The Failure of Star Wars Outlaws

[@nathanmitchell7961]

When you barely sell a million units being a AAA Star Wars title you know something has gone terribly wrong.

[@jUwiUz]

AAAA my guy

[@rachaelpracht]

Do we think that maybe Star Wars has lost its appeal because it's been crammed into everything?

[@ronarckschjit7376]

@@rachaelprachtnah it’s lost its appeal cause Disney has failed to make anything good

[@rachaelpracht]

@@ronarckschjit7376 agreed!

[@HairryTurttleneck]

i rlly hope 800000 of those were investors

[@storm_blessed_]

Apparently the original concept for the game was set around a Mandalorian character doing bounties. Would've sold a lot better imo

[@irshadtyo]

How’d they fuck that up????

[@sammckenney8163]

To be fair, if you boil this game down to its most basic premise -- "You play as an outlaw in the Star Wars universe who has to navigate the criminal underworld and political sphere in preparation for a grand heist." -- it sounds like easy money. A good pitch is nothing without proper execution.

[@Nickyblicky-n5x]

If they just had character creation and it was the same game i know for a fact it would have done better

[@Dopesideofthemoon]

I really believe this game was Beyond Good and Evil 2 which was canceled.

[@EJofKC]

“I’ve distanced myself from Star Wars, because I know they will keep failing me.” I’ve had this same sentiment for years now, and it genuinely crushes me.

[@planescaped]

I've never seen any of the new movies and know literally nothing about them still. It is bliss.

[@littlehaven7275]

I finally gave up part way through Kenobi. The disappointment was bad enough, but knowing that me watching just for the principle of finishing them was sending the wrong message. That they could keep producing slop and would have a guaranteed audience built in because of the franchise. I hope this failure finally teaches them a lesson, doubt it will, but I hope.

[@notBrocker]

@@littlehaven7275it’s sad cuz it could’ve been amazing I just watched an interview with the writer who originally wrote Kenobi and it could’ve been a masterpiece like it’s insane… But Disney took his script and completely changed it…

[@kevinc8955]

It’s been that way since phantom menace. My friends and I walked out of a midnight show to hit last call at a bar we knew would be basically empty when we got there. I remember my friends all being like “ready to leave?” at the submarine part. Biggest letdown of my young life. Waited my whole life for Jar Jar, bad CGI, and a protagonist kid who couldn’t act.

[@Bryandan1elson]

> "ive distanced myself from star wars" >commenting on a star wars video hmmm....

[@tommyvercetti9434]

Every Ubisoft game: -Big ass beautiul open world -Two awesome beginning hours -48 hours of unpolished, repetitive boredom

[@ytmB4HyU4kUq]

This. This is exactly why AC started failing and will continue to fail. This is also the reason as to why Avatar Frontiers of Pandora failed to live up to it's franchise's name. Ubisoft needs to go back and create fulfilling stories that are rich, detailed, and full of depth. Less of the RPG and more of the deep gameplay and interactions with the world and its NPCs. NPCs should "exist" in the world and not feel like they're just "quest givers" or seem like they were just put there to check a box. They also need to make these games less "open world" and more like "big playground sections." I had more fun playing Legend of Zelda games than I did with a lot of Ubisoft games, despite their games being FAR smaller than many of Ubisoft's main franchises - Far Cry, Assassins Creed, Ghost Recon, Avatar etc. Ubisoft will continue to fail if they pursue this model.

[@toptiertech7291]

⁠@@ytmB4HyU4kUqthat’s false. They failed because people don’t like them. Has nothing to do with the style. Ghost of Tsushima has the EXACT same gameplay loop as Far Cry games. Yet people loved it. Gamers love what they love. Like everything you said applies to ghosts of Tsushima. Large, beautiful, empty open world. You take down some bases. Everyone is standing around to be a quest giver or merchant for you. You take down bases and it even does almost the exact far cry cut scene. It’s stories. People will overlook repetitive gameplay for story. That’s why Avatar sold 2 million but Far Cry 6 sold over 10 million. It had the guy from breaking bad. The story looked really good. Also what do you call failing? AC Mirage made $250 million. Are you one of those gamers that think just because your circle of echo chambers don’t like something then it’s failing

[@ytmB4HyU4kUq]

@@toptiertech7291 Honestly, everything you've said sounds like coping. Cause in the end, the proof is in the pudding. Ubisoft took a big loss with skull and bones, SW Outlaws, and Avatar. They didnt sell nearly enough to recoup what they spent. The quality of their products have gone down significantly. Look at the reviews of all the games you've mentioned that were soooo "successful." The reviews were "mixed" at best, hardly the "positivity" that you're implying. Hell, look at the general consensus in the comments section of this video. You'll have your answer. BTW, GoTsushima is a vastly superior game than any Ubsioft title within the last 4 years, and it's an older title.

[@toptiertech7291]

@@ytmB4HyU4kUq ghost of Tsushima came out 1 year before far cry 6. It’s not that old. And it’s not coping. It’s an explanation. But why is Ghost of Tsushima so much better? It’s literally the same “beautiful, empty open world where you go clear a bunch of outposts, use a grappling hook, save hostages in the wild to get intel on other camps and rewards”. That is a far cry game. But why is it better?

[@Digger-Nick]

It's weird because that perfectly describes Elden Ring yet people still glaze Fromsoft

[@Why_does_this_exist_YouTube]

Wow, a mediocre Open World Ubisoft game. Seriously what did we expect from them

[@rachaelpracht]

LOL right?!

[@HrotyAlgernona]

If this game was like Watch dogs or Assassins creed in Star Wars... It would be such improvment. Like how is this game is worse than Ubisoft generic mediocre open world game?

[@cesaru3619]

wokelaws

[@sirscratchalot05]

Nothing. That’s why it’s not selling well.

[@lawjef]

This is worse than usual. And part of the problem (or a major problem) is all the redemption stories: No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk rose from the ashes through constant updates and are now revered as AAAA games. You can tell from the Ubisoft press releases that they figure its a viable strategy for a Star Wars game too.

[@Evanz111]

Ubisoft said players should get used to not owning their games. The monkey paw curled a finger.

[@АлександърТренчев-э2я]

Ubisoft never said that, it is out of context.

[@Evanz111]

@@АлександърТренчев-э2я Yeah sorry about that, I completely agree, I just wanted to make a silly joke

[@BrainDamagedAutist]

That's when I uninstalled everything and decided to never buy from them again.

[@toptiertech7291]

@@BrainDamagedAutistoh no. How will they survive without the purchase of brain damaged autist 😂😂 i guess you’re only going to buy games from the companies who also believe the same thing? You said uninstalled. Which means you had them digitally. Any game you buy digitally is just a license. You never owned a digital game 😂

[@loganyoung2871]

Jack sold me fent

[@NDenizen]

Fenta Nil is my favourite Star Wars character

[@XDak0_0]

I glanced at this and thought it said feet and I wasn't even surprised

[@JackSather]

I did not sell you fent. I sent you home to rethink your life.

[@HeroC14]

The real question is... Can you breathe?

[@GeorgeWest-l9n]

@@JackSatherfent sold me jack

[@ns76921]

As a woman that’s played video games religiously for my entire life I can say the awful haircut is what made me also not want to buy the game. Completely fair reason

[@gebruiker8453]

we need to protect women like you at all costs

[@killroy2014]

@@gebruiker8453 oh jesus christ.....really???🤣 you.....SIMP!

[@Kyo0]

Did you know that being a woman does not magically allow you to speak for half the human race and qualify you to make opinions on complicated and very spider webbed moral topics? I would guess you didn't. So you shouldn't herald your random opinion as a nobody as some "the council of all women has spoken". Many women are affected deeply by the male gaze they grew up steeped in and you honestly just sound like one of them.

[@Desmond-Dark]

Looks matter. EVERYONE who claims to not care AT ALL is lying. People care about cool looking gear, haircuts, animations, and everything else.

[@carny15]

Haircut is ok, it's the alien like face that made me cringe. The character doesnt look like the actress at all.

[@CinematicSeriesGaming]

The entire idea of making the MC of this game "female Han Solo" is just terrible. And no... not because the MC is a woman! It's because HAN SOLO IS NOT A GOOD CHARACTER FOR A VIDEO GAME! We like Han Solo in the movies because he's cool and charismatic. But he's a MOVIE CHARACTER! A video game needs a protagonist who has interesting skills and potential for character progression! And Han Solo is just a regular dude with a blaster. There's no room for meaningful gameplay with a character like that! I think they should have given us a bounty hunter type character. Someone like Boba Fett, Cad Bane or the bounty hunter lady from Jedi Survivor. A character that is bad@ss, has unusual skills and has the potential for cool gameplay mechanics. Stuff like jetpack or rocket boots, a cable launcher, whistling bird, wrist rockets, a flamethrower, poison darts etc. Just compare Kay to Cal - the protagonist of Jedi games. What makes Cal a good video game character is the fact that he's the type of character who can have interesting skills. The games take full advantage of the fact he's a Jedi and just let him be COOL! He has different saber stances, so the combat is fun. He is insanely agile, so the traversal feels cool. And he can use the Force, so there are a lot of force powers that tie into combat and traversal. In contrast, Kay is a mundane person with mundane skills. A mundane character like this can work really great in a well written movie or a show - just look as Cassian in 'Andor'. But it doesn't make a good VIDEO GAME PROTAGONIST in a Star Wars game. I get it, not every protagonist needs to be a Jedi. But at the end of the day, the game needs to be fun and offer unique gameplay mechanics. The obvious choice for a non-Jedi character is a skilled bounty hunter who compensates for the lack of the lightsaber & the Force with unique weapons & gadgets. Not a mundane woman with a blaster and a pet cat. 'Outlaws' is set in a Star Wars universe, but it barely takes any advantage of this fact, and it's just baffling to me.

[@melkhiresa]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Cal is just as boring as kay, what can you even say about him? He's a generic good guy, but he's a fun star wars protagonist to play. I think he could have been replaced by a blank slate customizable main character and nothing would really change, except the bland "romance" he had with the nightsister.

[@CinematicSeriesGaming]

@melkhiresa To be fair, Cal is a way better character than Kay. At least he has some emotional scenes, we understand his motivations and he's somewhat believable. In Jedi Survivor, he seems very genuine. He's struggling with his past, he's unsure of his purpose, he has a hard time dealing with the crew splitting up. He clearly has anger inside him... There's quite a lot going on with his character. Sure, he's not on the level of Arthur Morgan or anything like that, but he's way above Kay.

[@melkhiresa]

@@CinematicSeriesGaming that's true, at least they tried with him. I think it's more that I thought the writing for those games was pretty bad so I personally didn't care about any of his story beats or emotional scenes. I just didn't find them believable. I'm glad he worked for you as a character though

[@Tom-ahawk]

I disagree. Stealth/rogue type characters work great for a lot of games. Look at Thief, Splinter Cell, Baldur's Gate. And if you think 'just guns' are bad in the Star Wars universe, look how popular Republic Commando was. I think you can do a Han Solo character, but I think Ubisoft just lacks any creativity, writing, and expansive game mechanics. It's an old dying triple A studio that stays alive just like all those studios do: using shareholder investment and stock value to buyout other companies and IPs.

[@CinematicSeriesGaming]

@@Tom-ahawk Here's the thing: I LOVE stealth games! Splinter Cell Blacklist, Dishonored 1 & 2, Deus Ex, Hitman... The problem is that the stealth mechanics in 'Outlaws' are laughably basic. The AI is dumb as a bag of rocks, there are no light/shadow mechanics, the sound doesn't propagate realistically, enemies have ridiculously narrow cones of vision & they often don't notice fallen comrades. And there's barely anything you can do! You have a stun shot on cooldown, takedowns with terrible animations, you can whistle, and you can order Nix to distract or attack someone. That's it! You can't carry & hide bodies, you can't go prone, you can't hide anywhere apart from tall grass and steam, you can't hack the machines to cause distractions, you can't throw objects like in Hitman, you can't hack cameras or turrets like in Cyberpunk, you can't perform takedowns from the ledge or from behind short cover like in Blacklist, you can't take enemies hostage, YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING COOL! You don't even get any interesting gadgets! All you get is a smoke bomb! There are no traps, remote charges, poison darts, throwable cameras, lures, throwing knives, tasers, sleeping gas grenades, NO NOTHING! If this game actually committed to stealth and had a proper toolset like Splinter Cell: Blacklist, it would be amazing! It could even have a full morality/chaos mechanic that tracks how many enemies you kill. Ideally, a stealth game should give you freedom to choose your approach and let you decide if you want to play as ghost (never seen), someone who uses non-lethal force or an assassin who silently kills people. Outlaws does none of that.

[@muaxh03]

I couldn't even finish the game, congrats to anyone being able to play this game till the end.

[@SoulKingsss]

10/10 pfp

[@itson230]

bruh I love watching your gameplay clips from that garbage game though...

[@gabriel897100]

Bruh we can tell wih your milking of the game

[@lawjef]

You did well then. Mauler lost his freaking mind completing the game. I really feel for the guy, I couldn’t do it.

[@cruizer4356]

Don't blame you man nobody wants to go through 20 hours of brainrot

[@bizlychannelYT]

Jack what are your opinions on women 🎤

[@JoeCartersChannel]

Just envious of her hairline 😒🙄

[@bimbusmakescontent]

Biz is CLEARLY checking you here Jack. Get your shit together and stop listening to Jordan Peterson :)

[@jong2359]

@@bimbusmakescontent stop gaslighting people into thinking they DONT have their shit together, and leave irrelevant name drops out of it.

[@HHTwice]

@@bimbusmakescontenthave your testes dropped?

[@galaxyproductions2076]

@@bimbusmakescontent Nah, Biz had some wild takes. "What, did you read online you couldn't steal vehicles?" like he thinks Jack can't form his own opinions

[@RennsReviews]

"WHAT STORY!?" Love that! The day I beat the game, I was feeling super depressed, my girlfriend knew something was off, so she asked me what's wrong, and I said "I beat star wars outlaws today" The mission design and story beats drained me of my life force and made me miserable.

[@DrZaiuss]

@@RennsReviews what up Renn? You’re one of the funniest guys on KZbin. I love your work and that Halo Unfunite video. Great stuff

[@CrimesNewRoman]

What's your take on Jack's extremely misguided views on women gamers in the first half?

[@potatoradio8467]

Renn your a fake gamer who only is here for KZbin bucks. we see through you. Make videos about something your passionate about like money.

[@DeadPixel1105]

@@potatoradio8467 "Fake gamer". God you're pathetic. Nobody gives a shit. The dude plays video games and then makes videos about them on KZbin. He doesn't need to be a passionate "gAmEr", nerd.

[@yous2244]

​@@CrimesNewRomanI agree, however Jack was still being "safe" about it.

[@Culturedtuna1]

After this game failed to sell well, CEO Yves Guillemot was quoted in an emergency investor call saying, "Making 'solid' games isn't enough when you have gamers expecting extraordinary experiences." This is pure gaslighting. Gamers don't always expect extraordinary out of every game. In fact, everyone's expectations are at an all time low when it comes to Ubisoft games. What people expect, is for the games to function as well as Ubisoft's games from the past 10+ years! I see constant compilations of people comparing this game's bad npc ai, to games like AC black flag, splinter cell, farcry! all decade old ubisoft titles that accomplish a lot of the stuff this game has wrong with it.

[@xiiir838]

Developers, CEOs and journalists are so detached from reality. A bunch of people working for free made Fallout London, and there's only been good opinions towards that mod. The problem is, I think, people making games don't play games anymore, and more importantly, don't engage with the community

[@theInfiniteEgg-z8i]

Are you for real? If a game isn't a 10/10 masterpiece, you people rip it to shreds and write hour-long hitpieces about why every single aspect is bad, with yelling and spitting rage (like this video). Look at the VERY video you're commenting on!

[@Culturedtuna1]

@@theInfiniteEgg-z8i the CEO of Ubisoft is wrong, and so are you. If a game functions well and is actually decent, it doesn't get scrutinized. It's only when a game is dysfunctional and poorly written that it gets blown up by gamers and critics. Ubisoft's games from 10+ years ago function better than this game, that's absurd. This game is factually disfunctional. The enemy ai are awful at detection. They have no sense of hearing, they can't detect you if you're hanging on a ledge right in front of them. That's something that enemy ai from splinter cell we're able to detect, and that game was from 2008! If you crouch in tall grass, the enemies can't aim their guns low enough to hit you... That's ridiculous. These are just basic things in any game that should work, among all the other issues. And the fact they butchered darth Vader's voice is inexcusable for such an iconic villain. They used the same voice actor as Jedi fallen order, but ubisoft's sound team lacks quality control, and they made him sound like zurg from toy story. If you look at all this and shrug it off, you like being cucked by Ubisoft.

[@astro_case]

@17:30 Why would you punch a Stormtrooper in the helmet? Wouldn't that destroy your hand? And isn't that what a helmet is supposed to do, protect your head?

[@bingo5694]

Clearly didn't hire a combat consultant. The fist drop to the top of the helmet MIGHT disorient someone for a couple seconds, long enough to shiv them in-between armor plates, but you ain't punching someone through a helmet.

[@JayShootHer]

Even punching a plastic helmet would still hurt your hand.

[@GeorgeWest-l9n]

@@bingo5694 you don’t need a combat consultant to see how stupid this is

[@LordNexusTheFir]

U do realize that stormtrooper armor is completely useless & the joke is that its so bad in movies 1 shot kills them, 1 rock kills them, & a punch still knocks them out cause their armor is basically the same thing as wearing underwear. Guess fake star wars fans aint that smart to have picked up on that throughout all the movies 🙄

[@Sooperalpaca]

@@LordNexusTheFir Trying to gatekeep being an autistic manchild is a very odd choice, but you do you little guy.

[@TheOnlyJohnAbraham]

An open world shooter where you only get ONE gun throughout the entire game is insane.

[@marron5272]

If they allowed me to pick my own character and actually be an outlaw, not this “pew pew I’m an outlaw” cookie cutter bs then I would have thrown my money

[@bluntcabbage6042]

Being even slightly realistic with how bad/evil outlaws were/can be is completely off the table for modern game devs it seems. The closest we got to a big name dev touching the whole "outlaws actually do horrible things on the regular that's why they're outlawed, usually" was Red Dead and even then some argue it was a little generous in making the main characters (obviously outlaws) seem too clean or honorable.

[@mattfugate9029]

@@bluntcabbage6042 THANK YOU! I've been saying this for years oh your an 'outlaw' in Red Dead? So you just....rob a train every now an then huh? or be slightly mean to a few people....cool...you know what else comes with that? Mission prompts that you can't do anything even remotely ya know...against what your told? Like an outlaw? Micah was the closest to an actual outlaw cause he did whatever he wanted no matter who it angered but even then like you said still a tad too clean lol.

[@bluntcabbage6042]

@@mattfugate9029 RDR2's main problem was that it _lets_ the player be too by-the-book and peaceful. Arthur Morgan is made out to be this menace of a man, a borderline unhinged killer on the loose with a gang of similarly minded killers who murder and loot their way across the countryside. But when players have control? Arthur is the guy who helps lost dames, donates money to the needy, volunteers for charitable work, and never harms a hair on an innocent person's head. It's really hard to convince a player that the main character is actually a really bad person who does horrible shit when nothing stops the player from playing as a saint outside of scripted story events - which are usually pretty sanitized, most of the horrible things Arthur does are against people who "deserve" it (corrupt businessmen, goons serving a bad cause, etc.). This is why you get so many people genuinely convinced people like Arthur Morgan and John Marston are actually wholesome dudes who are super chill - the game lets them play like that, even when the lore is trying to set them up completely differently. The fancy term is ludonarrative dissonance I think. R* didn't wanna force people to be genuinely evil, so the forced-evil actions are only ever done to bad people who seemingly deserve that treatment. Otherwise the only time you really see genuinely fucked up things are from people around Arthur but not Arthur himself. When Dutch strangled that old lady in Guarma for trying to scam them, I feel like a more realistic outlaw wouldn't be nearly as torn up as Arthur was when that happened.

[@bigpablo673]

​@@bluntcabbage6042outlaw means you're on the run from the law it doesn't mean you're a scumbag who does horrible shit lmao it's a weird as hell thing to be upset over. I guess everything is woke when the word woke is a personal Boogeyman though

[@jcfnetwork6768]

I hate the term 'review bombing.' If tons of people don’t like your game and rate it badly, that’s just their opinions. Companies have used it as an excuse to explain away bad reviews so they can stay lazy and not fix their problems.

[@krejtek9654]

I mean, if a lot of people didn't play the game but still give a negative score, I'd say it's fair to call it review bombing. Of course it's harder to do that on steam, since you have to own the game to make a review.

[@jcfnetwork6768]

@@krejtek9654 yeah it does happen but now they are just running with it and constantly using it as an excuse for every game with a bad score

[@beardedlonewolf7695]

Yep and when it's a female protagonist... it's review bombing by wHiTe oLd mEn.

[@deadshot5007]

​@@jcfnetwork6768If it's review bombed then that score shouldn't be used as an indication for what the players think

[@alexanderforbes1452]

​@deadshot5007 If it's review bombed then that is in and of itself an indication of what players think.

[@AustinGubala]

How bold of them to call it Star Wars: Outlaws when you can’t even do things that an outlaw does.

[@Nison545]

Dude the Bizly debate was such a great addition. Almost beat for beat of how I argue with my friends.

[@sqypt]

The little trump impression was hilarious too

[@sunburst8810]

nah he was f annoying

[@Jan12700]

Still crys in 1313. I don't want this Ubi Trash, I want 1313

[@roby.killjoy]

YES

[@dassemultor6940]

1313 still got shooters out here. Warms my heart.

[@Bikewreck]

Jack should be so much bigger than the act man

[@FlyMysticalDJ]

Ubisoft has become such an echo chamber that they really believed a Star Wars skinned assassins creed with purposefully ugly characters was what gamers wanted.

[@TheDennys21]

*CLICKBAIT!* There wasn't a single cat in sight this entire video!

[@JackSather]

She didn't fit into her Nix costume :(

[@venepskeuten9206]

A mediocre ubisoft game? What a surpise! I never would have expected that!

[@alexforce9]

Im with you Jack - I dont mind playing as a girl, I just dont want to play as THAT girl. I loved the protag of Control, the female protag in Fenyx rising, and Im currently playing Flintflock despite it being a mid AA game. That haircut and the fighting animations of Kay are just terrible.

[@rachaelpracht]

I haven't played this game because I'm allergic to Star Wars media... but is this maybe why everyone hated Forspoken? Like, they would have been fine playing a girl, but not THAT girl? lol.

[@alexforce9]

@@rachaelpracht Oh Forspoken. Gorgeous light effects and annoying protagonist hahaha.

[@tuanminhnguyen9768]

​​@@rachaelpracht I was hyped for forspoken ... Until I saw the first 10 minutes, the acting was terrible and it kept getting worse. Laracroft, control or uncharted is female protag done right and I loved them all

[@DerDudelino]

I actually quite like her actress, she comes over as a Star Wars fan. But the line delivery in-game is off - like he says, she comes over very bored most of the time. She is this "Yeah, whatever" kinda girl from the memes :D What's also weird: The actress Humberly González is very attractive, Kay is not. Why? You put a hot women into a video game as a protagonist, it automatically sells. Playstations Stellar Blade sold really well just on sex appeal alone. Gamers- who are mostly male, like attractive females. That's just a fact.

[@CamInTheHat]

@@rachaelpracht You could insert a guy into that game and it would prob be even worse lol. That games dialogue is so cringy it actually was painful. Story is lame and boring also. Nah the problem really isn't male or female characters. Its poor writing and poor management. Instead of owning up and doing better they blame it on sexism and stoke the culture war flames. "If they fight amongst themselves they won't fight us" - some cheesy villain working at Ubisoft.

[@georgesinclair3497]

I think the thing that puts me off this game the most is the sidekick. I'm so fed up with every Star Wars protagonist having a mandated cute little critter.

[@stinkbanana2522]

I agree about the main character. I think it's partially why this game didn't interest me at all

[@yous2244]

The game is the most boring "safe" game. You can't be an outlaw or evil

[@Alx1744]

I love the design of the female-protagonist in disney's star wars:outlaws by ubislop concentration-camp...: yet I didn't even buy the game, because the story and gameplay looks like absolute soulless, limp and hollow TRRRRAAAAAASH! 😂😂😂😂😂

[@schlobster3929]

It’s restrained by Disney, we’ll never see an rdr2 type ‘low honour’ system in a Disney game, they always want you to be the good guy/girl, and all their games must be accessible for children. We’ll never get a violent/ gritty game like space marines 2/ helldivers but for clone commandos. It’s just sad

[@ImotekhtheStormlord-tx2it]

bizly is wrong about kay. kay is the most bland predictible character

[@rawmaw]

that's not being "wrong", that's just his opinion. you state it like it's an objective fact.

[@beardedlonewolf7695]

@@rawmaw If we go with logic, he's wrong.

[@tealishpotato]

​@rawmaw fact and preference are not interchangeable. You can think or feel whatever you want about something, but you can't convince yourself or anyone else that it's due to your impeccable taste. I enjoyed Thief 2014. That doesn't mean it's good.

[@rawmaw]

@@beardedlonewolf7695 whose "logic"? define "logic".

[@rawmaw]

@@tealishpotato know-nothing know-it-all. keep telling yourself such in the mirror. seriously, how old are you? five???

[@TactiGamer]

Jack your vids are majestic

[@PatriciaWasTaken]

I don't think having a woman protagonist is bad, and I don't agree with your take of "Well why not allow someone to pick the characters gender" because in a lot of linear storytelling I feel like that would just make it worse, An example is Red Dead Redemption 2 would've been actually ass if they just decided you could play as Arthuretta instead, However on games that they obviously know aren't going to be hailed for having a good story I don't see why they couldn't do it especially considering they did it on previous games like Assassins Creed.

[@Fe7Ace]

The best point I heard about why they probably favored one bespoke character here is that Star Wars as a brand loves the idea of building value into specific characters. They can then potentially become iconic, be expanded on, and sell merch if they appeal. This probably wasn't even Ubi's call but more from Disney.

[@AkshayJoe]

in my opinion, even having a mandatory female protagonist wouldn't have been a bad marketing decision because Star Wars already has great female characters and a female protagonist scoundrel in a Star Wars can make for a really good and interesting plot which could have been handled WAYYYY better. The only caveat is making the character interesting. So, Inherently a male or a female protagonist does not matter unless there are specific story beats calling for feminine or masculine parts.

[@Glasszki]

THIS

[@winstonsmith8740]

Finally someone willing to talk about the problem of unappealing female characters in games. So many dudes too scared to mention.

[@allystarla]

"No girl is playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance." Me, a girl that plays Kingdom Come: Deliverance

[@gameboyjacks]

as soon as he said that i was like “i bet someone from the 2% female audience plays kingdom come: deliverance” i own it and havent even tried it yet lol

[@sprinkles8560]

No wonder he only has 2% female audience. Yeesh.

[@didimean]

BOOOOO

[@hehehe6959]

The 1 percent made out to look like the majority

[@Lonit-be]

My favourite game, hell yeah

[@spookyboy7415]

Hold the phone jack.. you like ray as a protagonist.. brother in Christ

[@Zeverinsen]

*My thoughts exactly.* She started out well, and then it just went to shit because of the poor writing. _That being said, I liked her more than whatever Han was in the Solo movie, god damn..._

[@Josephsoto221]

Nah, I thought she was cool SPECIFICALLY in episode 7, she doesn’t get insufferable till episode 8 and 9 to me

[@NemoIsSwimming]

Yeah Rey in force awakens was decent, but she was sort of a dual protagonist with Fin, in the movies after they just wrecked any potential for her to be good

[@Ps3luvr260]

5:00 An important thing to remember is that the dev team made the game exclusively with Kassandra as the protagonist until forced to do otherwise. It shows also.

[@thaismv7801]

You two friendly arguing makes my inner palpatine go "I love democracy"

[@kingbr3adbin367]

Honestly jack mate, yours is probably the best gaming channel on KZbin right now. Funny and informative with multiple views and an open minded outlook going into your reviews.

[@RedKincaid]

Not a fan of the generalizations about women, I don't like the main character either but her gender is not her problem, the problem is she's 0 dimensional. I've always preferred playing games with women as main characters but not when they're poorly written, which is the clear issue here. Also, every woman I know plays video games, they just don't talk about it to randos on the internet because of the overwhelming misogyny problem in gaming fandoms, which I'm worried you may be inadvertently contributing to with this video. I don't think it's intentional but I hate to hear that kind of rhetoric from you. Women are underrepresented in gaming related spaces because they're made to feel unwelcome, not because they don't play games as much

[@hue.main1]

I’m one of your small percent of the woman audience. I will say, I enjoy female protagonists when they’re written well… buuuut I honestly don’t exactly mind the male protagonist as it’s common for me to fall in love with them more. I’m straight, what can I say? Which is funny, I would think guys would want woman characters more often because for the same reasons lol. But obviously they still have to be written well, if the male character is insufferable I won’t be able to get through the game. Which can go for any main character, really. That’s the thing, a lot of female characters aren’t written well. People need to remember character first, identity later. I love that story about Ripley from Alien being written and at first she was a male character but they changed it without much rewrites and she’s became an iconic movie character!

[@Zeverinsen]

That's the problem with women in media in general. They never write them as actual people with agency, but usually to fill a target or an agenda from higher ups. Captain Marvel is a great example of that. If they had written her like Captain America, she would've been a great character, but they wrote her like a girl boss devoid of any flaws, which ironically made her unlikeable. Honestly, they should just start writing all characters as male, and change them later, because that seems to be the only way they are able to write good characters.

[@hue.main1]

@@Zeverinsen I agree. Or just don’t think of a gender at all in the beginning. Blank slate of just a human being. What is the human experience? Cause we all are one. I remember writing one of my novels and not really having a character in mind just yet. Just kept writing in first pov until it came to me more who I wanted them to be. Turns out I was basically writing one of my friends. THATS another note! Writers should take from experience of REAL people they know! It makes things so much easier.

[@EthalaRide]

to the point of "It doen't _feel_ like Star Wars" and thinking about the KotOR cinematic trailers, and 1313 being like "GTA star wars" my first thoughts were that Disney won't let you make desitions because they're "morality police" that don't want to let players do 'bad things' but more accurately it's _'purity_ police' because in the original Star Wars HAD a lot of Morality, it was a very clear story of Good vs Evil with good guys and bad guys, and Disney Star Wars feels like it LACKS a lot of morality and replaces it with _relitivism_ and/or _purity._ It's never about _changing, growing, evolving_ into something better, it's about _'being your true self.'_ 'You were ALWAYS this way; you have to be _true to yourself.'_ *'You don't need to **_become_** better, you **_ALWAYS_** were better!'* They refuse to _let the audience have an opinion._ By refusing to implement a morality system with player choice, the writers have hard-coded their morals itto the game by choosing FOR the players. They can't have the players do something bad and continue throughout the game, they NEED to be the good guy WE want them to be. It's just so prudish.

[@DeadPixel1105]

It's an example of left-wing authoritarianism. "No, you can't make your own decisions and be what you want to be."

[@AlfredoPuente8]

Disney killed any hype for Star Wars.

[@d00gz_]

The “I’m a tough wanderer who doesn’t care about anyone but myself, but actually I’m a friendly do-gooder with a strict and safe moral code” is one of the worst trends to come out of recent games. Nobody understands how to do morally gray characters anymore, because all they can think of as the basis for one is “they’re a mid-level criminal but oppose the structure they operate in”, like it’s just so limp. God forbid we write a character with intentionally undesirable qualities without glorifying it, because that might make someone upset when they realize the protagonist isn’t a good person.

[@jaredfortin6810]

Knowing bizly and jack are friends makes me so happy, two of my fave creators rn

[@VELI-Productions]

Bro you spent waayyy to long on that choosing your gender stuff. I get it, and I agree with you that since Kay is so much of a non character that it would make sense for you to be able to choose your gender, but ultimately like you guys mentioned, it would not have have made this game any better, and I don't really think it would have even helped with sales that much either. The other problems with the game are a way more important thing to analyze and talk about. The part about most of the characters being women... once again man you are pushing it lol, sure it's unrealistic but not an impossible case of meeting people in a world, idk. Rest of the critiques valid, and good way to end the video.

[@lassussmth3471]

was interested to hear some thoughts on the game but if i wanted to hear long-winded rants about women and woke i would call one of my uncles. my guy i dont think the chick on the box is the reason the game design is fucked

[@Pårchmēntôs]

You may not have got Kay’s hair style right, but you kinda nailed the Jedi hair style, Qui-Gon Jack.

[@RealisticMgmt]

Looking back on it, the cancellation of 1313 was a clear harbinger of what awaited us with Disney Star Wars.

[@GamingGrenade1]

Ubisoft are in very big trouble right now and they know it. The fact that they've delayed Assassins Creed Shadows makes me wonder how bad a state it must be in given the state of some of the games they _have_ shipped

[@DerDudelino]

I honestly really hope Shadows sells well, otherwise it's likely the end of Ubisoft: The Settlers was a 50M US-Dollar flop Skull & Bones was a 200M US-Dollar flop XDefiant had a production budget of 80M plus marketing. It's doing okay at 20.000 players daily. Not sure how much money that makes. Star Wars Outlaws has cost around 200-300M and only sold 1 Million copies so far Don't know the numbers for Rainbow Six Siege which typically makes good money but I am worried for Ubi

[@OryxAU]

​@@DerDudelino They also have The Division 2, which seems to be doing very very well. Too bad Massive is tied to that sinking ship.

[@Zeverinsen]

*It's great though.* _FINALLY_ there are consequences for the slop they've shipped for years. Ever since they changed the ending of AC Brotherhood because they didn't want to pay Kristen Bell, they've been on a downward trajectory IMO.

[@jaxsonburch-eo1vz]

Good point about Lucasfilm, like I’m not even mad at Ubisoft because we all knew what would happen lol. Why tf did they give an open world Star Wars game to them??? They gave the two worst companies in gaming the chance to make Star Wars games. 🤦

[@ozonecandle]

It's not that anyone cares if the protagonist is a male or female, at the end of the day. We all played tomb raider and loved it. We all played the last of us and enjoyed it. We all played metroid and enjoyed it. It's when you decide who the character is going to be before the story is even written.. why not make the story then develop characters that make sense in that story. It's the shoehorning of character architypes thats annoying.. and frankly it's disrespectful to the communities they try to represent if you ask me. If the main character is gay, fine. I genuinely couldn't care less. Just make it a damn good game. Do them right if you're going to use them for marketing, which is exactly whats happening.

[@RufusM]

I’ve legit resorted to posting the “Sick of Ubisoft” video in any chat I’m in whenever Ubisoft’s fuckery is discussed.

[@Suprisedbuzz]

Same. It explains all of my gripes to a t.

[@ZeroFighter]

4:07 Calling Star Wars: Outlaws 'the first open-world Star Wars game' is a pretty ballsy statement, considering Star Wars Galaxies (2003), KOTOR (2003), KOTOR II (2004), and The Old Republic (2011) all existed before Outlaws (2024).

[@DeadPixel1105]

Neither KOTOR game was open-world. I don't know what you mean. In KOTOR, every map/location was broken up into multiple sections that were separated by loading screens. Nothing open-world about KOTOR.

[@ZeroFighter]

@@DeadPixel1105 An open world game is generally defined as 'a video game with al world in which the player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay'. Popular examples include The Legend of Zelda (1986) which separated all dungeon and caves by a loading screen, and had to individually load sections of the map one at a time as you moved through each cell. What happened in one cell would not follow you through the load screen into the next. Other games in the genre include Skyrim, which separates all interior, cave, dungeon, subterranean, walled city, and a few worldspace (Solstheim, Skuldafn, Sovngard, Fort Dawnguard, Forgotten Vale, the Soul Cairn, Apocrypha...) cells behind load screens. Even the first open world Metal Gear Solid game, MGSV: The Phantom Pain, separates the Hospital in Cyprus behind a load screen. You cannot walk from Afghanistan to Cyprus, and yet you can play in both. It also has two load screens between Mother Base and the Afghan / Africa maps. It is not possible to fly your helicopter between the areas without hitting a load screen. Perhaps you could look more at something wildly popular, like the open world MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, which separates its open map into cells that have load zones between them; something that Star Wars Galaxies didn't need to do back in 2003. Are you absolutely sure you want to take this stance?

[@DeadPixel1105]

My favorite female video game protagonist is Amanda Ripley, from Alien Isolation. She's an extremely underrated character when talking about female video game protagonists. On that topic, people usually cite characters such as Jill Valentine, or Ada Wong, or Tifa Lockheart, or Lara Croft, etc. But what makes Amanda Ripley so special to me is the fact that she's just a normal 'average joe' sort of person. She's just a mechanic that was thrust into a life threatening situation, yet she still gathers the courage to keep moving forward and get herself out of there. Meanwhile, all the other characters I mentioned are either highly trained members of the police/military (Jill Valentine), or combat hardened spies (Ada Wong), or experienced martial artists (Tifa), or badass explorers who've already faced life-or-death situations many times (Lara Croft). Amanda Ripley is none of that. Just a normal civilian. Kind of like comparing Isaac Clark to Doomguy. While it's true that Doomguy would tear Isaac Clark to shreds without breaking a sweat, some could argue that Isaac is actually MORE of a badass than Doomguy, because he's just a normal guy. Just an engineer. Yet, he's thrust into a hellish situation and is forced to survive, despite lacking the training and experience of a person like Doomguy. Pardon the rambling. Amanda Ripley and Isaac Clark. Top-tier badass.

[@eval_is_evil]

Excellent points. Great analysis.

[@sirscratchalot05]

I love how she can punch armored troopers in the face and just knock them out.

[@TylerWardhaha]

Lots of games have humorously unrealistic take down mechanics. Add it to the pile!

[@samueldawkins]

@@TylerWardhaha it sucks

[@lauryn5890]

As an official representative of the 3.8%, I just wanna play as badass well-written characters. I think that we are seeing a large shift in the representation of women as main characters. When I was a child, I would be so excited when a game allowed me to play as a female character since so many protagonists were male back then. However, beggars can’t be choosers. I think for a long time female protagonists hovered along the three areas of “girl is my whole personality,” “male protag’s alt skin,” or “or made for male player’s desire.” None of these are bad by themselves, they just aren’t well rounded female characters. I remember dragon age origins being the first time being female wasn’t my character’s whole personality, and yet it still mattered in my choices. That’s when I understood what a well written female character could have the potential to be. Being the hero of the story while not erasing situations where gender tends to affect people’s opinions. The elf origin male vs female comes to mind. Right now my opinion as a female player is that the industry is going through the growing pains of writing female characters. Before, when most characters were male, a bad male character was just a bad character. Now it seems like a bad female character is usually labelled as “woke” or alienating for the male audience, when most of the time they are also just badly written female characters. What I mean to say is that I think we are watching the evolution of female characters catching up to male characters. Male characters had a long time to be manly stereotypes and get more nuanced as they go. I think it’s the same for female characters as we see more female game developers enter the field. Hopefully, over time, we can learn from the well written ones and distance ourselves from the off putting ones. P.s. I have played Kingdom Come: Deliverance, how dare you 🥸

[@user-zr1tx8ts5y]

You would have played kcd because you are here in the 3.8 percent of women who are hardcore gamers following uo on a gaming channel with gaming reviews and analysis an incresibly hardcore gamer thing to do... Where are the rest of the ladies? My gf doesnt watch these but she plays the sims and thats it and thats fine. But she makes up a part of that 49 percent which i think is an over representation. The vast percentage of woman who are "gamers" arent in the same gaming spaces as you. They arent playing kcd...the numbers dont lie

[@sammckenney8163]

@@user-zr1tx8ts5y So what? Why do you need to have a male protagonist to enjoy a game? This is the creative industry, we're talking about art! Did you watch Kill Bill and get mad that The Bride is a woman? The majority of Tarantino fans are men after all, why wasn't the main character a man? Because that's not how storytelling works, everyone knows that. This game fucking sucks, but it's not because the main character is a women or that she's not hot enough; it's because Ubisoft and other companies answer to their shareholders, and creativity will never trump the bottom dollar.

[@_wegota2319_]

Frontloading the video with a rant about the protagonist's gender and hair was certainly a choice. ... and then going BACK to it at 19:00? Sheesh. "I don't care." Seems like you do. Agree that these are overcorrections in media these days. Like I think I see your point, modern writers say people should "see themselves" in media but increasingly don't provide that for men, especially white men. The argument is often "they've seen themselves enough" but that just leads to resentment for people like me (a woman who is a minority, who happens to be a gamer). But you didn't really articulate that. Instead you pulled the "most gamers are men and the girl protagonist ruined the sales numbers and the immersion" which is.... yikes. Comes across really grimey.

[@DevNug]

I mean he’s kinda addressing the elephant in the room. At a certain point the number of crappy female protagonists is gonna have this effect on people’s responses to them

[@aulyhal]

​​@@DevNugSo what about all them crappy male protagonists then? Bad writing is the issue, not gender. I'd avoid most any game that had a crappy protagonist (unless the gameplay really pulled enough weight). There are so many great modern games with female led protags. I feel like people on these channels don't play enough indies either.

[@DevNug]

@@aulyhal The gender becomes the issue when they are tokenizing the people they are trying to represent. Game after game, movie after movie, it’s like “Hey let’s stick X demographic in it for the sake of it.” They don’t have a vision for the character, they are doing it based on demographics, which leads to even worse writing because it’s less inspired

[@aulyhal]

@@DevNug Where is the proof of this theory of yours? Were you in the writers room when these decisions were made? Regardless, a good writer/team could still write a well written "forced gender" if given to them. I can assure you the issue is AAA development in general as its environment often leads to less creativity. Most all AAA games have boring ass protags imo and this bad writing problem is far less of an issue in indie games (where these sexist arguments still happen, even when the dev team is one person, because people are jerks).

[@DevNug]

@@aulyhal It’s not that they are forced to write it, they genuinely want to be more inclusive, they’re just really bad at it. That is a consequence of them being bad writers, you are right. And as a result, they end up tokenizing the people they are trying to represent

[@abdalla8558]

Your discussion with your friend was great addition to your review format, make it fixed part from now on, haven’t laughed so hard in awhile

[@pineapplesmoovey7898]

if you gave your friend a box with a literal steaming pile of shit he would be like "Oh... well it looks like you tried really hard! I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy this! Definitely not the worst gift I've gotten!"

[@alexvannoort7144]

16:25 seeing Jack just looking out of the window during a cutscene is probably the funniest thing I have ever seen.

[@tones_]

Love your vids man but this one ain't it. Focusing on gender so much came off like an incel rant. Just try and see it from a woman's perspective and think about them watching this vid. You basically said most women who play games just play candy crush lol. Even though it is a small percentage of your viewers they are still your supporters, why alienate them like this?? If someone complained about too many men in a game would you have this same energy? You may have your own personal beliefs and that is valid but gender is not a reason for this game's failure. Ubisoft makes mid unfinished games with mid stories, it isn't that deep.

[@tomewart2969]

I'm a big fan of your style and reviews in general, but I think this one was a rare miss. There's plenty of legitimate criticisms here, but the gender of the protagonist isn't one of them. Kay is just as shallow of a 'rogue with a heart of gold' character archetype as Han Solo, but you seem to get hung up on that for some reason? I understand that she might not be an engaging or interesting character from your perspective, but that says more about Ubisoft's writers than it does about gender. A more balanced review with less unimportant tangents would have been nice, especially when it's about something that alienates a portion of your audience. Hoping you can take some constructive feedback on board my man! Looking forward to the next review.

[@-morrow]

People loved playing Ellie in The Last of Us. People hated playing Kay in Star Wars Outlaws. It has obviously NOTHING to do with the protagonist being female.

[@xiiir838]

People loved the last of us, not Ellie

[@jessechuff]

Yeah man that initial rant was a weird one. You had plenty of reasons to dislike the character, but focusing so much on her being a woman was odd. The haircut isn’t even that bad? Just struggling to see why the focus was there so much and not solely the valid criticisms about the character herself and writing. Always love watching your vids and still enjoyed this one, but I’d definitely recommend taking a step back and reflecting on those first 10 minutes some more.

[@alexdoey6931]

Yeah buddy, reflect. … on that thing. You forgot to tell him to “Do better next time”

[@samithonjames370]

He doesn't have to reflect on shit, the guy is correct, you're all just butthurt.

[@alexdoey6931]

@@samithonjames370 you’re probably right, I would’ve missed the sarcasm in my comment too, if I were in your place.

[@jepsen1977]

Well Jesse I'm sure that Jack will reflect on those 10 minutes IF you will reflect on why you're so triggered by this video and why you have to act as such a douche.

[@jessechuff]

Aren’t you anti-woke mother fuckers the guys who are always mad that people won’t engage with people they “disagree with”? Yet all 3 of you came here doing exactly that under a fair and balanced critique of a video I literally said I enjoyed overall.

[@howdareyouexist]

the moment it was going to be ubisoft making this game was the moment I knew what was coming and had zero interest

[@gandalf2889]

Don’t normally comment on KZbin videos but I’d just thought I’d leave this here. Some of the points in the video are just not it man. At the core of it, if her haircut is such a bother I think some self reflection would do wonders to why that is the case. If Kay was as well written as Arthur Morgan, Geralt or any other male lead I highly doubt her haircut would be mentioned at all. We don’t need X, Y, Z reasons for “because Kay’s a woman and looks a certain way us boys don’t wanna play!”. I honestly could not care less for a story with another Mandalorian as the main character. I think it’s important to remember that your opinion on “what makes a cool character” is not a consensus. I understand expressing your point but bringing up male / female video game analytics with the attempt to “convince” us is rather telling.

[@PappyPipes]

Can't lie a lil disappointed with Jacks take about playing as a female character. He is just perpetuating that men don't want to play as women in games, and even tho its unfortunately true (look at the response to ghost of yotei for example) it doesn't make it right and it woulda been nice to hear jack speak out on that instead of just being another one of those guy gamers and make up bs reasoning for not wanting kay as a protagonist. Also the joke about Kay getting mad about you opening the door for her and her calling you sexist was interesting, Ive watched all of jacks vids and I cant recall him making a similar joke about a male character could be wrong there but feel like it revealed something about bro

[@xiiir838]

Dude, people need to make money. If you want to keep pushing acolytes, concords and in general, content that brings criticism and pushes customers away, well, do it, your side will just keep getting failures and bad reputation. What do you think will happen when all the girl boss media results in Monetary losses? You're risking the future you're fighting for because you don't want to listen

[@Zeverinsen]

​@@xiiir838 That's not the point, dude. Make whatever you want, just make it good. The problem is that when they make something shitty, it will always receive _additional_ criticism if the protagonist is a woman. That means the criticism is unfounded, because it has nothing to do with the actual product, and everything to do with some people's perception of women. Nobody complains about how shitty it was to play a male character in a shitty game because it's the status quo. They just say the game is shitty. But when there's a woman, they go out of their way to complain about that to, like that's the real reason it's shitty, even though nothing would've improved if they changed her into a man. *Do you see what I mean?* Big greedy companies making mediocre games is the real enemy, but some people gotta let their personal negative views sour everything further for no reason.

[@xiiir838]

@@Zeverinsen I totally see what you mean, but I believe you're biased and you're not seeing this the way those who do the criticism do. No, people are not more critical when it's a woman, that's a falsehood pushed by femlnls†s to play the vic†im card and avoid criticism/responsibility. It's about the group who *FORCES* the women into media. Let's not play d#mb here, you and me know that there's and agenda to force incIusion into media, *THAT* is the real reason femaIe characters (and other "mah ee noreetehs) are so hardly criticised. You don't see this level to criticism on Asian or Latin American media, it is hardly a complain, you know why? Because they're not part of a poIi†¡CaI group pushing for ¡№cIusion. If you want to keep living in ¡g№rance, go ahead and keep playing v¡C†¡M. It won't change how those games are received by the public.

[@lolofafsafsa]

@@xiiir838 bro this person never said anything about wanting to make shitty games like star wars outlaws and concord🤣. You are just assigning personality traits to people you don't know shit about. You can have games with female protags be highly profitable, it's more about the writing than about the gender. Also who tf is "your side". What imaginary universe do you live in.

[@xiiir838]

@@Zeverinsen of course it receives additional criticism, YOUR SIDE made incIusion poIi†icaI

[@Ismimgerekmiyorsaniyorum]

I feel special now I know I belong to a group with 3% exclusivity. Happy its in the context of your channel, love the vids despite not being interested in playing most of the games covered, that says a lot about the quality of your content

[@DS-ub1jm]

As someone in your smallest demographic, game was shit but so were your takes tbh. Surprise you were so focused on her hair when the story was trash and the performance wasnt much better. Also I bought (and enjoyed) Kingdom Come Deliverance after hearing you talk about it a few years ago. Shockingly being both 30 and (gasp) a woman, I’m used to the lions share of games I have played in the past having a male protagonist since before the mid 2010s you rarely had games with female leads. Playing as a male has affected my enjoyment and immersion 0%. I’ve felt Shepards betrayal in the original MW franchise, I understood why Joel saved Ellie and doomed the world, I sold my soul to the outsider as Corvo to save my daughter and avenge my empress and as lived as Arthur Morgan just trying to a good man (sometimes) in a changing world and a 100 other stories that were well written and sincere moments that I’ve played and been moved by in spite of the characters gender. Sincerely ask yourself if you would have enjoyed the game more if you could play as a dude. No other story changes, just the MC is now a man. If so then fine , I disagree, but if that is what kept you from enjoying the game then fine that’s valid. But if not, why harp on that point so much? But you said that the writing wasn’t good, and I agree. The writing was bad, the characters were forgettable and it feels like any other watered down cash grab the Star Wars machine has churned out in recent years. Getting so fixated on her hair is giving real “ why does aloy have a beard?!” Vibes. Which is admittedly disappointing to see. Hopefully a fluke not a feature.

[@animegopher]

They were talking about why the game didn't sell well, and the hair actually has something to do with it. The character doesn't come off as appealing. Stellar Blade sold well. I wonder why, despite it having a female lead. Hmmmm

[@samithonjames370]

@@animegopher Don't bother arguing with the perpetually offended.

[@prossnip42]

@@animegopher I too wonder why Stellar Blade sold well as Eve's ass was the most interesting thing about that game

[@prossnip42]

@@samithonjames370 Says the guy defending a guy that screeched over a female protagonist for 10 minutes in the openning of his video. Yeah, we're the perpetually offended, totally

[@animegopher]

@@prossnip42 Good combat. But yeah, everything else is lackluster. But that's the beauty of making a game enticing. People will buy. It's a simple concept.

[@Fyrijou]

5:02 this is honestly a copout answer. In AC Odyssey, Valhalla or even Far Cry 5 & 6, there is literally no difference whatsoever if you play either the Male or Female character except a different voice actor and without any bias, both perform in the exact same level skills and doesn’t change the horrible words they have to say. *At the very most,* in AC Odyssey when you choose the female character, she will have another name *some* people will say (Kassandra), when spoken to with a pronounce it changes to „she“, in the DLC instead of a wife, Kassandra will find a husband to then create their child and Deimos will be taken over by Alexios. Other than that, the majority of the world will still only call her „Misthios“ like they do with Alexios, they will adress her gender neutrally, she will have the exact same animations and moves as Alexios and funnily enough, they used the same mocap guy for both Alexios and Kassandra and that’s why she has such a manly stature. There is literally nothing to make her „more interesting“ than Alexios or vice versa. And it gets worse with the other games. In Valhalla, Eivor is the name used for both and literally nothing chagrs *at all* in the game, including pronouns because Eivor is being adressed as „they“. The exact same with the Deputy in Far Cry 5 and Dani in Far Cry 6. The *only* time they actually made true interesting differences between the Male and Female protagonist choices was with AC Syndicate with Jacob and Eve Frye.

[@hanshobo9747]

Bro his friend has no imagination or is coping hardcore. Hijacking vehicles in an outlaw game seems like a basic feature to have.

[@lucasbrown212]

Hey Jack, have been an enjoyer of your vids and commentary for a few years now. This one didn’t do it for me. As others have pointed out, the amount of time and energy you spend arguing that playing a female character (or what you seem to view as her annoying liberal haircut??) is what made the game bad is off putting. I think you’re missing some broader context & understanding if your argument is that games made about “dude stuff” should be made with male characters, or that because a game is mostly made by men that the protagonist should be a man. Have you considered why the games industry is so heavily male-dominated, why women have been historically left out of fandoms like star wars, etc.? Sure some of it just has to do with the difference in interests between men and women, but men have also heavily gate-kept and purposefully made these environments hostile to women. You really don’t have to think hard for examples: gamergate, the harassment of women at Blizzard and other games studios, or (to this day) the inability of women to chat in pretty much any online game lobby without being harassed. You are quick to joke about “wokeness” in games & media but have you spent any time considering the deeper issues that are finally forcing the games industry make attempts to be more inclusive? To me it came off as immature and a tired argument, especially when you think about the fact that basically 99% of video game protagonist before 2020 were white dudes. I enjoy the style of your videos and I think you have lots of interesting analysis and thoughts to give! But we have more than enough of the angry video game man trope on KZbin, complaining about any sort of change from the status quo in gaming. I’m out on this one. Peace ✌️

[@yakivpopavich]

They all can't be winners.

[@hayk3000]

Also the reason the audience is male-dominated is because in the begging videogames were marketed as toys for boys. And this video kinda makes the argument that it should be kept that way, well because that sells. Nah, selling to a broader audience sells. (Not this time though because what Ubisoft sells is shit lol)

[@xiiir838]

​@@hayk3000 not really, concord, this game, the acolyte. Selling it to a wider audience actually doesn't work.

[@officialunpaidinternsasqua5290]

I know, it's super crazy a guy wants to play a guy (not another girl boss) in an action game. The real tired argument is the insistence that he doesn't get to have this opinion because it's no sanctioned by the inclusivity police.

[@confusionandcreation6036]

You explained it very well, your points were well-founded and you explained them clearly. I hope Jack sees your comment!

[@literallyanythingelseother]

Lol the first critic you raise in the script is over it being a woman???? What??? Bro why is every game channel so cooked. That was not relevant to the issues of the game lmfao.

[@Holyinductor]

It is because it's a pattern something that they do over and over again and routine is not artistic expression but dead soulless stuff

[@ZeSgtSchultz]

Go back to buying Fortnite skins

[@literallyanythingelseother]

@@ZeSgtSchultz lol I'm a grown adult I never played Fortnite

[@literallyanythingelseother]

@@Holyinductor ok, so? That's not the issue with the game. If she was a a man this game would be literally no better. It's just that Jack and gamers hate women so much they can stand to see them in games unless they have big boobs, a thin waist and tights. You're playing as a generic women. That's all. Playing through fallen order I'm 40% through and there have been 2 women. Cere and a night sister. It's a nothing burger. Games do shit like that. GAMERS just flip the fuck out when it's a woman

[@mrazbyte3150]

No grown adult uses "cooked"​@@literallyanythingelseother

[@ScoutTyper1776]

"God I look like such a dork" perfectly encapsulates the characters appearance and how she appears out of place for a title called outlaws

[@LuizFelipe-lk1hs]

Your friend finds a droid factory - that doesn't seem to be animated, mind you - cool, but when it comes to driving more than one vehicle he couldn't be bothered? Lame....

[@nahbro7014]

Yeah he had some odd takes for sure. Then when he asked him if he’d found that opinion online. Like dude what, wanting to drive different vehicles isn’t some contrarian, contrived or niche desire

[@MandGraster]

Your buddy felt like he wanted to like the game so bad he ignored all flaws while playing

[@agenticex]

Here's a nice short list for next time if you need some good female character examples: The Boss, Meryl Silverberg, Olga Galukovic, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, Ada Wong, Lara Croft, Tifa Lockhart, Samus Aran, Kate Archer, Joanna Dark, Heather Mason, Alex Vance, Faith Connors, Mona Sacks, Final Fantasy Characters: FF6/7/8/9/10/Tactics, Chrono Trigger, Elden Ring, Eternal Darkness, Bayonetta, Tactics Ogre, Valkyrie Profile, Okami, Oni, Grandia, Xenosaga, Alien Isolation, Alien, Command and Conquer, CrossCode, Nier, Portal, Psychonauts, Shantae, Shovel Knight, Knights of the old Republic, Trials of Mana, The Witcher 3.

[@zarvidnoom1547]

"Things that I really care about in games; is satisfying movement and satisfying combat. Those are my bread and butter." All I can say is to play Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. You'll love it.

[@walfordbrimley7999]

Longtime supporter of the channel here-in the "funny youtuber makes good points about game design" genre that is my bread and butter comfort content, you're far and away the best to come out in the past two or three years in terms of quality, humor, production value, and insight. This was a weird one that made me wonder what's going on with your algorithm. "This game didn't sell well because she has the haircut of someone who would call you sexist for holding the door open" was a wild opening argument from the guy who articulated Ubisoft's issues in another video better than anyone else I've ever seen. I heard about this game, thought it sounded interesting, then wrote it off completely when I saw the Ubisoft logo because I knew exactly what it would be in terms of boring climbing, generic story and characters, map markers, and janky gameplay (and it looks like I was mostly right). The protagonist didn't even cross my mind. You seem like a really good dude, and this video is nowhere near to the cesspool of gaming youtube screeching about "DEI woke agendas" and that cohort of losers. A few moments did set off some alarm bells in my head though, and I really hope it's not indicative of a pivot that a lot of youtubers end up having where they try to cater more to what they think their 90% male audience would like. I think a lot more could have been dug into here about both Star Wars and Ubisoft continuing to refuse to innovate, about the untapped potential the SW universe has for video games, and lessons to learn from this sort of flop.

[@confusionandcreation6036]

@@walfordbrimley7999 Great comment, very well-said!

[@wowbobwow-j9n]

Yeah that opening “zinger” sounded a bit out of character. Let’s hope it was just a poor joke.

[@User-jvr85g]

Wow nice lecture, feel good about yourself lol touch grass

[@DeadPixel1105]

I can't take people like you seriously, because I feel like if Jack was making jokes that were mocking right-wing people instead, you'd be applauding him and laughing. You're only 'upset' because his jokes were targeting left-wing ultra-progressive people. You're biased and intellectually dishonest.

[@Sparcsmi]

I feel bad for so many of Ubisoft's artists, their world designs and characters are almost always fantastic. All to just end up in a muddled down creative smear of reused mechanics and untapped potential.

[@jajejake5784]

Yeah I gotta say you focus on gender like, way too much, like the game is a mid Ubisoft game, that’s really all there is to it

[@cliqist]

I agree. With gameplay and writing so blah, the gender or hotness of the player character seems barely worth mentioning; much less spending so much time talking about it.

[@juliaxpea]

I've been playing games my whole life (and not Candy Crush lol). It’s easy to generalise women on the internet. But whenever I do tell people/men in real life that I play games, they have always been positive and interested, not dismissive. I'd like to think IRL Jack would act similarly and can take some of that into his next videos. Your 3% audience is here because we like games and your opinion on them, and we don't want to be dismissed .

[@edvinjohnson4136]

That's his point though. Sure, there are 3% percent of you here, but if tomorrow he stops making videos about games and talks about dresses and make ups instead, what do you think is going to happen? He'll lose 97% percent of his current audience while gaining no new ones, since most women aren't really interested in watching some gamer dude talk about dresses and makeup. (inb4 some clown comes here saying they would totally watch that. No, they probably would not)

[@juliaxpea]

@@edvinjohnson4136 you can acknowledge the likes of the majority of your audience without dismissing the rest. We're all here for the same reason. That's all I'm saying.

[@KevinJDildonik]

​@@edvinjohnson4136This is a dumb and bad argument. If Jack pivoted to be a makeup channel, his audience would be 99% women. You're very dismissive of the female audience's interests. Why is that? Men and women can have different interests and spoilers... Women turn off games due to representation more than men. More women turn off something like Gears of War for having a dude, than men turn off Tomb Raider for having a woman.

[@TheOnlyJohnAbraham]

Did he dismiss women in this video? He was purely criticizing the poor design of the main character and how the majority of characters in the game are women which doesn't really make sense and doesn't appeal as much to men.

[@idkman6496]

@@TheOnlyJohnAbrahamHe literally said no women are playing kingdom come deliverance lol. Probably because “hurdur women only play stardew and Pokémon, not historical strategic battle games”. Which, the comments prove wrong and many women are putting their opinions about that out there.

[@joeythejoey5206]

DUDE! I love both yours and Bizly’s videos, I HAD NO IDEA YOU GUYS WERE FRIENDS! THATS AWESOME!

[@Nedularr]

Don't really get why playing as a woman was so irritating as to require such a long rant and woke jokes. Pretty tired angle of critique tbh. I usually really like your vids but felt a bit weird about this one

[@xiiir838]

Dude, you're a signified B side subscriber, of course you think that way,

[@dtanobo]

​@@xiiir838brother you are getting defensive all over this comment section. Clearly you're the most sensitive person here

[@xiiir838]

@@dtanobo on the contrary, I'm on the offensive. I'm calling out BS while supporting the channel with engagement. I want this guy to get more views.

[@nebulousrascal]

@@xiiir838 meat riding to the extreme

[@xiiir838]

@@nebulousrascal 🤣 hey, I'm glad I'm not riding an humongous corporation just because they're wuhke.

[@Zeverinsen]

NGL man, I can't agree with you presenting gender as a reason why the game sold poorly, because that's a bad faith argument stemming from _you wanting_ a male protagonist out of habit, because that's what you're always offered. Notice how strongly you reacted to seeing a lot of female characters, but I've never seen you point this out about any other game where the characters and NPCs are almost exclusively male. Unless you are proposing ALL single player games have optional gender, immersion is a non-argument for always having male protagonists. *Good story, gameplay and direction makes for good immersion.* Additionally you weren't happy with the presentation of the human male characters, but did you ever consider how normal that is the other way around, and people don't care about that? The truth of the matter is that the game sold poorly because of the story, gameplay and direction, just like many weren't big fans of the newer movies (I hated the Han Solo movie, the only good part was Lando). Little negative discourse has included "Ugh, she's a girl! There are too many girls, boo!", but most people have been complaining about how basically everything is boring and uninspired. I think you should reflect on what you've said and try to see it from a different perspective, because basically everything else you said outlined why her being a girl is *a non-issue.* You even commented on how they factored in the fighting power of the protagonists in TLOU versus Outlaws, further underlining how the poor writing and world building is the *_actual reason_* you didn't like this game. Nowadays Ubisoft loves making uninspired slop, and so does Disney. They both used to make fun stuff, but became too big and greedy. *That's why so many of the new Star Wars titles are flopping!* When it's no longer unique, fun and inspired, it doesn't resonate with anyone. That's their MO now, and that's what is continously disappointing fans and non-fans alike. _I haven't watched a Star Wars movie since Rogue One and Solo, and I'm not sure I ever will..._ _ Also, IDC what you say, I'll always call you Jack Sæther, because that's the Norwegian way!_

[@bnice6442]

My guy wrote an essay like someone asked

[@conon94]

Aka when you're accustomed to privilege equality feels like oppression

[@wilpuriarts5895]

It’s not really about this protagonist being a girl. It’s about everyone being a girl now. The first Star Wars movie is a classic boy’s adventure. Anyone can enjoy it sure, but that’s what it is. I have no objection to female protagonist, but Star Wars is being twisted very unnaturally into something it wasn’t.

[@loubloom1941]

​@conon94 people like you are the exact problem with games today. You feel like you have to account for some non-existent "privilege" so you end up ruining the experience for most. It has nothing to do with privilege. The reason why games generally represent mostly males is because, historically and even today, it is mostly males that are into games. You're the only ones trying to privilege certain people over others.

[@loubloom1941]

I agree that the reason the game sold poorly has little to nothing to do with the female lead. However, the reason he doesn't point out the fact that many games have almost exclusively males in them is because it isn't really an issue. Games have historically, and even today, been mostly the interest of males. So naturally they will represent that. Which is why a game featuring mostly females is so jarring. It simply makes no sense.

[@Emerald3ME]

Instead I would've preferred a custom create-a-character instead of a pre-made one.

[@msbasketcase466]

ngl bro u link things to sexism/woman pretty frequently in your videos and - not saying ur a misogynist or anything like that - but you do kinda perpetuate some pretty clear stereotypes within this very video and I feel it cheapens your overall argument. She's a shit character - but why does the gender actually even matter? (ie. 7:20 onwards) The crux of the issue is generally the deftly greedy oversight from the higher-ups (eg. shareholders) which results in bad writing, but you focus a lot on what games a woman 'surely does or does not play" based on verrry superficial factors (ie. solely their gender). Your statistics for "male v female" gamers is also very misinformed as a result of your own personal bias I feel. You're issue is studio meddling and bad writing, but you don't make an adequate enough case for why gender in-and-of-itself has to be a part of the conversation at all. It's, lowkey, giving tangential vibes towards the "woke bad" side. The convo should be "capitalism doesnt care about ANYBODY" not "capitalism panders to women".

[@littlesmallworld123]

I agree this video gave me a bit of an off vibe. Pretty much the first point he expanded on was the characters hair and gender and then rambled for what felt like way too long. Yea, it definitely feels like a lot of female characters were shoehorned in and Kay leaves a lot to be desired, but maybe just state how you didn't enjoy the character design/dialogue and give alternatives? Then maybe sprinkle in how it does feel forced or overcompensating (which he did). There's a whole heck of a lot more substance there than just "well she's a girl and I don't want to be forced to play some girl with a shitty haircut." I know that's not his whole argument, but it was definitely what seemed to set him off the most.

[@dutbud9049]

Because the overwhelming majority of gamers are men, and therefore want to play male characters. Since Ubisoft is a company, it's bizarre for them to not include at least an optional male character to boost sales. It's not that complex.

[@msbasketcase466]

@@dutbud9049 this is fundamentally not even relevant. You literally have a TON of games representing YOU it was literally the reason why after DECADES of releases it seems so abnormal because, finally, not everything is for white men. Women have played a major role in gaming/game development over the years - they were just ignored / literally had their credits stolen by / accredited to their male counterparts.

[@msbasketcase466]

@@littlesmallworld123 Its taken me quite a few videos to actually make this conclusion firm for me. He brings it up without much actual backing and it just seems to invite the sheerly sexist gaming side of things by validating these already unfounded thoughts.

[@msbasketcase466]

​@@dutbud9049 women have been a part of gaming/game development for decades - it was actually just very common for them to be ignored / have their accreditations taken from them (and given to other men). You have also had, and still have, the MAJORITY of releases/companies actually thinking about YOU - and how YOU will react to (gasp) seeing women in a video-game. This idea you mentioned of "losing sales" is also, again, an opinion rooted in the sexism of the industry - It's literally why ND had to fight to have Ellie be the prominent figure on the game art. TLOU 1 was a WIDESPREAD ciritical AND commercial success. As was Part 2. And those are just 2 examples from one series/company.

[@lokilucario]

The first 10 minutes of this video was the dumbest rant Jack has ever done lol it'd sell better if it wasn't from Ubisoft who's notorious for making shit games and over pricing their slop. The main character being a girl is the least of all the issues with this game.

[@ConanTheMovieMaker]

Great video Jack ! Loved that discussion with your friend. Cheers from France

[@Grimr0c]

21 minutes in and so far the largest complaint is... /gestures broadly/ Women? Hmmmm.

[@chrispy-MF]

"medium handsome youtubers" lol

[@isj896]

in a world full of laser sword wielding space wizards, im not trying to be some random back water bounty hunter

[@vjndfui5652]

I am questioning your choice on 96gb of ram

[@dantaylor8197]

This is kind of a weird hill to die on, Jack. I really like your content but this review kinda screams “I hate women.” The problem it seems you’re trying to express is that the writing is boring and bad and not fun, but every time you try to make that point, you bring up something about how women being in the game is a problem.

[@samithonjames370]

Nothing about this review screams "I hate women". Seems like you're another fragile commenter that can't stand someone not wanting to play as the opposite sex. God forbid.

[@toraldobaldo]

THE BIZLY CROSSOVER WAS SO UNEXPECTED

[@MMPK]

I do genuinely think youd be surprised how many girls play games these days. I know several of my friends who play games, my gf plays games and a couple of them even own a steam deck which id think is quite an enthusiast device say compared to a switch. Id definitely say they tend to play different types of games. You know stardew, balders gate etc. but there are soooo many games now theres something for everyone. But none of them watch guy gamer channels.

[@omgasmallbox]

in regards to your viewership stats versus gaming demographics, did you consider female games aren't watching your content? that doesn't mean they aren't playing games.

[@yutro213]

23:12 Actually this mechanic rips the core of "Mark and Execute" from Splinter Cell Conviction, a 2010 Ubisoft game, same year of Red Dead Redemption. But I wouldn't be surprised if the developers of Star Wars Outlaws tried to copy "Dead Eye" from Red Dead Redemption 2 while using the "Mark and Execute" from Splinter Cell Conviction as a framework, so the result was this weird hybridization worse than both.

[@hayk3000]

Definitely wasn't expecting Jack to start the video with 10 weird minutes of justifying sexism in the videogame industry as a simple irreversible reality or something. And then keep sprinkling these thoughts throughout the video. Nah man, the game didn't sell well because before it even launched, the journalists that previewed it were confirming everybody's expectations of Ubisoft making a slop product. Also, it didn't sell well due to the protagonist being female. Because of misogyny. Art and marketing shouldn't adapt to misogyny. People should adapt their misogyny to a world with women in it. I don't know if this is a new development. But I hope you consider that you've been garnering sexist thoughts and maybe take a brake from social media or something. Peace and love.

[@confusionandcreation6036]

"Art and marketing shouldn't adapt to misogyny" THANK YOU! Just because it's common, doesn't make it right.

[@4X4StudiosHR]

Yeah everything that doesn't sell if has a woman in it. It's because of MISOGYNY. Not because Disney ruined Star Wars legacy and people care less like they did before. And also 2016 controversy that was caused by EA. Like or not, Star Wars is getting really annoying because how many games and shows there really is. No one has time for the new Star Wars.

[@hayk3000]

​@@confusionandcreation6036hey you seem to be also a bit frustrated by Jack's video and you've been giving positive vibes in the comment section. I see you.