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Ubisoft Reportedly Spent $650 to $850 Million on Skull and Bones

diffusionx

Gold Member
Bottom line is that ubisoft singapore needs to be shut down. They are incompetent. The working environment is horrible, and the execs over there are more interested in using the company $$$ for vacations and partying than making a good game. It has been documented. If the same people are working on the rumoured AC4 black flag remake, it gives me less hope that it will be good.
Don't they have caning for this type of behavior
 

Von Hugh

Member
They told us it was AAAA, but you wouldn't believe them.

AAAA in only cost.

Disney River GIF
 

MMaRsu

Member
This game was announced at E3 wasn't it? Always a red flag imo....

E3 was bad in that it created hype pressure on publishers to show something new even if was probably just thrown together.

For example I believe Metroid 4 was announced at the same E3(2017) as this game...

What the fuck is this nonsense I'm reading???
 

Jaybe

Member
Wasn’t the Singapore government subsidizing most or all of it? I guess they wanted to be a destination for gaming development, so much for that plan
 

Sentenza

Member
E3 hype cycle often distorted expectations in the game industry. I don't think this is a crazy statement to make.
I wouldn't say it's "crazy", but I do think it's just wrong.

That "pressure to show something that excited the public" was very healthy, as it applied a constant reality check on these companies and let them know in no uncertain terms when they had to something that people were genuinely thrilled about and when not.
It doesn't look like moving away from that "toxic hype cycle" did the industry any favor in the last few years, does it?
 

RPCGamer

Neophyte
Exactly. Let's not spend 20 million on a new Rayman, not enough money in that. Let's instead spend 800 million on something that could sink the company if it fails.

Every single person at the top making these decisions should be fired.

It's like watching a gambler as they think the next game will hit the jackpot. I'm not saying the smaller projects would 100% hit profit, but say one or two broke even or maybe one of them saw potential growth in the audience with a sequel etc. They could have hit the next big series for them.

Tripple A? Pffttt this is AAAA
That's the sound they made when they saw it flop.
 

reinking

Gold Member
They could have made this so easy, quickly and cheap if they had just made the game that everybody wanted.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
No and that's the point. We can discuss these flops on the merits of their actual budgets which are indeed quite high without needing the sensationalism of puffing them up.
What is "indeed quite high" to you?

$200 million is normal right now.

It's like watching a gambler as they think the next game will hit the jackpot. I'm not saying the smaller projects would 100% hit profit, but say one or two broke even or maybe one of them saw potential growth in the audience with a sequel etc. They could have hit the next big series for them.


That's the sound they made when they saw it flop.
Game industry kind of went insane in the 2015-2022 timeframe. It grew massively as live service shit exploded, including on mobile. The PS4 was much more successful than the PS3 and 360 and had facilities for that type of game that those older systems did not as much. The amount of money flowing in was crazy and studios responded in kind. Then after 2020 there was this artificial bump in demand and salaries going up. So the whole situation is now in the process of being corrected.

We will look back on this gaashit live service thing like the post-WOW gold rush times 100.
 
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Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
How many GAAS need to fail before they go back to making great single player games? It’s ok to add a MP mode. Blame the execs and shareholders for seeing the $$$$$ promised and raising expectations.

I mean....how often do you hear a publisher say 'it didn't meet our expectations!' ?
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
We've already had and closed this thread once.

It's unreliable because the same video makes comments like Yasuke being removed from the game, which is not happening.



 
What is "indeed quite high" to you?

$200 million is normal right now.
It's weird world to me where anyone wouldn't consider a game budget of 200+ million "quite high" regardless of how common that is now. I guess that's why people need to inflate the numbers to make the gossip extra juicy.
 
And to think, all they had to do was make a non-Assassin's Creed branded open world pirate RPG from the beginning. You know, the thing that huge swaths of people obviously wanted, and that would have no direct competition because (bafflingly) no one else is doing it either?
 

MMaRsu

Member
E3 hype cycle often distorted expectations in the game industry. I don't think this is a crazy statement to make.

Just because a game is announced at E3 literally has nothing to say about the eventual quality of said game.

Your statement is dumb.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
The website is fine, their 'source' is a random youtuber who made some pretty outlandish and false claims, the thread was already made on GAF once but quickly closed.
Was it that alt right Jim sterling with the steam punk mask?

Edit: no, the guy I’m talking about put out the rumor about Veilguard preorders being bad
 
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Trogdor1123

Member
Is that even possible? The game had pretty limited marketing from what I remember. Surely they would have poured several hundred million into marketing if it cost that much? It is Ubisoft though…
 
It's like watching a gambler as they think the next game will hit the jackpot. I'm not saying the smaller projects would 100% hit profit, but say one or two broke even or maybe one of them saw potential growth in the audience with a sequel etc. They could have hit the next big series for them.
My thing is, even if something like the aforementioned Rayman doesn't sell gangbusters, it's not going to sink the company. They're trying to swing for the fences which is far riskier with the financial numbers being reported.

Everyone wants to make the next fortnite but its not like that games success was guaranteed either. Some things just happen to land in ways that can't be predicted and are one-offs. Not that I'm a fan of GAAS but I'm not sure why didn't just try it with Assassin's Creed. At the least its a recognizable IP and really how much further can they push the current formula?
 
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GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
I wouldn't say it's "crazy", but I do think it's just wrong.

That "pressure to show something that excited the public" was very healthy, as it applied a constant reality check on these companies and let them know in no uncertain terms when they had to something that people were genuinely thrilled about and when not.
It doesn't look like moving away from that "toxic hype cycle" did the industry any favor in the last few years, does it?

I disagree. Showing some hype game concept at E3 is what radically distorted expectations for everyone as cool concept does not equal good game nor did set realistic expectations on dev timelines.
 

Chechack

Member
Just like concord definately cost more than 400mio

People forget that all those yoga classes,baking classes,self inflicted trauma health specialist/psychiatrist cost addup for all that
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Was it that alt right Jim sterling with the steam punk mask?

Edit: no, the guy I’m talking about put out the rumor about Veilguard preorders being bad

I'm not sure, I don't follow any of these youtube channels :(
 

MMaRsu

Member
I disagree. Showing some hype game concept at E3 is what radically distorted expectations for everyone as cool concept does not equal good game nor did set realistic expectations on dev timelines.
Nor did showing a game at E3 equal bad game or good game.
 

gatti-man

Member
If that’s true every single manager attached to that game should be fired. Unbelievable I can’t even see where 1/4 of that money went.
 

Dorago

Member
This is what government subsidy does to both the budget and quality of a game.

Compare with subsidized medical care, education, housing, broadband infrastructure, etc and you see the trend.
 

Sentenza

Member
I'm starting not to believe these numbers. Sounds like we're being gaslit for when they want to contract the industry.
At some point one is left with only two sensible explanations: it's either a money laundry scheme or mismanagement and gross incompetence of the highest order across the board of the entire studio that worked on it.
 
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proandrad

Member
This is what government subsidy does to both the budget and quality of a game.

Compare with subsidized medical care, education, housing, broadband infrastructure, etc and you see the trend.
Like Curt Schilling failed studio, that used up $150million from the state of Rhode Island to put out a game that looked like it cost 1/5 of that during the 360 era. Studios are probably filled with $2000 Herman miller chairs, meditation rooms, and other nonsense.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Like Curt Schilling failed studio, that used up $150million from the state of Rhode Island to put out a game that looked like it cost 1/5 of that during the 360 era. Studios are probably filled with $2000 Herman miller chairs, meditation rooms, and other nonsense.
No, the money from Rhode Island was for the MMO that never came out.

The game that came out was basically a rebranded and reworked game in development from another studio.
 
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