this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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Ubisoft revenues decline 31.4% to €990m (www.gamesindustry.biz)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It turns out consumers aren't totally mindless drones that just buy whatever you publish because you're Ubisoft, Ubisoft.

I swear they've been incredibly cocky in recent years while simultaneously producing bad games, and broadcasting their stagnation and unwillingness to take risks on anything that isn't a new revenue stream (as if being formulaic profit hounds is a strength).

I swear MBAs ruin everything. Infinite growth is a horrible horrible idea. I wish we could break out of this cycle of every big company trying to market themselves as the company that cracked the code on the infinite money glitch. The code is ... make a good product and be decent to your customers; it's an ancient code, and it's so annoying that so many C-suite folks can't see it.

[–] wraithcoop 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I think about this post from last year a lot:

Navok noted that if a game costs $100 million to make over five years, it has to beat what the company could have returned investing a similar amount in the stock market over the same period.

https://gameworldobserver.com/2024/05/24/square-enix-final-fantasy-unrealistic-sales-targets-jacob-navok

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Thinking about that quote, it sounds nonsensical

At the outset, all businesses seek to grow faster than the average/stock market. Five years later, half will do better than average, and half will do worse than average.

Saying that the half that did worse should have instead invested into the market, five years ago, is kind of meaningless.

[–] wraithcoop 2 points 5 days ago

What makes it make even less sense is imagine they could magically somehow have invested instead of creating something. Fast forward a few cycles of businesses swapping over from not beating the average and instead of actually creating anything, everybody is only investing. Except, none of them are actually creating anything.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

... If he wants to be a hedge fund exec, he should just go do that. The point of a business, contrary to the Chicago School MBA nonsense, is not to generate profit. It is to make a good or service that would otherwise be impractical for an individual, in a financially sustainable manner.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Most investors are going to care about what kind of return they're making. It's the capital they provide that pays the paychecks.

If you want to do volunteer work on video games -- I have -- then that's not an issue. But typically games are made by paid workers, and those workers won't work without their paychecks. So they're going to need to attract investors.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Most investors are going to care about what kind of return they're making. It's the capital they provide that pays the paychecks.

Maybe that's the problem. Valve did pretty well for themselves, even before steam, without putting investors in charge of their direction.

If you want to do volunteer work on video games -- I have -- then that's not an issue.

I have indeed worked on my own and others projects without financial gain but that's orthogonal to my point.

But typically games are made by paid workers, and those workers won't work without their paychecks.

The games industry is full of chronically under-compensated workers. Again, nowhere did I advocate for people to work for free for commercial enterprises or anything of the like.

So they're going to need to attract investors.

That's a pretty good example of the False Dichotomy fallacy. There are numerous alternatives that don't involve prioritizing profit over the product or service that a business produces.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I get that when you spending 100m+ on game development, but a game needs to have actual value to the consumer, it has to be entertainment, and entertainment is art.

Very few things of all forms of entertainment cross the rubicon into beloved status that aren't obvious works of love and talent.

Turing out utter dross that has the same consistency as uncooked pink slime, and you can not expect to sell with any sort of long tail or expect repeat sales.

Sure, you can get away with a cheap cash grab once, may be twice, but over and over? Most people aren't that dumb

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I get that when you spending 100m+ on game development, but a game needs to have actual value to the consumer, it has to be entertainment, and entertainment is art.

A side point on this: maybe some accounting transparency would help too. We know that that $100M+ isn't going to the developers as they are some of the most underpaid tech workers. How much of a given game's budget is actually going to compensate those directly contributing to it vs administration/execs?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Maybe if they made some good games instead of cash grabs with game design engineered by committee.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Ubisoft: Best I can do is another Assassins Creed crammed with micro transactions and bloat ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

One of the biggest video game publishers in the world and they still can't seem to get good voice actors, animators, writers, or general game designers.

We talk about AI slop, well Ubisoft make video game slop. Quantity over quality, get a new entry in [popular series] out every year, milk the shit out of it with mtx and force shitty DRM on consumers.

Fuck Ubisoft. Genuinely wouldn't even waste storage by pirating their games.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

The real cost of Ubisoft games is your time

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

Boohoobisoft

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What baffles me is how they intentionally make their games unplayable on Linux, and the same can be said about EA.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What part of it baffles you? I don't like it either, but in order for them to get the same level of security on Linux that they do on Windows, they'd have to do all kinds of work embedding their anti cheat in the kernel. I don't know if the license of the kernel even allows for that, but good luck getting Linux users to agree to knowingly installing a rootkit to play a video game.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

they'd have to do all kinds of work embedding their anti cheat in the kernel.

Prime example here is Rainbow Six Siege, they use Battle-Eye for their anti cheat. Battle-Eye has supported linux since 2021 and all the developers have to do is phone up Battle-Eye and enable Proton support.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/11/supporting-linux-proton-and-the-steam-deck-with-battleye-is-just-an-email-away/

Ridiculous right?

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 week ago

Because even when it's supported, the people who tend to circumvent it find ways to do so on Linux, because it's less secure. They choose instead to just not deal with it rather than trying to hire or build up that expertise, which would come at a high cost for little benefit.

Personally, my problems with this type of game go beyond its anti cheat support, so enabling Linux support for their anti cheat still wouldn't earn my sale anyway.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It’s sad because this company used to make good games.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I think their only good modern game is Anno 1800 and that is soon a 5 year old game.

I’m not sad. Ubi doesn’t respect it’s customers anymore. Let them sink.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

A few people said that last year’s Prince of Persia game was pretty good. But I didn’t play it.

The 90s and 00s version of Ubisoft was phenomenal. Remember the original Far Cry, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and Rayman? Everyone loved those games, and they were actually innovative.

But now Ubisoft is formulaic and seems hostile towards the people who buy their games.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Prince of Persia: the Lost Crown was probably the best Metroidvania I've ever played. A lot of critics agree.

Ubisoft dismantled their team after they didn't meet sales expectations.

The game itself was amazing and made its way onto a lot of Game of the Year lists. If it underperformed, it was either a failure of their marketing department, or a failure to set realistic sales goals.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

The reason I didn't get the game was their launcher that's mandatory for all Ubisoft games. I have not bought a single Ubisoft game since they forced the launcher on us and I will never do so.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

The schadenfreude here is delicious, alas the perils of being such a vehemently player-hostile game publisher 😂

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Garbage company with trash games

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Tower slop

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Lets all laugh at an industry that never learns anything teeheehee

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Whatever

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

what, people don't enjoy gray sludge as much as they used to?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Well, if we can’t “own” your games, then why buy them?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

oh no whatever will they do, only having 990m revenue instead of 1.4b revenue.

Granted yeah that's fair, a 31% revenue loss is a drastic change. Too bad they'll never understand why and blame others. I'm sure they still were net positive in income though

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Well, first of all, the CEO needs a raise. That much should be obvious.
What comes after is unsure, but layoffs are always on the table.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Good

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

A French company that hates their customers is, like, the most stereotypical French thing to exist that isn't a cigarette and coffee for breakfast.