“And unlike some people we really don’t start work on it until the game is finished. It is not on the disc.”
Ouch. It is great to hear some one say that, even if I’m skeptical about Ubisoft’s devotion to its fans. With disasters like Mass Effect 3′s DLC being found on disk in recent memory this is a hopeful promise. Alex Hutchinson also said that:
“We know that not everyone will buy it, so it’s a ‘what the f***’ chunk of story that, if you missed it, the next game will still make sense.”
I’m having a difficult time figuring out whether Ubisoft hates its fans or not. From what David Footman, the director of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, said in response to the critics of Splinter Cell: Blacklist it sounds like they don’t care about consumers at all, but this news from Alex Hutchinson gives me some hope that Ubisoft has learned the error of its ways and is working to improve their product, as well as their customer relations. If Assassin’s Creed 3′s DLC is truly a non-sequitur to the narrative of the core game, then I’ll have a bit more faith restored.
“It’s that early that we haven’t decided. There are debates as to where we draw the line in the various chunks [of the story].”
This quote doesn’t bode well for Ubisoft, however. If there is internal debate as to what is important to the story and what isn’t, then I don’t have to much faith that the compromise won’t leave out essential story elements. This has caused wild speculation from the fan base as to what the DLC will be exactly, with theories spanning from a Krakken, to the First Civilization (Adam and Eve escaping Eden), as well as plot elements from the comics coming into the games.
Season pass DLC not withstanding, I’m really not sure how to feel about this. There have been a lot of conflicting messages from Ubisoft as of late. I want to believe that Ubisoft is migrating back to the glory days, but their recent activity has left me rather jaded. At the end of the day, though, Ubisoft is a huge company with many, many employees. Hell they have more active studios than a lot of places I’ve worked have employees. It’s understandable that their stance on customer relations is inconsistent. At least I know Alex Hutchinson is on our side, for the most part.
This season pass DLC nonsense is worrisome, however. Borderlands 2, Battlefield 3, and now Assassin’s Creed 3 are all on the list of games implementing this business strategy which seems to be getting more and more popular among major development studios. If I felt like I could trust a game company to not screw me over then it would be great, but really there aren’t any companies that I have enough faith in (except MAYBE CD Projekt RED) to drop that kind of money on a promise.
Quotes from Eurogamer.net
I love CD Projekt RED.
“New content including missions, characters, graphical upgrades, etc? Fuck it, give it to them for free.”
i am so confused right now
When in doubt, pirate it anyway
I’m slightly confused – I was under the impression that the first expansion to Assassin’s Creed 2 was locked on the original game disc. Have I misunderstood something or is Hutchinson insulting himself?
I think this is more internal conflicts at Ubisoft being directed towards customers/gamers. Why else would this news come so soon after the idiocy surrounding Blacklist?
When one side screws up, another jumps in and tries to make themselves look better by playing off something else. That’s how I’m seeing this one. And you shouldn’t have to tell people you’re not using on-disk DLC. Your business practices should reflect that.
Ubishit can do whatever they want since they have the top place of my Blacklist. Put as much DLC as you want, I’ll just pirate it, and it will still be YOUR fault. You told me I was a filthy pirate all this time when I bought your games that in the end, I started to believe it.