

small frictions but at the very least

they are not able to consistently figure

out what is a small friction versus a

serious issue that needs to be fixed so

now they're taking an approach to just

polish the crap out of it before it

launches to avoid any of those small

frictions from being being present and I

think this is good part of like

evaluating the gaming industry is that

we have to be fair when somebody does

something bad we slap them on the wrist

and we say stop it but when they do

something good such as delaying a game

to polish it and get it better instead

of rushing it out the door that is a

good thing and we should praise them

when they do that I think this is good

news even though November you know I

think probably would have been a better

time for this to release in terms of

sales leading to the holidays from a

business perspective probably makes more

sense to do it in November the fact that

they delayed it to February I think

shows at the very least a desire to

avoid the mistakes of Star Wars Outlaws

which I'm all for Less buggy games less

broken games please bring it on like

preach to the choir here I love that but

he also references the elephant in the

room as it were with uh Assassin's Creed

shadows and that is all of the Scandal

surrounding Yas as a playable character

lastly I'd like to address the recent

polarized coverage around our creative

choices again translation from corporate

double speak this basically just means

referring to Yas the playable character

that has ticked a lot of people off

because we've kind of pretended like

it's super historically accurate when in

reality we took like a little nugget and

then expanded it into this whole thing

and then we just kind of danced around

the issue blah blah blah that's what

he's referring to as such our objective

is not to endorse any specific agenda we

want to you know the fence the fence we

want to sit right there our our mission

has always been to entertain players and

enrich their lives with original and

memorable experiences that resonate with

a global audience now translation of

this after all of it I take this as them

basically just saying uh we don't like

that you guys are so upset about this

and uh we're not trying to push any

specific agenda but we can kind of see

how that could happen we really just

were trying to appeal to as large of an

audience as possible possible and we

didn't think that this would get as much

blowback as it has the problem is like

at this point there is so much toxicity

surrounding Assassin's Creed Shadows I

don't really know how they could dig

themselves out of it without just

ignoring that stuff and then just

focusing on the game it probably doesn't

do crazy pre-order numbers I'm sorry to

tell you Eve I just don't see that

really happening I think it it maybe if

the game is really good it has some legs

and over the the next like 6 months to a

year it sells decently well but I I just

think there's so much negativity around

it you're not going to see many

YouTubers covering it you're not going

to be seeing many streamers playing it

because they just don't want to deal

with the drama they don't want to deal

with people coming into their comment

section and flooding it with go W go

broke stuff they just don't want to deal

with it and so they're just not going to

bother whether they agree or not it's

just an added stress that a lot of

content creators a lot of uh reviewers

and journalists and news Publications

they just don't want to have to mess

with it so they just won't because

you're not releasing the game in a dry

period where there's nothing else to

talk about you're releasing it next to

some other huge games that are going to

have lots to talk about when it comes to

them so I think it's unfortunate that a

choice to have like Yas as a samurai has

turned into such a scandal and that

they've made made such basic mistakes

with the marketing or with how they

framed this by having like the hip-hop

inspired music whenever Yas fights on

screen that type of stuff easily

avoidable and frankly I don't know how

those mistakes even get made but that's

just where we are that's where we are it

is so competitive in the industry

especially if you're Ubisoft you cannot

afford to make any of these mistakes you

cannot afford to launch your game like

slightly buggy and then fix it later you

could have done that maybe five 6 78

years ago nowadays you just can't

tolerance is at an all-time low you

can't do that you know right before I

filmed this video I was on my podcast

the free roam podcast you should listen

to it on Spotify or on YouTube links

below and everything and I run that

podcast with the one and only jaw rptor

who does a lot of like Ubisoft focused

coverage as well and he had an

interesting insight into all of this to

quickly summarize one of his key points

that I thought was quite profound he

said that Ubisoft has had an approach

after Assassin's Creed valhall where

they assume that the players are going

to come to them and they don't really

need to try that hard to win those

players over they just need to find a

way to capitalize upon those players

once they've arrived and to support this

he pointed to Assassin's Creed Valhalla

which I know it's easy for people to

forget but AC Valhalla was huge yes he

was coming out of lockdowns and

everything but everybody was talking

about that game everybody was eating it

up everybody was excited to play as as a

viking in basically a hacken slop World

adventure RPG that sounded awesome and

even though I had lots of problems with

the game I did a multi-hour breakdown of

why I think it is a mess in many many

ways a lot of people were excited for it

a lot of people bought it just to try it

and see what it had to offer and I think

that Ubisoft had the same idea with

shadows they're like even if there is

some some outrage or there are some

scandals with it I think people are

going to suck it up and people are going

to still buy it and we'll be fine we'll

just deal with the controversy and move

on but it seems as though Executives at

some point in the last week were made

aware of some data something or other

that freaked them out so bad they

decided to pull the plug and delay

everything and again I would just love

to know what those metrics were are are

pre-orders that bad is it that there's

some major issue or legal issue I I

would just love to know but I guess

we'll just have to wait until reporting

comes but after all of this my main

takeaway is that Ubisoft is in a bit of

a panicked State they are trying

desperately to dig themselves out of

this Assassin's Creed Shadows shaped

hole they find themselves in and they

are trying to find ways to excite

players once again they're doing this by

promising that they're going to be

polishing the games that they're going

to take a more Pro consumer approach to

how they time the release of their games

changing the seasonal pass structure

away from pre-order bonuses and Early

Access and stuff and shifting it more

towards post-launch content which I

personally prefer over early access I

just think that's better and they're

also doing things like steam day one

launching on PC trying to throw Gamers

little bones that they can be excited

over and I think that those are all

great first steps but frankly Ubisoft at

this point needs to go the route of like

BioWare with Dragon Age they need to

find ways to excite the player base

again and to win them over not assume

assume that those gamers are going to

show up and buy their games you can't

assume that anymore especially not

Ubisoft they have to win players over

from day one and that might mean that

you don't get to sell 15 cosmetics in

the in-game store on launch day maybe

you launch the in-game store a year

after launch and you commit to people no

we're focused on the game being really

good we're not going to monetize the

inside of the game later no XP boosts

none of this stuff I really hope that

they learn from these mistakes and they

take that approach nobody's rooting for

more like layoffs nobody's rooting well

maybe some people are but those people

are are nasty but we should all be in my

opinion rooting for these companies to

figure their crap out to have a

Redemption Arc to figure it out and to

stop making these mistakes because we

should all want more good games we

should all want more companies pumping

out great stuff because it increases

competition and that holds everybody's

feet to the fire so so that we get

better and better games year in year out

I miss the days when I could reliably

count on Ubisoft games being awesome I

miss those days it's been a while

because it feels like nowadays you never

really know what you're going to get are

you going to get a quadruple skull and

bones or are you going to get something

really cool like Prince of Persia the

Lost Crown you just don't really know

what you're getting and until they can

figure out their processes until they

can figure out how to win player

confidence back they're going to keep

having these issues the problem is I

think they're running out of time and I

hope they figure it out because Ubisoft

has 20,000 employees a lot of wonderful

people who work their butts off and

unfortunately it's just a few dozen

Executives that seem to be driving most

of the difficulties Ubisoft has been

faced with and I think that's really

unfortunate so hopefully this marks a

turning point fingers crossed but time

will tell either way it is fascinating

to watch because I cannot think of

another time that a huge game like this

from Ubisoft has been delayed at the

last second under kind of mysterious

circumstances without the rest of

Ubisoft seemingly knowing what's going

on it is crazy and as someone who eats

up the drama I love it I can't get

enough it's like reality TV but better

but that's it for me thank you for

watching I love you all see you soon in

the next one hugs and kisses bye-bye