Ubisoft in crisis + 'The Day Before' developers are back | This Week In Videogames

[@SkillUp]

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website (and get a discount while doing it), hit this link for more info: www.squarespace.com/skillup

[@404Errored]

I'd rather buy a box of used condoms then this junk.

[@user-lz5vh9bb5w]

No thank you, also, not interested in ads in comments. Stop.

[@danny002569]

You never call out woke/dei stuff. You've become a shill for the industry and as such I can longer watch or support you. You USED to honest with you reviews and videos. It was refreshing while it lasted. Peace out bro, SUB has been canceled!!!

[@Asriel_Cypher]

"Patent" pronunciation is a surprise to me. I thought that's how you pronounced it. (I'm Malaysian, I was taught in British English, so the way Ralph says "Patent" is exactly how we were taught... So the whiners are probably from Americans(?))

[@Asriel_Cypher]

@@user-lz5vh9bb5w Grow up. The Videos are what's important and they put it at the back of the video for the people interested. I don't because I don't need to at the moment but the link would be useful for the people who are interested. plus it might be a contract thing. So piss off. Imagine telling other people how to run their own channels. What are you, the HOA? Absurd. Of course your name is "User" with those... Absolute boomers.

[@janussimonsen24]

You know a topic is serious when Skill Up starts talking in the Redfall voice

[@stevenesbitt3528]

Even worse when it’s the Gollum voice

[@anaguma90]

​@@stevenesbitt3528HNNRP!

[@Sleepy.Time.]

his "people gonna lose their jobs over this" voice

[@SilverGeFer]

Idk I think he’s just sick lol

[@purefoldnz3070]

meanwhile he liked Star Wars Outlaws lol.

[@fyrfly8768]

Ubisoft told us to get used to not owning games so we did. Starting with theirs.

[@ecks0071]

lol

[@arcticridge]

dead meme

[@Urelasir]

@@arcticridge seems pretty alive to me. Ubisoft loves helping old memes by keeping them alive too

[@drogozi3308]

@@arcticridge Fitting with how ubisoft loves to pump out overused and old ideas.

[@Oryyyt]

How the turns have tabled

[@militustoica]

“We’ll investigate ourselves and find out who outside the executive officers and board did anything wrong at all. It was probably the janitors.”

[@gavo7911]

American cops 🤝 Ubisoft Investigating themselves and finding they did nothing wrong

[@JusThought68]

Yea that's what the ADL and Leo Frank said too and the lie is just as obvious

[@masterkevkev]

Our internal investigation found out that nothing wrong happened with upper management. We also discovered upper management is very sexy, successful, and good leaders. The investigation also found that they require a higher salary, as their gas-thirsty vehicles need more gas and their jets require refurbishing. There was a discovery of shocking proportions though: the floor in front of the CEO's office was, as gruesome as it can be to describe, marginally dirty. We take these findings very seriously - so to fix the company we will ensure the share holders and the CEO get a well deserved 2 hour jacuzzi therapy session alongside a cut pay of the janitors to punish them for not ensuring the tile floor outside the CEO's office was reflectively clean.

[@heimdal8]

"We can works as a team, find out whoever did this and punish him ourselves! Maybe take his bare butt out of his costume and spank him. Maybe you could do it, sir?" - Weiner Car Guillemont

[@unlimited971]

Nah must be gamers

[@YellowMysticZA]

"greater efficiency" probably means Ubi are going to fire a bunch of devs to cut costs. Wouldn't be surprised if "higher performing model" means going all in on AI.

[@TheRealSpicySucc]

And then they’ll cry about nobody buying their crap

[@selectionn]

honestly? them going all in on AI and firing everyone would probably result in a better game. however, "better" than a ubisoft game is a bar so low its touching the ground.

[@Mediados]

@@selectionnTheir developers have the skill, but I genuinely believe that they just have such shit management that they can't get a proper game done anymore

[@HowToChangeName]

So thats what they mean with AAAA

[@TheUndiagnosable]

Ubi has an absurd amount of staff (15k+) and most of them have never done anything of note. They absolutely could do with trimming some talentless devs outta there

[@wakakulyonetwo]

the problem with the "devs" of The Day Before is not that they are asking for a second chance, but that they are legit scammers and this would have been there 10th second chance, and I'm a 100 percent convinced that they are behind your strike as they have done this many times before

[@gctypo2838]

It does have me wondering what the scam is this time around. If they were pulling a kickstarter scam they wouldn't use the name "Fntastic" with just how much that one has burned, they'd be doing it under a different company name. Not sure what they could possibly hope to gain under such a trash reputation.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

For No Man's Sky's devs to get a second chance they needed to put out years of (relatively) quality updates for free. Those two are trying to get another chance for free. Either they needed to try and fix their last game, or go small and indie off of their own merits and build up a library of appropriate games.

[@JayTobas]

​​@@gctypo2838I've been told this saves them marketing because there's BOUND to be gullible or people with enough money to chuck some towards the scammers for fun rather than invest in all the marketing for a new company. Personally, I don't get it either because I don't see them hitting their goal, but as far as they're concerned I believe, it's another quick buck for the gullible folks that are too trusting or too well off.

[@philbarton2832]

"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me".

[@boxhead6177]

I am not giving them that chance, already fraud reported them on Kickstarter and linked all the Forbes articles about them :P Honestly I wonder where their old publisher is on this, cause I am assuming at some point there is unpaid debts somewhere? right?

[@young__blacksmith]

“Everyone deserves a second chance!” - company that didn’t deserve a first chance

[@TheRealSpicySucc]

The audacity from them. Hope they fail and never return to the gaming industry

[@reka10]

The best part is that they had multiple chances before The Day Before.

[@gctypo2838]

Honestly if they really wanted our money you'd think they would've just tried the same shit again under a different company name, only this time asking for money up front.

[@HowToChangeName]

Said the company who botched their second chance multiple times

[@thorspark]

As it turns out, all the assets from their new game are coming from a free Unity library. So much for "Everything is hand made". They have big balls returning with exactly the same scam as the year before (pun intended).

[@paweldurczok]

I will tell you how Ubisoft got here. They stopped being a games developer and became a software company - but they don't seem to realize that yet. They don't create games, they build products that are completely dependant of business metrics instead of quality. They just iterate on a few game templates that worked in the past. Their design philosophy is based entirely on esablished patterns with almost no creative risks. They approach game development as if they were creating a mobile app with a set user paths and revenue streams. That's because they don't make games with players in mind anymore, they make products with investors in mind. Their failure however, is that unlike most software development companies, they suck at working to a deadline.

[@Senumunu]

Well said. There is nothing game about them anymore. Games are just vehicles for the thing they actually make, monetization schemes.

[@One.Zero.One101]

Yeah they make monetization and build a game around it. That's probably the most accurate description of Ubisoft I've ever heard.

[@earlofdoncaster5018]

A bad software company.

[@packdebienvenida]

it's called "rational game design" internally and works like you said

[@simfilesymlink4593]

You forgot that Ubi is THE company that told us "30 fps is enough and indistinguishable because we're doing cinematic quality", that's disregarding "quadruple A" in recent memory

[@NeoncloudFF]

Your little "Ubisoft in brief" history lesson was really helpful to put today's events into context. Gaming moves so fast, but having a precise look back at something like this is really important. Keep up the good work!

[@S_raB]

If you'd like a much more in depth look? Go watch Legendary Drops videos on decline of Ubisoft. Kinda long but he goes over their entire history outlining in detail every misstep along the way. Also Mug Thief did a great video on the topic from a totally different perspective.

[@skaetur1]

The money suck was Skull and Bones. Everything else is more of the same.

[@mo-akif]

+1

[@vathone5896]

Mistakes deserve second chances. Premeditated, deleberate, scammers do not...

[@HueyTheDoctor]

THIS. I cannot believe he even suggested those scamming bastards deserve a second chance. A second chance at what, ripping people off?

[@bolicob]

According to my undergrad business classes, "Stakeholders" actually does refer to the customers. It's a catch-all term to refer to everyone who is affected by the business, including employees, the community, the customers, and the shareholders. So it's kinda funny he said Shareholders twice

[@boxhead6177]

Or they could be talking about people actually holding "Stakes", French do take mob justice very seriously.

[@justmaxim8320]

CEO: How are we losing customers? Dev: Can we develop something new and interesting? CEO: No, we need to make AC 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...

[@Asriel_Cypher]

Then firing them and keep the Execs, and expecting a change.

[@One.Zero.One101]

Were Ubisoft execs living under a cave? Players have been letting them know why Ubisoft sucks for many years. Microtransactions, live service, open world checklist of chores, dumbing down sequels, etc.

[@AnotherAyushRaj]

No surprises. AC is their highest selling game. Even Valhalla sold really well

[@toptiertech7291]

@@One.Zero.One101 no. You guys have been just talking trash online. A company doesn’t care what you say online when it’s still selling insane. Do you think 2k cares that people say their basketball game is the same every year? No. Complaining about something you weren’t going to buy is moronic

[@braunstein5645]

Wanna know the funniest thing? 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 are already done. Unless I miscounted, the newest one (AC Mirage) is the 13th entry, not even counting the numerous spin-offs.

[@RedEyedJEdi410]

!!! Ubisoft was legitimately one of my favorite publishers at one point. Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six, Far Cry, Assassins Creed, Bomberman, Rayman, Ghost Recon, Beyond Good and Evil, XIII, Brothers in Arms, Darkwatch, Dark Messiah...just typing all that makes me confused how they fucked up so bad lol so many good games.

[@LowHangingFruitForest]

Same with EA, Microsoft, Activision, Blizzard. They need to do good stuff to grow their following first so they can milk as many customers as possible.

[@alfieharries]

Gotta be leadership. Those games all had balls and a strong, unique character. All of these current games ubisoft are bringing out just has the same, condescending and morally remedial tone

[@njsteere]

Rayman Legends is one the tightest most consistently creative things I’ve ever played.

[@Rakka5]

"how they fucked up so bad" MONEY.

[@Deckaio]

While the games you have listed all were decent, Ubisoft was also the forerunner of invasive DRM. As a publisher they were always pretty slimy and were on my not-play-list for almost 20 years now.

[@darkgaara787]

People forget but at one point a game with the Ubisoft logo actually meant something good. In a short period of time they gave us Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, Rayman Legends, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and bunch a really great smaller titles like Child of Light and Valiant Hearts. But the poor management this past decade really destroyed what was, at one point, the best - or at least the most reliable - publisher out there

[@usedfuzzbox]

Child of Light was my GoTY 2014, what a gem!

[@selectionn]

rainbow six siege sucked A quick rule of thumb: if a game has a Crowbcat video, it is not a good game. Anyone who was around during R6S launch remembers how bad it was, and the massive downgrade and direction change. Stop wearing your nostalgia goggles. Black flag was the only good game you mentioned and its pretty mediocre when you view it outside of a ubisoft game expectation lens.

[@JayTobas]

​​@@selectionnso far cry 3 also sucked then? IDK nor care to find out about the others, but far cry 3 and black flag were phenomenal, idk what you're on about

[@commandernomad2817]

People acting like the company is dead after one game that didn't perform as well as their own projections said it would never fail to make me cringe. You remember that Avatar game? No? Well just because you type dumb shit on youtube and don't remember a recent game doesn't mean it hasn't sold extremely well. That Avatar game that everyone has "forgotten" has over $130mil in revenue.

[@pocketvices]

Dont kiss and tell man zip crowbcat pants up at least

[@megascoops]

In my experience, “stakeholders” in corpo speak does include customers. Shareholders, of course, doesn’t include customers. But he stated that separately. Still dumb corpo speak, but I don’t think Yves Guillemot necessarily intended to leave customers out of that statement.

[@toptiertech7291]

You are correct. He’s to the point of KZbin fame where he just has to pretend to be upset at the same thing the general audience is

[@imkayjaylea]

When companies say 'Everyone deserves a second chance,' my response is, 'Not you.' You're a business, not an individual-you're not entitled to my sympathy. I'll support projects that haven't messed up. If they succeed, good for them, but it won't be with my money. Giving failing companies a second chance just encourages them to repeat the same mistakes, expecting handouts instead of learning from the failure of others.

[@Keithustus]

see for instance Ubisoft. I'll wait for them to get a metacritic 90 something before giving them any more money.

[@imkayjaylea]

@@Keithustus Solid play. Although, I was going after companies dealing in straight up scamming the audience like Fntastic, rather than companies that are making 3 bad games for every 1 solid 7/10.

[@selectionn]

actually, in america, corporations legally ARE individuals. I REALLY hope they dont reach that kickstarter goal and then cease to exist. I have no idea why Ralph is so supportive of them in the video. like, they are literal scammers, why would you wish them good luck? He's so afraid to say anything negative its crazy.

[@gctypo2838]

Second chances are for people, not companies.

[@daisuke133]

I am SO pissed that Polynesian-lore focused Immortal Fenyx isn't going to happen. I didn't even know it was a thing in the first place.

[@SuperBallani]

Apparently, i hear someone who knows people at Ubisoft who is saying that the project is still possibly here to resurface and hasn't been completely buried, so let's hope Ubi Quebec go on that after AC Shadows.

[@mgiebus1869]

Yeah that first game was actually a pretty awesome BOTW rip-off

[@tuftymink]

Does it mean it was going to be seafaring BOTW-like ? We are robbed

[@nicolasferreiro4492]

About the división 2 left to dry shortly after launch. Wasn't that during the middle of the pandémic too? Was it incompetence or someone scared of a shitstorm going their way?

[@truecross4090]

Seeing kids fond out the real Lore behind Moana would have been halarious.

[@Deathroll1988]

I love how the CEO does not step down after almost 10 years of failed games but somehow is the problem of the average worker. Also, the CEO didn’t know about the sexual abuse? If the man in charge does not know the what the hell is he doing at his “job”?

[@franciscor390]

Well the problem is that he's one of the founders besides being CEO.

[@xIQ188x]

CEOs job is to smile in front of cameras, write stupid press releases, fire people and cash checks. The CEOs of most large company have no idea what their company even does because it’s just not part of the job description.

[@bradhaines3142]

CEO has no reason to know about sexual abuse, that's an HR issue. also why should they step down? let them go down with the ship instead of jumping to the next one and crashing an industry

[@xIQ188x]

@@bradhaines3142 so what does a ceo need to know about?

[@whenallelsfails21]

​@@franciscor390 ok? Still a decade of forgettable drivel trash. I've seen founders of companies step down over MUCH less. Then again having any form of self awareness is usually required.

[@master_samwise]

Fntastic: "Fool me once, strike one. Fool me twice... strike... three."

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

Hello there!

[@RuffWarl0ck]

Fool me - you can't get fooled again.

[@adreanmarantz2103]

@@RuffWarl0ck Thank you Mr. President.

[@S_raB]

​@@RuffWarl0ck Nice!

[@riccardobuso5379]

To be fair, in the ubisoft part, technically speaking customers are stakeholders, not that this changes the general sentiment of the video

[@MGP2210]

Ubisoft has probably had these issues for decades, but it is only a problem now because the sales/profits have been affected. They would change nothing if most of their products sold well.

[@shinkenrock]

Being mid at 70$ in the current market leads you to this

[@kunimitsune177]

*$70

[@whenallelsfails21]

​@@kunimitsune177what the actual hell are you correcting? The placement of the $? I just don't understand people anymore.

[@SoulDuckling126]

​@@whenallelsfails21looks like the ability to write/type correct sentence, to use correct punctuation and to speak normally is too much for some people nowadays. And yet the same people complain about the younger generation's lack of language mastery.

[@0uttaS1TE]

@SoulDuckling126 It's a pointless change when you can still understand the sentence. It's just the position of the dollar sign, not fundamental sentence structure.

[@whenallelsfails21]

@@SoulDuckling126 it's a KZbin comment section, not a college essay. Why does it even kind of matter?

[@MisterReginald141]

Absolutely crazy that anyone would donate to a Kickstarter for those guys

[@Keithustus]

well a few people did have fun in Day Before...putzing around and streaming how godawful it was

[@TheRealSpicySucc]

Some people eat poop. We mustn’t compare ourselves to them

[@patrickhanlon2325]

It was such an obvious scam when the trailers and details of the game came out, yet people still bought it. I'll believe idiots will just give anyone money these days

[@MisterReginald141]

@@TheRealSpicySucc lol true

[@themagictoaster2472]

On the one hand, I’m all for big greedy companies finally eating the shit. On the other, I know that the leadership responsible for this mess aren’t the ones who are going to be punished. It’s the devs and others who are on the floor making the games. And the quality of games will continue to suffer in the future because of that.

[@Tacti_cat]

This gets said EVERY time that the quality of the games will go down because of the previous game not performing well. Whose fault is that? Is it not an indicator of a weak talent at the studio? Nobody would care about the monetization, the "woke-ness" or anything like that if the actual GAME PLAY was good.

[@RunePonyRamblings]

​@@Tacti_catthe gameplay usually _is_ good when evaluated in a vacuum. The Ubisoft formula wouldn't have become the template for all open-world games for over a decade if people didn't like it. The problems with Ubisoft games are stuff like in-game monetization, excessive padding, ridiculous pre-order/deluxe editions, mismanaging projects, releasing unfinished games, excessive formulaity, releasing live games and then immediately abandoning them. Those aren't talent problems, those are management problems. Case in point: when the talent is given smaller projects with more freedom, like Lost Crown, Rayman Origins/Legends, Mario + Rabbids, or Immortals, they typically knock it out of the park.

[@Tacti_cat]

@@RunePonyRamblings I didn't play Lost Crown but I heard it was good. Those games you listed are also not their big typical AAA release. I wonder why? Because they have too much bloat/ and their gameplay formulas aren't good enough for these big expansive games. And you can't say the gameplay is good in a vacuum when I look at Star Wars Outlaws.

[@themagictoaster2472]

@@Tacti_cat I feel a lot of people have this misconception that game studios are this small close-knit group of “talented “ people who program games and have a good time. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. A quick search will show that Ubisoft employs over 19,000 people. Those people are just workers who create assets, program, QA test, voice act etc. They punch in, work, punch out just trying to get that bag and keep their jobs. Those are the people who get laid off 400 at a time to save a company’s financials. And the people with “talent” or lack thereof get away Scot free because they are in leadership positions.

[@tima6044]

Not to be too pedantic, but PlayerUnknown originally started the battle royale thing as an Arma 2 mod. Hes been around a lot longer than people think.

[@abdelali9279]

That statement from Ubisoft is like that meme where Garfield said, "wonder who's that for".

[@RobbieB2606]

“Guerilla’s next game is Horizon Online, a live service based on the Horizon universe…” Yeah, no thanks.

[@hollylucianta6711]

Sony really is going to blow every last cent on chasing that live service dragon, huh?

[@swankyluchador]

Make it kill zone online and it'd be dope af

[@paulszki]

People keep saying "nobody wants online games" or "the market is saturated" but then a game like helldivers 2 comes out and sells gangbusters. Or even that korean destiny clone that isn't even that good. People are loving the new valve moba-shooter. People WILL play these games and evidently they'll also pay money for them. Do "I" care about a live service horizon online?" not really, but I also didn't care about helldivers 2 before it came out. It's all about content, executionm marketing and ... a little bit of luck. The issue is just that big publishers or platform holders like Sony are "expanding their portfolio but at no cost to single player experiences" and even if that WERE true, it doesn't FEEL true. PS5 does have a bunch of first party franchise hart hitters (ragnarok, spider-man, gran turismo 7 and whatever I just forgot) but games have gotten so huge by now (which they just don't need to be in my opinion) and the resulting development times are so long that tripple a developer studios seem to be releasing a game every 1.5 generations. In my mind, Naughty Dog hasn't released anything this gen. I just don't care enough for these remakes, even if I might eventually play them... they just don't count. Same with microsofts first party studios. Perfect Dark? new Halo? Gear of War? Or maybe just a new franchise by that studio that in my mind just seems to be held back by having to serve that franchise. (similar to gorilla games being "the horizon studio" now, after being "the killzone studio" for decades). EA seems to not be releasing games anymore besides their yearly sports game releases. Activision Blizzard.... are... doing... nothing besides maintaining IPs via expansions and for some reason STILL pumping out yearlyy COD? No idea really.

[@tharris8575]

​@@swankyluchadorand won't meet expectations but it was dope to you and others which is all that matters right?

[@tharris8575]

GORILLA will now cancel the game.

[@OmegaNineProfile]

It’s a company that went from making games to selling games. They used to have passion projects like Watchdogs and splinter cell. Now they are just creating the minimum viable product and shipping them as fast as they can. The company “rock stars” moved from the dev teams to the C level sales and marketing people. This always happens.

[@urazz7739]

That or the rock stars leave because they don't like the direction the company is going in.

[@OmegaNineProfile]

@@urazz7739 100% this. I work for a saas company that recently sold. We are losing developers left and right and replacing them with sales people. Meanwhile the product is falling apart.

[@fallinghurts]

“Giancarlo Despacito”

[@mrh1390]

Not to nitpick, but at 7:30 you state that we are neither shareholders nor stakeholders, which isn't entirely accurate. In economic terms, a shareholder is typically a person that has financial interest in an entity, whereas a stakeholder is any person that is affected by the entity, which includes its customers.

[@kaingates]

Yeah no you're right. That was a pretty embarrassing omission on Ralph there. He usually get these criticisms right but that one was big oof

[@taerikee]

That is true. In the business world, anyone who vaguely gives a shit about your product is technically a "stakeholder"

[@whatifindbeautiful]

Then we are barely stakeholders, given how little of a shit that customers have been giving about Ubisoft games. Technically, we're not stakeholders, because we are potential customers for the next product. And that's what this is all about. A very correct statement to say giving a shit equates to stakeholder investment in Ubisoft. I'll maintain that Ralph's sentiment stands.

[@supersploon4177]

@@whatifindbeautifulListen, the fact that we watch a video which discusses the state of Ubi, and the fact that Assassins Creed is still one of the biggest franchises in Gaming makes most of us Stakeholders. Of course if you decide to never own any of their product ever again, and delete all your ubisoft accounts and destroy any physical or digital Ubisoft media you own, then yes, your are no stakeholder

[@whatifindbeautiful]

@@supersploon4177 you're 1 out of 3 correct...if I decide to buy their stuff with drm then sure I'm a stakeholder. Or rather if I decide to buy their stuff in drm AND care of that stuff continues to work should the company decide otherwise then sure, I'm a stakeholder. But I'm not a stakeholder simply because I've bought product. Does that make sense? The past is past. I'm not a stakeholder in the company of the shirt I'm wearing, and neither are you for the shirt on your back. Those are simply purchases, not reliant on "borrowing" the thing you bought. I'm also not a stakeholder if I purchase drm thing, but don't care about long term accessibility. Sure, it'd be sad to see it go, but invested in it...nah. no stakeholder here. That's why I near always buy on deep discount. Too much risk to "borrow" a game for 70 dollars or 100 dollars. Take Ubisoft on GOG for example. You bought that Ubisoft game. You own it. If Ubisoft goes under that purchase is still available. No drm. No stakeholder interest there. I'm the customer. Not the shareholder nor stakeholder. I'm also the customer if I'm fine with those games I'm "borrowing" through drm if I'm fine with their discontinuation should Ubisoft stop supporting them. No interest equates to no stakeholder. And I'm fine with Ubisoft doing that. That's the deal we all have to decide on with DRM.

[@CargoShorts7]

It's almost as if..... Ubisoft has been cranking out the same lukewarm shit for years and people are finally tired of it cause there's better things to play lol

[@commandernomad2817]

The way youtube commenters and redditers act like they are the entire gaming world will never make me not cringe. You guys act like you one some major victory after one game you deemed garbage without playing sold lukewarmly. Meanwhile the Avatar game you same knobheads also deemed shit without playing accumulated almost 2mil players at launch and Mirage sold on par with previous entries. Ubisoft is still going strong no matter how much you hate black people.

[@Famalamri]

@@commandernomad2817 🎣

[@Ruthun92]

There's also the fact that customers money isn't infinite. I only have enough disposable income to spend on maybe a few AAA games a year. I'm not wasting it on a mid title

[@yahhah-w6s]

@@commandernomad2817Mirage came out?

[@justsomeguywithsunglasses8418]

Hate black people? Wtf

[@CorvoFG]

“We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong. La La La La, we can’t hear you. Buy our trash”.

[@One.Zero.One101]

That statement wasn't meant for us gamers, it's meant for clueless stockholders who don't play video games. They genuinely don't know why Ubisoft has become a meme. Ubisoft knows what's wrong, but pretending to be clueless and launching an investigation is standard in the PR handbook. The funny thing is the stockholders are gonna buy this charade because they don't know any better.

[@The_Cranky_Painter]

Also worth noting, Amazon servers leaked that Ubisoft's launcher/service will not be getting updated. How much you want to bet you'll be locked out of your games when it shuts down?

[@dream_state]

I really hope they give us steam keys or allow us to link our steam account to get the games 😔

[@DunnCarnage]

15:40 this is mushing the Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West stories, there is no PS5 version of Zero Dawn at present.

[@hellzofwar]

Ralph I think you are underestimating the value of having a "cheap" impulse buy item at $300, especially around holiday season. So many people will get these as gifts, there is a reason the Quest 2 sold like crazy. These will be the point of entry into VR for a lot of people.

[@Keithustus]

then it had better not SUCK as it sounds like it will

[@Toke3164]

Let me guess he'll won't torch the real problems with yasuke

[@PauloLz]

11:13 i don't know which text version you saw, but it's wrong... The volunteers thing is 100% still there! They even mention that peolpe are working out of "passion for the company" on their new Fall Guys-like game, not receiving a dime...

[@Mejido]

Babe wake up, Fntastic is trying to do another blatant scam.

[@Keithustus]

I can't seem to get "scam" and "fraud" to appear as tags on the storepage when I look at it, but I've seen others say they do. Better have EVERYONE go and try to apply those tags too.

[@JudgementNutter]

Ubisoft falling on their face while RGG are like "YO WHAT IF MAJIMA WAS A PIRATE AND YOU CAN DO AIR COMBOS WITH A GRAPPLE HOOK?!?!?!" While simultaneously reusing tonnes of assets and activities, even reusing animations from the PS2 games because "why would you throw that away? It still works!"

[@bhaveshramdaursingh4325]

You kinda gotta respect RGG for doing that lol. Also they clearly LOVE the games they make

[@lucasLSD]

It's the difference between passion and soulless development

[@GameTimeNLL]

I am personally all for reusing assets and even animations. And really dont get the negativity surrounding it. It results in faster game releases and that same wooden box isnt gonna make a difference if it was made from scratch or not.

[@cwj2733]

@@GameTimeNLLit’s fine if it’s done tastefully. ubi doesn’t taste it they just inhale it

[@GameTimeNLL]

@@cwj2733 reusing assets is far from the problem with ubisoft.

[@Vandreren83]

Small correction: the customer - the player - is technically a stakeholder.

[@toptiertech7291]

That is a huge correction. Because it made his entire point moot

[@ELJACKO17]

This is a company making entertainment products that are in no way necessary to you. This isn't a power or water company, delivering you a necessary utility for daily living. Your life is in no way affected regardless of what happens to Ubisoft or any video game publisher. You are in no way a "stakeholder" here.

[@Vandreren83]

@@ELJACKO17 Yeah, you're wrong. Customers are stakeholders, regardless if the utility provided is "necessary".

[@PXAbstraction]

32:45 Must be nice to be obscenely wealthy and be given a free PC because you complained on Instagram after trying to use a Mac for gaming.

[@Keithustus]

Reaction should have been "What? a PC? F that" and then literally tossed it into the trash in front of them.

[@Hybris51129]

Yeah the fact that she is illiterate enough to seriously try to game on a Mac for all of these years on top of using her clout to get a free PC just adds to the pile of shit that make her a unpleasant human being.

[@PXAbstraction]

@@Keithustus Ahh, there's the Apple fanboys I was expecting.

[@malgus1177]

Like Tim Dillon said, "There are many brilliant women everywhere. None of them are on the view or even walked past the set of the view."

[@theHamien]

Yeah i cannot take the “feel good story” seriously because of this. Woopi is one of the wealthiest people in america. if having to buy a pc for what is pocket change to you, and that pc would be so much better than 99% of the pc playerbase is a problem for you, than you’re living good. The more i look at these hollywood elites the more i hate them.

[@justdracir8197]

Just want to point out that Ubisoft also gutted a tiny bit Rainbow with only 50% of the content in a year while charging double for everything. Edit: Also i´m convinced that Uplay is the reason for some of the major soundbugs in R6.

[@rakkabane]

6:55 “It could’ve been any one of us”

[@latro5002]

All of this could’ve been avoided if they made another Rayman

[@BlaBlaBla-76]

This! Rayman Origins/Legends were one of the best and most fun platformers I have ever played. Those music levels were AMAZING.

[@gctypo2838]

@@BlaBlaBla-76 The music levels were in Legends, but Origins is amazing too.

[@_JellyWalker]

Super Mario Wonder owes a lot to Rayman Origins and Legends if you ask me.

[@BlaBlaBla-76]

@@gctypo2838 oops, thanks edited my post

[@ducko1988]

The last two Rayman games are mega

[@Desmodontidae78]

There are a host of thoroughly documented and easily understandable reasons why Activision, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft are so universally loathed. Commonly referred to negatively as “The Big Three” for a reason, these publishers have long been defined by their all-consuming greed, blatant anti-consumer practices, abuse of their intellectual properties, and poisonous workplace cultures. The Big Three led the charge into the awful directions that gaming has been taking for the last fifteen or twenty years now, and they have shown no signs of changing their ways at any point. While other increasingly soulless gaming entities have since begun adopting Ubisoft’s, EA’s, and Activision’s anti-consumer behaviors, the big three are still banner examples of precisely what not to be.

[@jeremymills04]

3:19 my guy really called him Giancarlo Despascito 😂

[@djthebigkor-ian8074]

Ralph, buddy, How did you forget Dynasty Warriors Origins gameplay? They even had a stage demonstration where they revealed how the new game works and the companion system. Will they have a free mode where you can play as anyone in the Dynasty Warriors roster? Will the game solely center around a handful of characters and not the majority, kind of like Spirit of The Sanada did? Will you pursue Lu Bu? Probably not, as this time he looks hard as hell in the gameplay. Really thought you would’ve at least mentioned this.

[@santiagoherrera1853]

It’s fascinating how Ubisoft manages to make some of the best looking open world games but almost always fail to make the games themselves compelling

[@0uttaS1TE]

That's something that gets me. Like, take The Crew for instance. An open world racing game spanning the entire US, sea to shining sea? Sign me up! Then you play it and it's blech

[@goofygoober875]

Because they're not hamstrung by talent, they're hamstrung by executive decisions. The talented art people can get to show off, but the people designing gameplay mechanics have a quota of infinite fetch quests and mini-games to put out for every game

[@0uttaS1TE]

​@@goofygoober875Basically. Praying for the day Ubisoft devs are truly let off the corporate leash

[@leospeedleo]

The Horizon Zero Dawn remaster story has wrong information in it: The „get the PS4 version for cheap and upgrade to the PS5 version for free“ thing was for Forbidden West, the second game. Zero Dawn, the first game, only has a PS4 version. But that one runs at 60 fps on PS5 by default.

[@TrackMediaOnly]

He is talking about the remaster. Anyone that has the old version before it was taken down is supposed to be able to upgrade to the remaster for $10 when it comes.

[@leospeedleo]

@@TrackMediaOnly yes that’s correct. But has nothing to do with what he said. We was mistaking Forbidden West and that whole situation for Zero Dawn. Would be obvious if you read my comment.

[@KhaosKontroller]

I love hearing my country cracking down on gambling in video games.

[@mrinfinitymusic]

Celebrities getting free shit always grinds my gears.

[@nappy6806]

Never forget Ubisoft puts micro transactions, and xp boost in SINGLE PLAYER GAMES

[@SloMoMonday]

The most embarrassing part of the Ubisoft mess is that based on thier very late corrective measures, they've always known exactly what sells games. Every part of their business model have been memed to hell and back. Special Edition Spreadsheets. Collectathon open world maps. If ubisoft designed Elden Ring UI. Only making AC Japan after someone else already did it. Ubisoft should be comfortable not having my money. A bad game can come down to bad ideas, talent or execution. A bad company is always from bad leadership.

[@Ashtarte3D]

What kills me about Ubisoft is I used to cut them so much slack because they were still doing dumb shit over 10 years ago but they at least gave us reasons to believe by putting out great smaller titles between yearly AC or Tom Clancy releases with stuff like Grow Home, Valiant Hearts, Child of Light or the Rayman reneweal duology. They've also proceeded to fuck up all their best franchises with poor management of the Splinter Cell IP or fumbling an amazing game release like Driver: San Fransisco.

[@Homerstar]

Did you know that the gap between Rayman Legends and now is bigger than the gap between Rayman 3 and Rayman Origins. It angers me that Ubisoft created one of the greatest 2D platformers of all time, and then proceeded to ignore the franchise again.

[@SimonBannow]

Ubisoft: "Let's investigate why we suck!" The Internet:

[@AcencialAMV]

I love how everyone ignores Trackmania when talking about Ubisoft. It's developed by Nadeo, but it's probably one of the game with top 3-4 devoted audiences for ubisoft, up there with Siege I'd say

[@0uttaS1TE]

I think it's because Trackmania never really garners attention. It's just been trucking along, with its own community. But that community is dedicated, and we never really hear about the games underselling or disappointing.

[@GameTimeNLL]

I mean I dont see trackmania outside of tiktok as an equivalent to Subway surfers. Is not a really good look either. That said the series is fine. But just not really THAT popular.

[@bruuuuuuuuhhhh]

There is no way Trackmania comes close to Siege

[@AcencialAMV]

@@bruuuuuuuuhhhh it's way bigger in Europe than the US

[@007kingifrit]

as a duke nukem fan i'm very upset with ubisoft for the long dev time title being taken from us.....nobody steals our world records....and lives!

[@Asriel_Cypher]

Yeah, no. Ubisoft can go screw themselves. That's what they get for telling people we don't own their games and pulling plugs on the games we purchased the licensed to. The least they could've done is make the game slightly cheaper, with no Online Services anymore. They couldn't even do that. Deserved.

[@GameTesterBootCamp]

Who could have guessed that a publisher treating Quality Assurance as expendable would cause the QUALITY of their games to fall? Weird.

[@abduktedtemplar]

Really loved the bit about Rod showing up to Whoopie's business opening with an angel, a demon, and a gaming pc in tow.

[@mightyflyingmango3810]

Incredible how I Ubisoft started the year with the amazing Prince of Persia and made me think that they might have started getting their act together

[@jpalmer9896]

It’s amazing Ubi took the most sure fire win ever, AC in Japan and managed to totally shit the bed

[@Garbageman28]

That’s what happens when your values are firmly rooted in greed, ego and envy.

[@NDenizen]

Striking when the iron is cold and then forging a chinese knock-off

[@Ehh.....]

Suckerpunch studios has been eating their lunch for a bit now anyways

[@SpudNickleson-im7is]

It hasn't even released yet. I'll be amazed if it doesn't do massive sales.

[@flamingburitto]

All they had to do was make a game that was respectful to Japanese culture. But nope, let's stick a black guy with little to no historical accuracy and he is the one killing Japanese natives. In a game absolutely filled to the brim with historical and cultural inaccuracies.

[@njsteere]

Dang, thoughts and prayers for the Ubi execs WHO I AM SURE will be held responsible for the mismanagement of the company.

[@bdbgh]

It's hard to feel sorry for ubisoft honestly, they dug their own grave

[@paparoxo3606]

If a company is doing poorly, the CEO deserves all the criticism, like what has been happening with Ubisoft and its leadership for a while now. But following this logic, if a game is doing great, shouldn't the CEOs also be praised and not the people who work on the game? What I mean is that developers should also take responsibility and not be protected for bad technical and creative visions and directions. And Ubisoft has made a lot of poor creative decisions lately.

[@Tacti_cat]

Exactly. If they make mistakes the CEO takes all the heat. But if the game does well all of the sudden it's "let's go devs" No, I'm sorry but I'm tired of being told to feel sorry for people who hate me and made a shit product. You reap what you sow Ubisoft.

[@xensonar9652]

Small correction: Customers are classed as stakeholders, so technically we were included in Ubisoft's statement of intent.

[@Chozo_hybrid]

True. But I also think believing Ubisoft is foolish though

[@hundredhanded1205]

If someone says shareholders AND stakeholders, they really only mean shareholders.

[@ratpoodle2377]

Ubisoft is such a fascinating case of allowing terrifically incompetent, out-of-touch leadership to remain at the helm spinning stories about grand adventures to the investors while the ship completely burns around them and the veteran crew abandons ship, leaving them adrift, without a compass heading, and without experienced crew to put the fire out. I love watching this unfold...😃

[@CnutLongsword]

With regards to Ubi games launching on Steam, I believe they'll still bundle in their launcher, like they did on Epic, where you launch the game from Epic, it launches Ubi launcher in the background to then launch your game. I hope that's not going to be the case, but knowing Ubi, I'm not holding my breath.

[@markus9998]

@SkillUp you forgot Anno 1800. Das was actually innovative and had great success with its season pass monetization that most of the people loved and it evolved naturally. Anno 117 might be a success as well.

[@Keithustus]

How many Anno games are there? a freaking ton. How many are good? Two? That's the Ubi strategy.

[@DangerProneAndy]

26:33 Placing the review score of FC 24 was wild. I saw what you did there editor 😎

[@carmelhood8982]

Finally, another upload from you!

[@nsubugakasozi7101]

I don't know how Ubisoft is always surprised by how badly the games perform. I watch 30 minutes of gameplay and feel 1000% sure the game wont sell well. Its a no brainer to me even BEFORE they launch that the game wont sell well...but the CEO is always surprised. He always sounds so far out of touch with Ubisoft games and the general games industry...I have serious doubts as to whether he even goes to office to play test games before they launch. He sounds like a real old school guy in a suit...no surprise ubisoft is clueless. What happened to splinter cell games...or the division or immortals etc. The good games get ignored and we get star wars nonsense 😮😅

[@urazz7739]

Some of the games were good and had potential but were neglected and pretty much petered out and die or into mediocrity. The Division 2 is the biggest example from Ubisoft I can remember.

[@Blank-Paper]

It was clearly the dog that issued the strike. He didn't want his reputation to be tied to that of those charlatans.

[@snowboard2013Jan]

Great video as always. Quick point, @7:35 Ralph mentions that we as customers are neither stakeholders nor shareholders. Not to defend Ubisoft, god no, but I would say we as customers are in fact stakeholders.

[@tonyarmiger9950]

Fair play for using the same shot of Aysen and Eduard at 12:14, Ralph, you beauty. "Regaining trust will be tough." 😂

[@mchammer5592]

That’s fine for Whoopi’s but what about the rest of us Mac gamers?! Am I right?… guys?…

[@gctypo2838]

MacOS gamers have it even worse than those of us crazy enough to game on Linux.

[@GeremyG]

Somehow Fntastic has returned.

[@0uttaS1TE]

"The dead speak!"

[@Keithustus]

how can the company even exist? Shouldn't they have been bankrupted and sold for parts?

[@suicicada]

@@Keithustusthey don’t pay whatever employees they forced to work for them

[@rangersnut]

Star wars outlaws is broken on PS5. I have emails from Ubisoft saying they are working on fixes but can't put a timeline on it. They have a customer complaint system, where it us expected that if you don't contact then every two days your problem gets dismissed as resolved. Meanwhile I have to shelf a game that crashes and breaks regularly while they fix it. What a state to release a game in. It must be the AAAA quality. Also they demand video to fix any issues but then only provide 10mb, which is around 4.5 secs. Maximum of 2 videos afforded to customers at 20mb. This is often not enough to detail the issues. Ubisoft are a mess. I will never buy a game of theirs at launch and may even not buy any game of theirs again after my experience. The only thing worse is EA putting ads in games. F them and f buying into their games if they do it.

[@shoople46]

How does the leadership at Ubisoft not realize that making bloated, unoriginal, unpolished, boring, overpriced, poor gameplay, and overall shit games doesn't work. Everyone knows a what "Ubisoft game" is, and it's never positive.

[@Keithustus]

*it's never its is the possessive form. 'When its battery is out, it's dead.'

[@shoople46]

@@Keithustus ok buddy, I'm sorry I was typing fast and forgot the apostrophe. 😭 At least it's not as bad as people typing aswell or alot, smh

[@Keithustus]

@@shoople46 well I am glad that you sound like you know which words are which. But beware, while typing quickly can lead to errors, that doesn’t mean you have to leave errors out in the open. Take a few seconds to ensure you are being smarter than autocorrect in order to not deplete readers’ confidence in your points. It may mean little on internet comments, but may save you or someone else from having an application for a school, job, or similar from being instantly trashed. Have a nice day.

[@Vytral]

Honestly a bit baffling that you don't mention AC shadow's controversy at all. Obviously you don't have to agree with the backlash that game had in japan, but it is certainly at least part of the story for the game not being presented at the Tokyo show

[@TheRealCaptainLavender]

That would be going against Shillups communist sensibilities, so he won't make a peep about it.

[@ScytheNoire]

Steam yanked The Day Before off the store and did the refunds, not Fntastic.

[@thatcyanblur]

I would’ve kept Shadows as far away from Yōtei as humanly possible, but that’s just me. Hopefully the dip in sales prompts Ubi to somewhat try again

[@SandyCheeks1896]

Whoopi being gifted a pc is absurd. The only reason she ever went on that rant is she was too lazy to arrange someone purchasing and setting up the PC FOR HER or because it was a planned marketing stunt

[@Adalric30]

20+ years at Ubisoft - I can tell you without a doubt, only ONE thing will signal that things have changed at Ubisoft. I hate to say it, but it'll be layoffs. It's the one thing that made Ubisoft an ok place to work, they never purged employees after ships or failures. When that happens, when there's a round or two of layoffs disappearing thousands of employees, you'll know that's when things will start turning around. It's so bloated with incompetence and toxic positivity nothing will get better until there is a purge. Mark my words!

[@Keithustus]

how likely though that they layoff the suits who keep demanding otherwise decent games be overflowing with MTX BS and always-on requirements even for single-player modes?

[@Adalric30]

@@Keithustus High-level execs calling for layoffs will be new blood (not the old guard). The layoffs should include "problematic" mid level managers and the other virtue signalers pushing the endless toxic positivity (which I've seen first hand).

[@DJ-1Q84]

Ubisoft's anti-consumer practices make me not care if this company goes bankrupt

[@stormkiller4148]

Shadows wont be on steam Just a shortcut to their trash launcher. I won't even pirate this trash

[@HousePlant_Ambient]

Yeah, Ubisoft definitely lost their reputation. To the point where any game they release are usually best to just wait for a hard sale. We as consumers just want solid high quality games. Not no broken cash grab.

[@scalliano]

"We have conducted a thourough investigation into our recent failures, and have found that it is the gamers who are responsible for not wanting to buy our slop anymore." - Yves Guillemot, basically

[@fogease]

Thank you for these as always! Little correction on terminology: customers are considered stakeholders as are suppliers, employees, and shareholders. Arguably local residents, the environment, debtors, creditors, and governments can be considered some too.

[@triptothemoon8171]

7:29 Customers are Stakeholders by definition

[@Model4]

My favorite thing about Ubisoft games, is that they stuff them with DRM crap, they run like crap and because they rarely are good, nobody is sad when you can't pirate them... but once they get cracked, only buyers are mad by how much better the DRM version runs.

[@grooms93]

I’m disappointed that once again Skillup has ignored the cultural issues surrounding the fall of Ubisoft; the reports from within the studios of a culture of “Toxic Positivity” and dismissal of criticism from consumers as “toxic gamer talk” as well as the development being almost run by HR, since many team members are oversensitive nearly to the point of litigiousness over perceived slights as small as the wrong emoji or exclamation point in an email. He has instead, once again, decided to blame the eternal boogeyman of corporate leadership and team/brand management. I do not deny that the fall of a giant company is a larger, many more headed hydra than one, or even two failures; further, I will not contest any of the points made in this video, but Skillup’s bias on negative press surrounding game devs and publishers is becoming more than clear.

[@marknewlands9839]

I really enjoy this guy's content but over time I have seen him ignore issues that are deemed to sensitive to sponsors! Have to keep them happy right! Wink 😉 the three of them Jake Lucy and Himself could really go to town on alot of issues but instead they play it safe! Just my opinion

[@kb030303]

Also surprised he didn't mention those things as Ive seen them reported on elsewhere

[@Momo-kb1qz]

Even in today's big ubisoft take he never once mentioned sweet baby inc. I dunno if it's just sponsor worship or there's something else going on here,

[@superbit415]

​@@marknewlands9839why would they risk their livelihoods just to score some internet points.

[@TrackMediaOnly]

@@superbit415 Personally I don't see that they have to wade into the middle, but they loose a lot of credibility by pretending it doesn't exist at all.

[@derp-x3j]

I worked for Gameloft (it was run by ubisoft ceo Yves Guillemot's brother) and this is a very similar pattern of self-implosion. They drove Gameloft so hard into the ground it was bought by a major media conglomerate and gutted. It's sad but not surprising to see Ubisoft going down the same path.

[@Keithustus]

I remember Gameloft! They used to make the only good mobile games! Now there are none. Except Stardew Valley.

[@toptiertech7291]

@@Keithustusyeah because they made games because when you had to buy games back then. Most were like $5-7. Their decline came when more people on Android started downloading apk files. That’s when everyone switched to ads and in app purchases. Can’t apk around that

[@Wulf0w0]

Feel better soon dude, ty for the video

[@JDMStav]

Lots of people deserve a 2nd chance... but not scammers. The Day before was clearly a scam. Ubisoft can FO too. They reap what they sow.

[@joshwpro4499]

Really saddened me that you still didn't mention Satisfactory, which had a huge 1.0 release with an overwhelming positiv response and a huge player count. Couldn't even give it a spot, or i just missed it, but I dont think so. It's a masterpiece of game design, Coffeestain, one of the best studios in the industry

[@toptiertech7291]

It’s a factory simulator 😂 yall have no lives with those simulators

[@Keithustus]

it's been pretty big for years. Are any respectable reviewers covering it now at 1.0 as if the world didn't know what it was already?

[@jacob3761]

Literal work simulator I think I’d rather play games when I play games

[@joshwpro4499]

@toptiertech7291 would never have expected somebody from the skill up audience to bring such an answer, "It's just a factory game." You can reduce any game to "it's just a ... game" thats a stupid narrow-minded zero effort ignorant answer

[@joshwpro4499]

@Keithustus ah yeah skill up never spoke about games releasing into 1.0 out of early access and he never ever spoke about a game already known by some of his viewers. XD 200k concurrent players wasn't big enough

[@GGChinatownTV-ym4zg]

A black guy dressed like a samurai stabbing a bunch of Asians? This is actually Assassin’s Creed: San Francisco

[@orlandocarrillo8843]

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain” - Giancarlo Despacito

[@Tymanderr]

You responded to my paytent joke! Love you brother I watch every episode cover to cover! ❤️