Did you notice a small but noticeable change at this year’s E3? Games were announced that were out in six months rather than in three year’s time, and videos were mostly of in game footage rather than target renders.
It appears that publishers are – at last – listening to consumers. Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, told The Guardian that the reaction to the Watch Dogs demo had changed how the company would show future games.
“With E3 2015 we said, OK, let’s make sure the games are playable, that they’re running on the target machines,” said Yves. “When we show something, we ask the team, make sure it’s playable, make sure gamers can immediately see exactly what it is. That’s what we learned from the Watch Dogs experience – if it can’t be played on the target machine, it can be a risk.”
He went on to say that Watch Dogs had many interconnected features and that this was “maybe a bit too much for a first iteration.”
It’s good news that Ubisoft are listening to their fans, perhaps they can start sorting out the massive day one patches next.
Source: The Guardian
cam_manutd
Watch Dogs was not as nearly as embarrassing as Unity. Even that had to have its graphics downgraded to compensate for performance across all platforms.
Last year should have been the year for Ubi. With Unity, Watch Dogs, Far Cry 4 and The Crew, all dissapointed in some way or another.
beeje13
Why did FC4 disapoint? Praised by digital foundry for graphics and performance,and all in all working correctly from day 1. Can’t argue with the rest.
Youles
There were lots of connection problems on release with FC4, which lasted several weeks (for those affected, myself included). Perhaps that’s what he is referring to for FC4?!
cam_manutd
The performance issues on PC plus its uncanny resemblance to FC3. Still a top game-by far the best game Ubi released last year along with Child Of Light.
beeje13
Ok, I didn’t get it till late January and it was on PS4 so I was fortunate to miss those problems I guess.
Youles
Yet The Division is looking less prettier each time I see it, sadly.
Forrest_01
Unfortunately, the division will fall into the same category as all of those mentioned above – Shown too early with unrealistic expectations to be met.
It’ll be a pixelated game by the time it arrives. ;)
Stefan L
When you think about it too much, all games are pixellated.
hornet1990
Not sure it helped to be honest… Was looking forward to R6:Siege but the footage they showed at E3 looked terrible, and the gameplay didn’t look much better. I’ll reserve judgment until the beta but given that is a mere few weeks before release I don’t hold out much hope.
The Division I’m less fussed about the downgrade – still looks interesting even if it’s not close to what they’ve shown over the last 3 years since reveal.
Ghost Recon:Wildlands also seems to be the exception to the “new” rule. We won’t see that for a couple of years and no doubt it’ll also suffer from a visual downgrade… old habits die hard I guess!
bunimomike
I thought it was releasing mid October. :-\
hornet1990
R6:Seige is, but the beta is about the 3rd week of September apparently… doesn’t give much time to correct anything. In fact the game will already have gone gold by that point, and the day 1 patch will probably have also been, or about to be, submitted for testing/approval…
Why they just can’t call them early-access demos or something I don’t know – makes a mockery of the software development process!
Stefan L
My interpretation is that, whereas The Division and Watch Dogs were both revealed in advance of knowing what the PS4 and Xbox One would be like in terms of hardware, and therefore without an equivalent set of PC hardware on which to base the demo, Ghost Recon: Wildlands’ reveal was more grounded in what we now know of these consoles.
In other words, while the game might still be a long way away and an exception to the rule of being playable at E3, it should be representative of the final look of the game.
hornet1990
That would work if it wasn’t for the fact that the PC version (on which the original WD and Division demos were run) also suffered from a noticeable downgrade, and the amount of GPU power available to that platform since reveal has only gone up (quite substantially!).
I agree though that Wildlands probably will end up looking something closer to the reveal than WD et al, but being that it is clearly at best a late 2016, most likely 2017 title by announcing it so early they’re only increasing the chances of a downgrade happening. Like I’ve said before, Bethesda have gotten it right with Fallout 4, would be nice if other publishers followed suit.
tactical20
Ubisoft still make the best games. I enjoyed Watch Dogs and Unity more than the average PS4 game.
JoeBoi
Watchdogs wasn’t all bad, I have not played Unity yet but I love the Assassin’s Creed series. I thoroughly enjoyed Far Cry 4. So yeah I would have to agree, Ubisoft do make decent games.