Ubisoft Says Rebuilding Assassin’s Creed Engine For Unity Was ‘Painful’

On its third fiscal quarter earnings call today, Ubisoft confronted questions from analysts about the rocky launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity. While company executives side-stepped the question of rebuilding trust, they did put a positive spin on what Unity’s problems mean for the next title.

[-Foxtrot]

Yet you made it harder for yourselves by trying to work the engine around co-op play. Probably why it was buggy as hell

[Christopher]

My issue is with all that reworking... the game didn't play all that differently or feel that different at all that it couldn't have been done with the old engine. So, what was the point? I get doing it to update with new specs and new software that is being used, but they sell it as if we should care and it would greatly affect what we play. It didn't.

[starchild]

The same could be said about virtually every game this generation, though. Infamous Second Son, for example, is mostly just a prettier looking Infamous game with basically the same gameplay as the last gen entries.

Assassin's Creed Unity is easily one of the best looking games to come out so far this generation and I'd say the work they put in definitely paid off in most ways.

They just needed more development time. My biggest issue with the game are the glitchy NPCs. That was a big step back for the franchise. Sure, there were a lot of NPCs and that was pretty impressive in some scenes, but most of the time the NPCs were glitchy and felt worse than in previous games in the series.

[Christopher]

***Assassin's Creed Unity is easily one of the best looking games to come out so far this generation and I'd say the work they put in definitely paid off in most ways. ***

You and I will have to continue to disagree on this. I found nothing impressive about ACU over AC4.

***They just needed more development time.***

And yet they are already set to push out the games on an annual basis. I really wish they would take more time. Perhaps even go the approach that some games are with long-term DLC releases that mimic more of a miniseries event rather than just one whole experience and some minor add-ons afterwards.

[user5575708]

parity was painful too. thanks for garbage resolution

[Neo_Zeed]

Problem wasn't co-op. Black Flag had co-op. Problem was cramming 10k NPC's into an old engine that wasn't designed for that. They should have just scrapped AnvilNext and created a true next gen engine. AnvilNext was created with last gen systems in mind.

[Activemessiah]

Playing it was just as painful, mate.

[starchild]

Not for me. Aside from the glitchy NPCs, the game ran smoothly on my PC and I thought it was a great game.

[KiwiViper85]

I loved it, 1300G.

Can't wait for Victory

[Der_Kommandant]

Well Ubisoft... you extended your experience to us.

[Master-H]

Definitely didn't pay off. Even if we overlook the countless bugs & glitches, the combat animations are still a joke even when they're working properly they look out of sync and unrealistic as hell. The parkour and climbing are alright WHEN they work.

[KnownAsEpic]

You could've made it easy on yourselves by not having a sh*tload of stupid NPCs!

[KiwiViper85]

Agreed, it just makes it impossible to get anywhere fast. Rooftops used to be the fastest but that takes forever now aswell. The fastest way to get anywhere is on foot dodging NPCs

[WizzroSupreme]

If they something amazing with the Anvil engine for AC: Victory, people will change their tune. Problem is, Ubisoft's small victories never pay off in the long run before they forget them.

[MasterCornholio]

Not as painful as those who had to play the game broken.

:I

[Lucreto]

The next game should run better. It happens with most first games of a new generation. The engine is bugged on the new hardware but should be a smoother experience this time around.

[d_g]

assassin's creed unity was painful

[Immorals]

Really enjoyed, and still enjoying.

Not to say I didn't have to exit and reboot the game due to my character stuck in freefall a few times..

[ManAnimalX]

Ubisoft, I don't care about your Rich man's problems, you screwed your fans and don't deserve any fans or applause, you a liar like 99.999% of this industry is, you failed.

[vicristion]

Unity was one of the best games in 2014. Still playing it, and I like it, it is a game where you have lots of things to do. I can not wait Victory this year, I will definitely buy it.