grosvenor_92
Member
As a Canadian I hope either our Federal government or Provincial government actually step in to prevent Vivendi from getting a larger chuck of Ubisoft stock
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Vivendi now has 24% of Ubisoft's capital (was 22%); 21% of their Voting rights
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Care to share how Ubisoft treats their developers?
Maxey
Member
Ubisoft is French tho.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Not only that but companies are forced to consider takeover and start the negotiation when another owns 30% or more of the stocks. There's nothing Ubisoft can do but become friends with either Vivendi or another billion dollar company/investor(s). Small-time folks won't cut it, neither will the government care since they're already doing much to make Ubisoft millions.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
Crossing_Eden post if OK.
On topic Ubisoft has been trash lately so maybe they need on a shake up.I'm not seeing any thing particularly creative from them that would be lost with this acquisition. Their games as a service model shift shows just how little they care about making unique games. Not to mention how generic Watch Dogs 2 looks.
On topic Ubisoft has been trash lately so maybe they need on a shake up.I'm not seeing any thing particularly creative from them that would be lost with this acquisition. Their games as a service model shift shows just how little they care about making unique games. Not to mention how generic Watch Dogs 2 looks.
Kataploom
Gold Member
This is disgusting, I don't care what others think about Ubisoft (apart from their employees treatment), it's sh*t that someone raises a company from scratch just to be taken away from it, loosing all his life and effort he put on it... if I was that man I'd just sell the most important Ubisoft IPs to someone I could trust or have a deal with to have them back later with a new publisher brand, or change the proprietary to himself instead of the Ubisoft company or whatever just so the brand looses its value in order to boicot Vivendi's intention so if they pretend to take over Ubisoft, then go ahead but no big fishes... would that be possible in french/canadian legislature?
30%
It wouldn't be possible anywhere. Except, maybe in
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Have you forgotten about that total shitshow with Patrice Desilets?
I actually have. What happened there? I thought working at Ubisoft was nice but probably was just at that Ancel Villa.
Harmondale
Member
Not sure what happend to gameloft when vivendi took over, but I really loved the settlers HD on Ipad. Wished they would have included a normal random map choice..
Triggerhappytel
Member
And you're quite within your rights to boycott them, but it's foolish to try and deny that they're one of the most creative big publishers. No other major third party publisher funds games like Grow Home, Child of Light, Rayman, FC3 Blood Dragon, etc. I agree they do a lot of shit, but they support weird stuff and new IPs like few others.
icecold1983
Member
ubosift makes mostly cookie cutter crap so who cares
heres some examples
bad open world games - nearly everything ubisoft has made this generation
good open world games - GTA, infamous, batman
heres some examples
bad open world games - nearly everything ubisoft has made this generation
good open world games - GTA, infamous, batman
SentryDown
Member
Desilets wasn't in super good terms with Ubi, he left to work at THQ Montreal which was later acquired by Ubi. He was then fired for unknown reasons (Ubi said the project wasn't good enough, Desilets said they wanted to have more control).
But well, whatever happened, there's like 10k Ubisoft employees split in dozens of studios, I don't think we can really take this as the general case of "how Ubisoft treats their developers".
ClosingADoor
Member
So don't take your company public then. They wanted outside investors to grow faster, so then you have the risk of someone you don't like starting to buy into your company.
They fired him, had 2 bodyguards escort him out the door without allowing him to pack his personal belongings or say goodbye to his colleagues. Ubisoft had the gall to say that the company and Desilets parted ways after "good faith discussions."
Desilets sued to get his game(1666) back which he did last year.
Patrice Desilets departs ubisoft a second time
zerokoolpsx
Member
RIP Ubisoft. Nothing is going to stop Vivendi.
There's also been the two "Ubi free" cases (basically their equivalent to ea_spouse), where it transpired salaries and working conditions were very poor and nothing was ever really done to fix it (and some say it prompted Ubi to accelerate the move towards cheaper foreign studios), and the thing with salary fixing between Ubi and Eidos in 2008. In general they've got a rather sketchy reputation among french devs.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Infamous Second Son and Arkham Knight were both incredibly disappointing and not exactly the best examples for the genre.
And Watch Dogs, Far Cry 4 and most Assassins Creed games are not bad open world games by any stretch of the imagination.
And even if they were, which they aren't, open world games are not all Ubisoft make. Their library is incredibly diverse and high quality. South ParknStick of Truth is one of the best licensed games ever. Splinter Cell Blacklist is fantastic. Rayman Origins and Legends are some of the finest 2D platformers around. Rainbow Six Siege is one of the best shooters around at the moment. Games like Grow Home and Child of Light are fantastic. Valiant Hearts is one of the most emotional experiences I have ever had from a video game amd an absolute must play.
I will never stop praising Ubisoft as long as their lineup continues to be among the best the industry has to offer. Which sadly may stop happening if Vivendi are successful.
ClivePwned
Member
That was shitty, but from what I've heard, they treat the bulk o f their employees better than most publisher-owned devs: as in no major layoffs at the end of projects as the default option. Whether that would be the same under Vivendi is a question for later.
Triggerhappytel
Member
It's cool to hate Ubisoft so a lot of people won't listen, but I agree with everything you're saying. If the creative side of Ubisoft were thrown out of the airlock it would be a huge disappointment.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
People have just made their minds up about Ubisoft and wont listen to logic or reason. It's very unfortunate. Few companies in recent years deserve as much prsise as Ubisoft do for the quality and diversity of their game lineup. It's a shame they don't get the credit they deserve just because of some "UBISOFT ARE EEEEVIILLLL ALL THEY MAKE IS TOWERS" nonsense narrative that people cling to for no logical reason.
icecold1983
Member
other than unity they are all bad imo
Triggerhappytel
Member
You may not like them, but they're not 'bad'. Some people are unable to be objective about these things. The worst big Ubi game I've played is probably Watch Dogs.
I forgot the only developers that should be allowed to exist are Platinum, FROM etc.
Only the niche developers who appeal to my intelligent tastes should be protected from hostile takeovers. Not these mainstream/casuals who constantly pump money into the industry that supports my hobby.
Only the niche developers who appeal to my intelligent tastes should be protected from hostile takeovers. Not these mainstream/casuals who constantly pump money into the industry that supports my hobby.
icecold1983
Member
i am being objective. ac syndicate has awful controller response and input precision regardless of how high your framerate is. the collectathon copy paste game design hit an all time low for an AC game. the mouth animations dont even match what is being spoken in cutscenes. the extremely drawn out, boring and repetitive method of taking over districts was boring before even finishing the first one. the story is so poorly conceived it may as well not even be there
far cry 4 - almost everything above applies here as well. add in a villain so fucking ridiculous he belongs in one of the wayans brothers "scary movies". the world isnt interesting or fun.
watch dogs - what more needs to be said of this mess. awful characters, awful controls whether on foot or in a car. bland, lifeless world where nothing interesting ever happens. the hacking mechanics are pointless and dont add anything to the game.
oh and towers, towers and more towers. wouldnt be the typical ubisoft copy paste game design without them. didnt even touch on the technical issues with the pc versions. broken gameworls effects, awful stuttering etc.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Praising GTA V then saying Watch Dogs has bad controls. Prasing Infamous Second Son then complaining about a lifeless world.
Dude, don't even pretend you're being objective. The OMG TOWERS!!! end to your post was the icing on the cake. Just ridiculous.
Dude, don't even pretend you're being objective. The OMG TOWERS!!! end to your post was the icing on the cake. Just ridiculous.
From Software was taken over though, by Kadokawa who own 80% of the company. They didn't make a fuss about it and it's working out mightily fine for them. As for Platinum Games, they're a private company and so they cannot be targeted by a hostile takeover.
Keep in mind that Ubi's founders chose to be publicly traded and chose to only own a minority share of their company. They're the ones who chose not to protect themselves.
You're stating an opinion, you're not being objective.
Go learn what being objective means.
If you're wondering what a takeover from Bollore's Vivendi might look like, you guys should look no further than iTélé, the non stop news channel, sister of Canal+. They were the second biggest news channel in France, and with Vivendi now in charge a lot of things have changed. Lately they hired Jean Marc Morandini, a notably sleazy tv host who's famous for doing basically shitty provocative tabloid content. Right now he has even trouble with the law as he's been known to take advantage of teenage boys during casting calls, asking them to remove their clothes and masturbate (allegedly). This is the kind of guy Bolloré and Vivendi thought would fit perfectly into their new vision for this once respectable news channel.
As a result, a lot of key members of the station left, and the channel has been on strike for three weeks straight now. That's three weeks of non content and reruns. As a result they missed the french republican primary debate which they were supposed to host and was a huge deal for them. They weren't even allowed to be on the air to explain the situation and the reason for their strike. The channel is essentially dead right now and is probably losing all its audience built over the years.
That's the kind of management you can expect from them. If you think this is still the Vivendi who funded Destiny with Activision and helped businesses, you're in for a rude awakening. You can act like it's not a bigdeal right now, that Ubisoft is a shitty company anyway or that Guillemot just want to save his own interest, but the fact is, Vivendi has an horrible track record lately and this hostile takeover fits with their new pattern. The future isn't too bright for Ubi.
As a result, a lot of key members of the station left, and the channel has been on strike for three weeks straight now. That's three weeks of non content and reruns. As a result they missed the french republican primary debate which they were supposed to host and was a huge deal for them. They weren't even allowed to be on the air to explain the situation and the reason for their strike. The channel is essentially dead right now and is probably losing all its audience built over the years.
That's the kind of management you can expect from them. If you think this is still the Vivendi who funded Destiny with Activision and helped businesses, you're in for a rude awakening. You can act like it's not a bigdeal right now, that Ubisoft is a shitty company anyway or that Guillemot just want to save his own interest, but the fact is, Vivendi has an horrible track record lately and this hostile takeover fits with their new pattern. The future isn't too bright for Ubi.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I mean, if Bollore is such a dick who ruins companies why doesn't the board freeze him out? Is he actually a good businessman?
They already are, have been for quite some time. They just don't own Ubi.
Yes, as far as investors are concerned. It's employees who don't like him. For all the ethical and creative problems he's causing, he may very well have saved Canal+ from imminent bankruptcy.
Blam
Member
You being serious. Why would that be a good idea. That seems utterly stupid to do.
SlipperyFishes
Banned
This is more or less as dismal as a Sombre ARG. A few percent every month.
michaelius
Banned
Good Ubisoft games released since 2008
- Child of Light
- Tales of Valour
- Rayman Origins
- Rayman Legends
CanalPlus lost more than half a million subs this year.
The historical French Channel has more subs coming from outside of France than France proper.
And they're not exactly HBO where you can expect a huge number of people overseas to be interested in the content they produce.
C+ as a group was in dire straights already, Vivendi is putting the final nails in the coffin.
Again do not expect anything good to come from a Ubi lead by Vivendi, heads will fly and projects will be canccelled for anything not doing immediate bank.
Under Vivendi they're probably going to close Montpellier (creative people with senior experience in a town that is a little too hard to travel? so cut) and probably anything that isn't in the suburb of Paris and rationalize the costs to a huge degree.
If the Vivendi that stormed into Canal+ is the one going into Ubisoft we'll be lucky if they even make anything but licensed mobile products for the rest of the group (then again that may be why they bought gameloft...)
They are also the most costly products that don't use anything from vivendi so they'll be either retrofitted into Vivendi existing Ips or just cut because the people working on them cost too much.
The historical French Channel has more subs coming from outside of France than France proper.
And they're not exactly HBO where you can expect a huge number of people overseas to be interested in the content they produce.
C+ as a group was in dire straights already, Vivendi is putting the final nails in the coffin.
Again do not expect anything good to come from a Ubi lead by Vivendi, heads will fly and projects will be canccelled for anything not doing immediate bank.
Under Vivendi they're probably going to close Montpellier (creative people with senior experience in a town that is a little too hard to travel? so cut) and probably anything that isn't in the suburb of Paris and rationalize the costs to a huge degree.
If the Vivendi that stormed into Canal+ is the one going into Ubisoft we'll be lucky if they even make anything but licensed mobile products for the rest of the group (then again that may be why they bought gameloft...)
They are also the most costly products that don't use anything from vivendi so they'll be either retrofitted into Vivendi existing Ips or just cut because the people working on them cost too much.