shponglefan wrote on Nov 25, 2011, 08:22:
If their games sucked so bad, people wouldn't pirate them either. They just wouldn't play them at all. The "games suck" = "poor sales/high piracy" meme has to die. Their games, on average, are decent; on par with most other companies' offerings.
This is incorrect, downloads are not necessarily people, in fact much of the piracy scene is automated these days. The actual end "user" downloads are likely dwarfed by the couriering that goes on. It's also impossible to gauge intent from a download statistic. That's not to say there isn't a shitload of piracy going on but that happens to all platforms, Microsoft bans half a million users each year alone and those are just the ones who got caught. The difference is mainly that consoles have a lot more consumers and those consumers have lower buying standards than most PC consumers.
Ubisoft makes slightly above average titles with the odd high quality release but unlike other publishers they have not figured out the PC platform. It's not an emotional problem, it's just a business one and Ubisoft doesn't seem genuinely interested in solving it. I'd like to see some of their games on their PC but let's be honest, the market for things like Just Dance and even Assassin's Creed is going to be way more limited on the PC. I have no problem with them being selective about which titles to port, that just makes sense.
Continually saying that the PC isn't a viable platform just because you kept trying progressively worse DRM and made your customers out to be criminals isn't a productive way to do business though. It's also simply not the truth, the PC is a very viable and profitable platform to do business on.
Playing: Ys VIII, Hades, Demons Souls
Watching: The Expanse, Tenet, Peninsula