James
MyGaming Alumnus
Ubisoft and Watch Dogs: incompetence or malice?
An intrepid mod creator has found a way to make Watch Dogs look and perform better
An intrepid mod creator has found a way to make Watch Dogs look and perform better
Ubisoft and Watch Dogs: incompetence or malice?
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Lycanthrope
New member
The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
I just want this to circulate and I want it to keep getting worse...because they are already at it again with Far Cry 4.
Claiming the PC will be the lead platform and then 4 hours later saying the console versions will be = to that of a high end gaming pc...Seriously what in the name of all that is holy are these tards smoking? Consoles can not compete with high end pc graphics unless the pc version is gimped on purpose....
Claiming the PC will be the lead platform and then 4 hours later saying the console versions will be = to that of a high end gaming pc...Seriously what in the name of all that is holy are these tards smoking? Consoles can not compete with high end pc graphics unless the pc version is gimped on purpose....
Lycanthrope
New member
I'm starting to believe that it's simply a matter of marketing. PC is their smallest market so as long as they can keep peddling the belief that the PS4/XBone will be "on par with PC" then their biggest market keeps faith in them while the losses they might make off the PC market would be fairly marginal.
I think the fact is simply that at the end of the day PC gamers, having more sophisticated expectations, are significantly more full of shit than console gamers are, so Ubisoft probably finds it more financially sound to please their console market.
And what better way to do that than by saying, "You're getting the full experience" despite PC versions being gimped to match. Two out of three is a majority win
The Joker
Thread Killer MKII
I'm starting to believe that it's simply a matter of marketing. PC is their smallest market so as long as they can keep peddling the belief that the PS4/XBone will be "on par with PC" then their biggest market keeps faith in them while the losses they might make off the PC market would be fairly marginal.
I think the fact is simply that at the end of the day PC gamers, having more sophisticated expectations, are significantly more full of shit than console gamers are, so Ubisoft probably finds it more financially sound to please their console market.
And what better way to do that than by saying, "You're getting the full experience" despite PC versions being gimped to match. Two out of three is a majority win
This is true I suppose but they'll generally make more profit from PC sales, because of the console license fee.
In all honesty I think they are trying to keep the console generation happy and they don't really seem to care about PC gamers.
Watch dogs was supposed to get a patch on the 30th of may, its the 18th of June and still nothing..lol
They've also kept completely quiet about the whole Watch Dogs thing...I really don't get how they think its ok to do business like this...Its put me off from buying any of their future releases. I love Far Cry...as in adore that game but I won't buy FC4...I'd rather save R500 than sit with the frustration of another Watch Dogs scenario.
Right now there is really only 1 or 2 Developers/Publishers that seem to give a shit about pc gaming. Those would be CD Projekt Red and Valve...the other AAA giants either don't care or believe that we'll just continue to buy their shit.
Last edited:
DieGrootHammer
Daddy TK
According to their last financials, within the 2013/14 period PC only catered for 15% of their sales, with Xbox 360 and PS3 getting 25% and 27% of their sales. Even though there is a licencing fee to pay, I still think that sheer volume, price margins, and overhead costs of posting will make that they make less money on PC game sales than console. With the new consoles, I'm sure that those stats are looking even worse for PC. Which points me to the fact that Ubisoft just don't care about their PC audience. It seems their mentality is to cater for the console masses, peddle as many copies of the game as possible on those platforms, and give PC the scraps that is left over. They have proven this with their stance over piracy issues, games not being ported properly, even though they claimed PC to be the lead platform, and their "marketing ploys" of late.
TheAvenged87
Not Robin
I wonder what the ration of PC to Console sales are? Do they really sell that many more copies on PC than on consoles? It makes sense that they do, because they focus on console games.
Dohc-WP
Ron Burgundy
ubisoft is just doing what ea does
fifa on pc has never on par with the console versions since fifa 07, pc only received the 360/ps3 engine in fifa 11 and even now the pc version is receiving the ignite engine only this year,
i suspect smaller sales market and high piracy rate to be the primary factors, on the flipside the pc has been receiving alot of support from console centric devs these past few months, just look at namco porting ace combat to pc along with the darksouls titles and konami with mgs rising, castlevania etc, which is something we wouldnt have seen 3 - 4 years ago
fifa on pc has never on par with the console versions since fifa 07, pc only received the 360/ps3 engine in fifa 11 and even now the pc version is receiving the ignite engine only this year,
i suspect smaller sales market and high piracy rate to be the primary factors, on the flipside the pc has been receiving alot of support from console centric devs these past few months, just look at namco porting ace combat to pc along with the darksouls titles and konami with mgs rising, castlevania etc, which is something we wouldnt have seen 3 - 4 years ago
Last edited:
XbatousaiX
New member
I think it is purely based on where the money is and that is the console market,so all there priorities lie there but it still does not condone Ubisoft's slow response in patching this game on pc. I mean how long must we wait.
No point in arguing.
I sent an email to James about Ubisoft working on a patch for the PC issues and that's been ignored thus far. MyGaming seams to be be stuck on only publishing sensationalist articles.
I'm enjoying the game and that's not going to change. I'm happy with the current graphics in game - stuttering aside. So once they fix the stuttering any further improvements (mod inter alia) would just be a cherry on top. But if you want to see that as a negative then I won't try to stop you.
I warned the haters to cancel their pre-orders before the launch when it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to enjoy the game, but they were too stubborn to listen and now won't stop finding faults.
I sent an email to James about Ubisoft working on a patch for the PC issues and that's been ignored thus far. MyGaming seams to be be stuck on only publishing sensationalist articles.
I'm enjoying the game and that's not going to change. I'm happy with the current graphics in game - stuttering aside. So once they fix the stuttering any further improvements (mod inter alia) would just be a cherry on top. But if you want to see that as a negative then I won't try to stop you.
I warned the haters to cancel their pre-orders before the launch when it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to enjoy the game, but they were too stubborn to listen and now won't stop finding faults.
Nah. Thanks.
I'll probably buy this game when the patches are out and the game is sorted. Then, if someone manages to release a mod to "up" the graphics fidelity that would seal the deal for me. Until then, I'm glad that I haven't bought this game.
What I'm REALLY looking forward to now is GTA5 on the PC/PS4.
I'll probably buy this game when the patches are out and the game is sorted. Then, if someone manages to release a mod to "up" the graphics fidelity that would seal the deal for me. Until then, I'm glad that I haven't bought this game.
What I'm REALLY looking forward to now is GTA5 on the PC/PS4.
James
MyGaming Alumnus
I've previously mentioned they are working on a patch, a few times across articles discussing the problems and in one article specifically dedicated to that fact. It's all here if anyone cares to review the history of the coverage: Watch Dogs
When they actually release a patch, we will report on that too with some sort of suitably "sensationalist" headline, such as: "Watch Dogs PC gets a performance patch". *sees clicks rolling across eyeballs like a slot machine*
You're entitled to enjoy the game, stuttering and all, and others are entitled to find fault with it.
The smug attitude of "I told you not to pre-order it" bemuses me. Not everyone was privy to your sage advice. There was also no way to know the game was going to be a dog's breakfast on PC prior to launch; but then again, that's our mistake for assuming a multi-billion dollar global game development company actually knows WTF they are doing, right?
And what is the title of the forum thread for that same article? It's "Ubisoft and Watch Dogs, incompetence or malice".
That depends on your reasoning. The graphical downgrade issue was well known prior to launch, yet some people paid for their orders and then threw their toys out of their cots.
Sure you wouldn't have been able to know about the stuttering issues before hand, but those are manageable - as I've said multiple times I've basically completely eradicated mine with some minor tweaks and I can enjoy the game while waiting for the said patch to come out. My friends and colleagues have done the same.
Expecting a game of the magnitude of today's game to launch without issue is unrealistic and if you expect them to be perfect you will be sorely disappointed again and again. If you can't handle such issues on launch you really shouldn't be pre-ordering games. Wait until the games have been patched and go on sale six months down the line, and do your health a big favour.
People who made up their minds prior to the launch of the game that they would hate it and find fault with everything, AND THEN proceeded to buy the game anyway only to whine about it around every corner really only have themselves to blame.
MetalSoup
There's a GIF for that
So Ubisoft did nothing wrong, and is handling this whole affair exactly the right way? Is that what you're saying?
Lycanthrope
New member
I suspect that if folks didn't buy the game or pirated it, Wyzak's logic would then be "If you didn't buy it then you can't complain about it!"
Can't win.
MetalSoup
There's a GIF for that
If everyone followed his logic then no-one would have bought the game at all, and the next thing we know Ubisoft stops developing PC games altogether because there appears to be no interest on the platform. He seems to forget that none of the reviews mentioned the issues, so even if people did wait they would still have to put up with this shit.
James
MyGaming Alumnus
Yup; that was my original headline based on the video by TotalBiscuit which also formed part of the article, in which he put forward that dichotomy. Have you watched it? I thought he raised a number of interesting discussion points.
They downgraded the graphics and offered no explanation. It could be their incompetence in getting the PC version running smoothly with a multi-platform launch date and grumpy shareholders bearing down on them, or a deliberate attempt to provide visual parity with the consoles (some would call that a decision malicious toward PC gamers). I'm thinking it's a combination of the two.
And so on to the reasoning: they downgraded the graphics (I personally haven't even complained about that) so there is even less of a flimsy excuse for the performance of the game to be so shocking.
The rest of your comment is flogging a dead horse and setting up a weird strawman argument about people who decided to hate the game before it launched.
It sounds like you have a list of items, so please post the list and I'll reply to them one by one.
I'll let you in on my little secret, if you want to effect change stop giving them your money. If you are pissed off at Spar, stop buying from them. If you don't like Kalahari, go and shop at Takealot. But bitching at Kalahari every time you buy from them and they screw you is just really stupid. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Ye... coz that's what I did with Simcity or Diablo 3 right? You have a right to complain everybody does. I voted with my wallet on both of those games and I haven't regretted it for a second. When Simcity added offline mode I bought the game and I enjoyed it. It is now a game that I feel is worthy of my money.
I haven't watched the video yet.
If they deliberately tried to trick people they wouldn't have left the files in the game. They would have removed them and shipped a far leaner game client. The same imo if they wanted it to only match with consoles.
My guess is that they ran out of time, and they were being pushed to release the game, so they disabled what they felt were unreachable at that time and focused on the things that were working or close to working. Doing so they could revisit those areas after release and patch them in.
Last edited: