Ubisoft Declares the Future of PC is Free-to-Play, But Ignores What Caused the Piracy

Jeff from Holygrenade analyzes a recent interview courtesy of Ubisoft's CEo declaring the future of PC gaming is "free-to-play." But he also blames pirates for the necessity instead of tracking what his own company did to drive them there.

[zeal0us]

93-95% piracy rate. I would like to know how this data was gather? What title(s) is this base off of?

If that rate is true, which highly doubt, then I guess Ubisoft have no reason to keep using those DRMs.

Obviously the DRMs is working with a piracy rate like that. /s

If F2P is the future I'm pretty sure a lot of companies will turn their titles to P2W/Cash Shop Heaven.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

If it was really 95% they wouldn't make pc versions at all.

[StayStatic]

Agreed , 95% of Ubisoft PC ports suck anyways , other publishers are the way to go.

Treat you player base like trash , don't expect them to treat you with respect.

[zgoldenlionz]

I just have to laugh at all these comments about the percentage. does it really matter? Companies have a right to protect what they make, you are acting like DRM has hurt you personally. It's funny how pc gamers spend so much on their setups but can't afford games.

[Letros]

They will have a tougher time in the F2P space if they continue to make lackluster titles, because you can't make money off "hype".

F2P titles require a lot of polish that makes a good first impression, and you need content and a structure to keep that player playing, and a certain % paying. It's a lot easier to uninstall a mediocre free game, than one that you paid $60 for.

What's amazing is that, despite having such high piracy rates, they still release PC titles, so either they are making profit, or enjoy throwing money in the drain.

[darthawesome90]

I'm curious. Do they add games like Super Mario Bros. 3, Golden sun, and many other classics to get their 95%? Games that were released 2-3 console generations ago and now are mostly only playable on emulators.

[beerkeg]

What a load of horseshi.......untruths.

[Qrphe]

He's probably implying that every pirated copy would have been a sale if it wasn't for piracy (which is misleading).

What great PC exclusives have you developed Ubisoft?

Piracy has been around PCs for a very, very, very long time, it's not gonna come out and kill it NOW.

PC game sales have been increasing over the years as well,

[1nsomniac]

So Ubisoft are claiming 95% of the PC market are pirates although EA last month claimed they made something like 285 million PROFIT this last year alone in the PC software division second only to their Xbox division that made something like 295 million profit which is also massively pirated.

This either proves 1 of 2 things. 1, Either Ubisoft are speaking complete shite or 2, this is a great argument for there use of Ubisofts horrendous DRM that they use.

[Qrphe]

That means that instead of 295 million, according to Mr. Ubisoft expert over here, EA would have made around 5.7 billion worth of profits!!!

5.7 billion!

[ipe]

Your math sucks. And no one can be that stupid to officialy calculate percentage like that.

It probably means if games sell 1 million there are 0.9 million pirate copies out there, which is more than possible.

they re most likely bitter with pc ac sales.
First sold 1 million than second 100k, huge drop.

[Somebody]

So console gamers will get the regular, full games with a singleplayer story, extra modes and multiplayer.

PC gamers on the other hand will only get the multiplayer (except for RPGs that inherently have stories and quests). Not only that we'll have to pay to see most of the stuff in the "free" game unless we are willing to grind it through without paying. That doesn't make a game a fun and thrilling experience. Anybody wondered why Blizzard raised the level cap for Diablo 3 in just months? It got boring after the millionth time grinding through the same dungeons over and over again.

Console gamers will still get to see the next adventures of Mario, Master Chief, Drake, Kratos, Marcus Fenix, the Ghost Team and a bunch more while PC gamers are grinding away in their F2P maps.

That is not the future I wish to see.

[Freakazoid2012]

"Anybody wondered why Blizzard raised the level cap for Diablo 3 in just months? It got boring after the millionth time grinding through the same dungeons over and over again. "

Yet you will still be going through the exact same dungeons over and over again to reach level 160. Their solution doesnt solve the problem.

[Allsystemgamer]

Atleast diablo 3 is a fun game. For Atleast 2 or 3 playthroughs as different characters. I do agree that it's rediculous what's happenning but it's still fun. Especially with friends.

No it's not what it should have been but Jesus its still a top game ....especially for today's crap standard.

[Freakazoid2012]

I never said it wasnt a fun game. I play it myself I just got a kick out of his post and had to comment, because raising the cap does nothing to make the dungeons new again.

[Somebody]

I've played a number of F2Ps (all shooters) and they are all just grinding around in the same maps over and over again. I got bored after several hours (the last one was just after a hour of play). There's no sense of discovery or exploration that regular games have and that made those F2Ps feel empty.

Just you, some friends and enemies running around shooting each other. Session ends, loads the next map. Say, "Here we go again."

I know that there are story campaigns from RPGs F2Ps but what about the rest of the gaming genres turning to F2Ps? Most of them only have story elements simply pasted on the loading screen but that feel so cheap and disconnected. And from what Ubisoft said, that feels like what all Ubisoft PC games will look (the console gamers get to play the story but PC gamers will missed it since they only get the online grind fest).

[Dread]

wrong post sorry

[Allsystemgamer]

Look at sales on steam. Look at sales of pc supporters.

Now look at ubisoft. The company who prices DRM, late releases, no pc feature support, no demos, online only, multiple BAD ports. They don't support pc players why should they support you?

[beerkeg]

Their pc releases are terrible, and yet they expect people to buy them. I think they should concentrate on what they are doing wrong and build from there. A quick look at the support forums for their games would be a good place to start.

EDIT:A case in point - Splinter Cell Conviction. I bought a hard copy of this when it first came out, well a few months after actually as I heard it had problems. I never got past the updating procedure, it crashed. At the time I had a few other games I bought and couldn't be bothered with the aggro, so it went back on the shelf. Ending up selling it at a car boot sale.

I bought it again on a Steam sale last Xmas thinking it would work perfectly because it should have been fully patched and updated. Same problem. This time I looked into it a bit more and got it working, after a couple of hours.

A customer shouldn't have to go through such bother to get a game working, and it was a big problem for a lot of people.

And when I did get it working it was so badly optimized I wish I hadn't even bothered.

Ubisoft have become so lazy with their games on pc that I don't buy them anymore, that's not to say I pirate them either in case anyone is wondering. I simply don't want their crap on my hard drive.

My experience is one of many that people have had with a Ubisoft pc release. They can't be arsed, so why should we?

Until they get their act together they will continue to get poor sales on pc, because no one likes getting ripped off.

[ThreshStar]

Is it me, or have we fully seen the changes to the video game industry?

Once long ago, groups of video game-enthusiasts became computer programmers & engineers to develop great games that video game players would also enjoy.

Now it's run by merged-corporate conglomerations with an emphasis on shareholders, future sales, demographic studies, financial investments from 3rd party sources, celebrity endorsements, and cost-effective analysis.

When did video games stop being about a creative entertainment medium and become almost COMPLETELY about just another business enterprise?

[ExPresident]

The media is also consumed by people who steal, pirate, copy the property to avoid paying for it or demand that a product that was created through hard work and many, many man hours be free to play.

I'm not arguing your point, but its clearly changed and both groups can easily take some of the blame.

[ThreshStar]

I definitely agree with that as well.

So what came first? Corporate Greed or Consumer Entitlement?

...or is this a trick question? =)

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

"Once long ago, groups of video game-enthusiasts became computer programmers & engineers to develop great games that video game players would also enjoy."

They call them indie devs now a days.

console gaming has been a huge money pipeline for corporations. They want to manipulate pc in the same way but the open platform is to strong to confirm so those who understand it like Valve, Notch & Day z creator , Bohemia, CD Projekt make cash.

Those who cannot adapt cry piracy & need to stick with consoles.

[aliengmr]

So what they are trying to say is that of all the people playing a given title 95% pirated and thus did not pay. That is the biggest load of crap I've heard in a while.

I really thought Ubi was trying to tone down this crap, seems I was wrong. I guess they're going back to "PC gamers are all criminals" crap again.

I gave them a fair shot, but I am done with them.

[mananimal]

90% of piracy is nothing more than Corporate/Govt "false flag" attacks, designed to push there greedy agenda of changing the way we play games, DRM is the result, but they say its best for all, BS!!, they MANUFACTURE the problem, then offer "there" solution.

Its a conspiracy, simple.