• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Assassin's Creed: Unity microtransaction shop wasn't fully live in retail copies

S

Shining Sunshine

Banned
Megasoum said:
1-LOL
2-We're 1.6million people in Montreal and there's something like 2600 employees at Ubisoft Montreal. Not everybody from Montreal on Gaf is working for Ubisoft.
3-I actually work for one of Ubisoft's competitor in Montreal so I have nothing to gain from defending them except a bit a sanity.
Click to expand...
If you weren't working in Ubi Montreal, then there's no way for you to tell how they implemented their micro transaction system.

They can make production servers live for some features, but it doesn't mean that they specifically coded that micro transaction screen to be disabled until now.

The fact that street date breakers didn't see it either shows that it wasn't there until today.
 
E

elelunicy

Member
KINGofCRA5H said:
Alright, I'll bite.

You're completely missing the point. Ubisoft intentionally decided to remove the micro-transactions from review copies because they knew it would negatively affect the perception of their game, and rightfully so. This thread proves why. They knew it was a bad/shady move and yet they did it anyway. In this case, "going crazy over nothing" is completely justified. I have a spine and don't like to be insulted, Thank you Very Much, Ubisoft.
Click to expand...

Except they did not intentionally remove it from review copies. It was there in the menu, just not accessible due to the server not running.
 
KyanMehwulfe

KyanMehwulfe

Member
elelunicy said:
Except they did not intentionally remove it from review copies. It was there in the menu, just not accessible due to the server not running.
Click to expand...
Either way they created a situation where pricing (a relevant and influential part of the game) was not provided to reviewers which could have resulted in inaccurate review scores not reflecting the actual balance of the game.
 
Aces&Eights

Aces&Eights

Member
As much as micros are not my thing I don't mind them as long as I can achieve end game without a ridiculous grind. I usually drop 40 hours in their games so if someone wants to pay 30 bucks to unlock all the stuff I normally would collect playing the game, then so be it, it's their money.

What really chaps my hide is that I couldn't open a chest without the damn companion app. I have some OCD issues and that is probably why I play the AC games to begin with, in that I like cleaning up collectables; "gotta catch 'em all". So forcing me to download their shitty app just to open all the chests? Fuck that.

What if you didn't have a smart phone? Are those people SOL on getting all the loot?
 
Ivory Samoan

Ivory Samoan

Gold Member
hqdefault.jpg
 
T

Teabag

Neo Member
Ubisoft is the most confusing company ever. On one had, they encouraged almost an indie-like idea in Child of Light, had faith and published South Park: The Stick of Truth, and generally released some solid games in the past year or two.

But on the other hand, they fuck up for no reason whatsoever. DRM, lies, and now microtransaction that they NEVER told anyone about prior to the release, and not shipping Rogue to reviewers. If Unity is such a mess, you have to be concerned how terrible Rogue is going to be that someone from the company suggested and passed the notion that the game shouldn't receive day-one reviews.

Ubisoft's dual-personalities is hurting them. And they need to stop.

Ubisoft, dude, you are making AWESOME games. People are buying the shit out of your games. Child of Light and South Park were awesome, FC4 looks like a good romp, The Division looks fun too. Rainbow Six? Fuck yeah. But COME ON, why are you sabotaging yourself with needless dickery? Let the games speak for themselves, if they are good, they will fucking sell.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
Just listened to the segment of the bombcast, and christ has all of this been blown out of proportion. They specifically stated that the servers were down due to it being pre-release, and they simply couldn't confirm if it was a real currency, or some sort of meta-game system (though they all seemed convinced that it was an actual microtransaction platform).

The microtransactions are shit, but it's not like Ubisoft intentionally hid anything from reviewers. I get that people want to smack Ubisoft around a little - they've done a great deal to deserve it. But focus on real issues, instead of just making shit up to fit a narrative.
 
S

SURGEdude

Member
I honestly can't think of anything more evil in gaming at the moment than stuff like this. Thank god I fucking hate AC games, but this kind of shit is just wrong for everybody.
 
J

JABEE

Member
Mushroomer25 said:
Just listened to the segment of the bombcast, and christ has all of this been blown out of proportion. They specifically stated that the servers were down due to it being pre-release, and they simply couldn't confirm if it was a real currency, or some sort of meta-game system (though they all seemed convinced that it was an actual microtransaction platform).

The microtransactions are shit, but it's not like Ubisoft intentionally hid anything from reviewers. I get that people want to smack Ubisoft around a little - they've done a great deal to deserve it. But focus on real issues, instead of just making shit up to fit a narrative.
Click to expand...

Those specific servers are down for a reason. Other online servers worked, but the game options that were a negative for the game were down while reviewers were playing their copy.

It makes me wonder how anyone can review games when signing embargoes means playing a rigged game. It's almost as bad as previews where you sit in gaming chairs with expensive headphones, except this time it's about pushing negative features to the side, because "the servers were down" while acting coy.

It may not trick some reviewers, but it had an impact on those that aren't as vigilant.
 
J

JABEE

Member
elelunicy said:
Except they did not intentionally remove it from review copies. It was there in the menu, just not accessible due to the server not running.
Click to expand...

Online Co-Op worked, but their skill points side-show flea market wasn't running on early retail copies. Stay tuned until after you submit your bonus-impacting review to see full pricing and implementation.
 
F

FlyingSaucer

Banned
Disgusting. I haven't bought an Ubi game for quite some time now, thought I would do an exception for Unity, but I finally think I will keep on ignoring them instead.
 
A

Ash_Killem

Banned
Don't listen much to reviews but opening the "hack" menu to find microtransactions was BS enough in its own right. I was expecting some sort of hack mini-game you could gamble (in game) money on......
 
G

gatti-man

Member
This tears it. I was really excited about a next gen assassins creed. But i cant support this shit. Amirox is right. Ill support a dev actually trying and buy DA:I
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
JABEE said:
Those specific servers are down for a reason. Other online servers worked, but the game options that were a negative for the game were down while reviewers were playing their copy.

It makes me wonder how anyone can review games when signing embargoes means playing a rigged game. It's almost as bad as previews where you sit in gaming chairs with expensive headphones, except this time it's about pushing negative features to the side, because "the servers were down" while acting coy.

It may not trick some reviewers, but it had an impact on those that aren't as vigilant.
Click to expand...

All of the microtransactions were visible. Every stupid boost, every pointless unlock - it was all clearly visible to the reviewer. The single unknown element was price, which is ultimately a very small part of the total game experience.

Additionally, that server would be down (as compared to a multiplayer server) because there's no real reason for a critic to need it. They're not going to put money into DLC or microtransactions during the review period, but they are going to play co-op.

Not everything is a conspiracy.
 
O

OmegaNemesis28

Neo Member
JABEE said:
Those specific servers are down for a reason. Other online servers worked, but the game options that were a negative for the game were down while reviewers were playing their copy.

It makes me wonder how anyone can review games when signing embargoes means playing a rigged game. It's almost as bad as previews where you sit in gaming chairs with expensive headphones, except this time it's about pushing negative features to the side, because "the servers were down" while acting coy.

It may not trick some reviewers, but it had an impact on those that aren't as vigilant.
Click to expand...

Not at all. Where did you get that from?
Most of these services aren't fully working now either. The companion app is great when it works, how is that a negative? Its a really beautiful app. Maybe not worth the 500MB on your phone, but how on earth is it a "negative"? Or AC Initiates? That makes no sense whatsoever. Why would those services make a game review worse? Completely optional services that have nothing to do with core gameplay for all intent and purposes.

Take a step back and consider how the BRUTAL fact that you can play the game without microtransactions furthers the point that microtransactions are so external to the game, they have no affect on you and your gameplay. Isn't that what you WANT? Or are you saying you want microtransactions to be a core part of the game? You're sending completely mixed and contradicting messages.

You couldn't even call them "extras" because that would imply that without them, you'd have less content. And you don't have less content without them. Its the same exact thing if you played the game offline with no internet connection. Should we further hate on Ubisoft for not allowing microtransactions for not being offline if they were down "to trick reviewers"?

Thats so rediculous. Conspiracies everywhere.

Either way they created a situation where pricing (a relevant and influential part of the game) was not provided to reviewers which could have resulted in inaccurate review scores not reflecting the actual balance of the game.
Click to expand...

What difference does it make if they charged $9,000 to fast unlock a cloak that you can buy for an ingame currency amount? There's nothing in the game thats an unreasonable amount of ingame currency that you don't pickup from just playing the game as normal. So, why would microtransaction prices factor into playing a game at all when microtransaction themselves mean nothing in terms of how you play the game?
 
O

OmegaNemesis28

Neo Member
This post should be stickied to the OP. Clearly people just read the title and assume from there out:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=138446119&postcount=220

Its extremely evident of what microtransactions were (or weren't). It didn't matter about pricing. Critics don't care and if players who don't want to do microtransactions don't care, neither should they. If you're opposed to microtransactions, why do you care if some rando is paying $20 for a cloak unlockable now that you can get by playing the game as normal, as opposed to $10 or $5 or $9,000? Why would that change a review score?
 
D

d9b

Banned
OmegaNemesis28 said:
This post should be stickied to the OP. Clearly people just read the title and assume from there out:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=138446119&postcount=220

Its extremely evident of what microtransactions were (or weren't). It didn't matter about pricing. Critics don't care and if players who don't want to do microtransactions don't care, neither should they. If you're opposed to microtransactions, why do you care if some rando is paying $20 for a cloak unlockable now that you can get by playing the game as normal, as opposed to $10 or $5 or $9,000? Why would that change a review score?
Click to expand...
Are you actually defending microbulshit or are you just PR? Can't tell.
Don't want this in my games. Make it free and charge whatever you want.

P.S. Other than that, fix this steaming pile you call game Ubisoft. I hope they bomb financially with Unity, maybe they'll learn the lesson.
 
M

Memorabilia

Member
So, let me get this straight...Ubi purposefully witheld microtransactions from review copies and then enabled MTs for consumer copies after reviews dropped?

You have got to be fucking kidding me if true. Easily a new level of shadiness. What a bunch of sketchy scumbags. Frankly, I expected this type of shit from the d-bags I used to work with in finance...but used car salesman tactics in the video-game biz makes me nauseous. If this becomes the true trend-line ill leave this hobby behind with zero regrets.

Edit: Ok, so it appears there are people saying this was due to "servers not being up" during the review window, not because Ubi purposefully "removed" MTs. Hmmm...purposeful or not, its pretty convenient and no doubt had to be something Ubi execs considered as they sent out review copies. Doesn't look good to me either way, so I'm not sure I understand all the indignant defense being thrown up on behalf of Ubi in response to the justified backlash against all this. Ubi screwed the pooch hard with this game in multiple ways. And the mere presence of MTs in a full retail game is horseshit. The fact that none of the published reviews reflect MTs is at best a convenient, coincidental form of damage control. Every publication should issue a review update but I'm guessing only a handful will, which means only a fraction of buyers will be aware of this bullshit before getting slapped in the face with it after laying down $60.
 
M

Masquerader

Member
Ubisoft has stepped over the line and into the long dark teatime of the soul. As someone who was quite the fan of them some 4 or 5 years ago, I can't believe this. They actually seemed innovative, modern, and up-to-date, but now they're so much less than that. And this is just the beginning of a new age of squeezing every last single penny out of their customers, ruining their reputation and making everyone pay for it, because it's STILL going to sell so many games in the process. Ethically corrupt lobotomised executives run this joint, and they won't relinquish it.

That said, I would encourage you all to buy Rogue over Unity. If the sales of Rogue outperform those of Unity, then they'd probably take some form of notice.
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
Ridiculous, but then nothing Ubi does particularly surprises me after the last couple of days.

They won't be seeing a single penny from me going forward. I'm not even going to bother getting their games used.

It's sad. I love the Assassins series and really liked Watch Dogs too. Was also quite looking forward to Division and Rainbow Six as well...

Ah well.
 
Z

Zoned

Actively hates charity
Now imagine how much they are gonna fuck up division considering that it is an MMO shooter.
 
Braag

Braag

Member
disastermouse said:
You'll see shit so weird you couldn't even make it up if you tried.

Also, there's still time to change your mind/profession.
Click to expand...

I've all ready wiped a few asses while working at a nursing home for little over a month.
Same thing during my 6 weeks period at a kindergarten.
My next work sessions is with patients suffering from mental disorders.

I've come too far to stop now.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
I'm pretty sure this is the first time in documented history that I'm actually glad that I'm pretty broke right now because if I weren't I would have bought this fucking game the second it hit.

A few days ago I was thinking about how Ubisoft treats video games as though they're shopping malls, especially after that Watch Dogs DLC chart, but I couldn't have imagined this shit if I tried. Well played. I'll just not bother with anything from them from here on out.
 
M

MagicWithEarvin

Member
Are there any Ubisoft developers or community managers here on GAF? I feel sorry for the backlash they're receiving, even if they took no part in this game.

Sucks for Ubi, tho. They're having a terribad year with consumer backlash.
 
O

OmegaNemesis28

Neo Member
d9b said:
Are you actually defending microbulshit or are you just PR? Can't tell.
Don't want this in my games. Make it free and charge whatever you want.

P.S. Other than that, fix this steaming pile you call game Ubisoft. I hope they bomb financially with Unity, maybe they'll learn the lesson.
Click to expand...

I'm not defending microtransactions that are actually "microtransactions" as you define them.
I'm defending that AC Unity doesn't actually have the "microtransactions" in the definition that you believe it does.

Make WHAT free? All of the "microtransactions" in the game is for content that is "FREE". In other words, the "microtransactions" are just fast-unlock passes to stuff you unlock in the game like you would in any other normal game. EVERYTHING is in the game. You can get EVERYTHING in the game. No one is taking content and putting it behind a paywall.

So WHO CARES? Why do you care if there is an option for people to buy their way through the game's progression? Its an ~option~.

The real problem of actual "microtransactions" in the clickbait definition that we all know and hate from mobile games are transactions where you die, and then you're prompted to pay money to continue playing or ask a bunch of friends to help you or something. Candy Crush or Farmville. Those are THE microtransactions you don't want in your games. You're mistakening those microtransactions with what is actually in games like Assassins Creen Unity and other games since like 2008. They're TWO entirely different things. Just because they're labeled the same does ~not~ mean they represent the same transaction values.
That's what I'm "defending". And the later shouldnt make a difference to you. Its an option, your content is all there and waiting for you to play to get as normal. Why do you care if some idiot is paying cash for some plate of virtual armor that you can get in an hour of perfectly normal gameplay? They're the equivalent of cheat codes offered by the developer. Don't buy them, ignore the option. They're just menu text otherwise - taking no effect on the value of your game or the amount of content in it.

I don't care for microtransactions at all, but I certainly am able to see the difference between them.
And when they show in AC Unity menus or games like Battlefield 4, I just ignore the text and I don't press the Buy button. I just play the game and unlock the weapons/armor that I want by actually playing the game. Bizarre - I know.
 
E

EricTheCleric

Member
earvcunanan said:
Are there any Ubisoft developers or community managers here on GAF? I feel sorry for the backlash they're receiving, even if they took no part in this game.

Sucks for Ubi, tho. They're having a terribad year with consumer backlash.
Click to expand...

it would suck less for Ubi if they stopped being dicks towards their customers. No one should feel sorry for Ubi, they deserve the hate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Stephen Totilo leaves Kotaku
21
3K
small_law replied
Assassin's Creed Unity is Amazing (on modern hardware)
2
61
12K
Just_one replied
Why did Dreams take Media Molecule seven years to make? (GribbleGrunger, GET ITT!!!)
Game Dev
11
2K
Psykodad replied
Assassin’s Creed Unity microtransactions
5
1K
chaosaeon replied
LTTP Assassins Creed Rogue the best AC I've played
8
2K
sueil replied
Top Bottom