Dead In the Water

Skulls and bones has failed in a lot of people’s eyes. You’d think that publishers would have learned from other failed live-service games. The thing is, there have been a lot of titles that have been successful. So chasing that success story is always going to be prominent in the gaming industry for big videogame companies such as Ubisoft. In a sense, the longevity of it and the resources to make the game right are always going to be there for those kinds of games over a longer period of time.

The likes of Watch Dogs, however, have fallen victim to a very serious identity issue. At least, the follow-ups were not as good as the original. Then, you have Beyond Good and Evil 2 pretty much just absent, and everyone is wondering just what the hell is going on at Ubisoft. It’ll be the 20th anniversary of that iconic game this year, too.

Then, the formula of Ubisoft and it’s games are brought into question. I saw a glimpse of game play for Beyond Good and Evil 2. It’s ambitious and looks to be set away from the standard formula Ubisoft is known for. But getting back to the point, it’s looking to me like the success of Helldivers 2 has really caught the attention of many big gaming companies and is only maintaining an ironclad faith in the live service games they’re working on.

There will always be a love for single-player experiences. The thing is, when they’ve been so badly mishandled, its a problem. Then, Ubisoft is coming out and selling an ultimate edition of Star Wars: Outlaws. With that content, players want to play at prices that would make a pirate happy. It’s all just a bit of an aerial bombardment.

I mean, Ubisoft is surviving pretty much on Assassins Creed these days. While all the other franchises they have are nowhere to be seen. I just miss the old Ubisoft. It seems to me that there is little margin for error, and we’re going through a bit of a phase of what works and what doesn’t.