.svg)
Ubisoft has had its fair share of hits, but not every game is a success. Explore the top 3 biggest Ubisoft flops and what went wrong with these disappointing releases.
In recent years, Ubisoft- once a titan of the gaming industry- appears to have been disappointing gamers left right and centre. From broken promises by developers, total tone-deafness to the desires of the playerbase, predatory pricing and, as is the case in many of their latest releases, all of the above, Ubiost isn’t very well liked at the moment. So, with this in mind, let’s examine Ubisoft’s 3 biggest failures and ask the ever-important question: can they come back from this?
Watch Dogs: Legion, released in October of 2020, was one of Ubisoft’s first major controversies in respect to the development of new games. While Watch Dogs 2 had itself been controversial, with the developers being rushed by the studio to make a game for the stellar 2014 success of ‘Watch Dogs’, resulting in a number of broken promises (e.g. the disappointing state of Watch Dogs 2’s multiplayer modes) and a generally mediocre narrative in order to meet the rushed release date in 2016. However, these grievances would appear petty next to the colossal disappointment of Watch Dogs: Legion.
Legion was unveiled at E3 in 2019 to thunderous applause, a new Watch Dogs game set in a techno-totalitarian London that would breathe new air into the franchise- a franchise that, in spite of Ubisoft’s failings, had remained a fan favourite. Legion came with big promises, chief among them being an unlimited amount of customizability by enabling players to pick any citizen of the game’s techno-totalitarian London to recruit as part of their rebellion. With hype building amongst the playerbase, all should have been fine. Indeed, despite a later announcement of a delay in development, hype only grew- was Ubisoft finally understanding that a late game is preferable to a rushed game?
But alas, that hope was promptly squashed. Watch Dogs: Legion released as a buggy, practically unplayable, mess that was, in nearly every way, just an aesthetic overhaul for Watch Dogs 2- the same gunplay, the same gameplay loop, and the same bland and poorly written story that was just a weak regurgitation of the amazing writing of the original Watch Dogs game. However, worse than the lazy developing and the poor improvements were the additions themselves. Part of the Watch Dogs experience has always been bonding with one character and learning their story, but with an infinite range of characters to play as, many reported that the game felt aimless and slightly tone-deaf to the genre, believing Ubisoft simply just wanted to make a big, technically impractical promise just for the sake of grabbing headlines. However, unlike games like Cyberpunk 2077 or No Man’s Sky, instead of powering through a rough launch to try and make good on their promises, Ubisoft's few attempts at reinjecting energy into the game fell flat, with a half-finished multiplayer mode and then a long overdue content update, simply didn’t restore faith in the community. Thus, only a year after development, Ubisoft cut support. Watch Dogs: Legion was, at the time, heralded as a spectacular failure on the otherwise stellar record of Ubisoft. However, from shoddy concepts, genre tone-deafness, broken promises and cut support, the game is strong foreshadowing for what came next. In short, the reason I put Legion on this list is because Ubisoft could’ve- and should’ve- learnt from their experience. But they didn’t.
The disappointment of Star Wars: Outlaws will be familiar to many fans of the franchise, but few actually just how big of a disappointment this was, and what a failed opportunity this could’ve been. For context, EA- creators of Battlefront 2, easily the most successful Star Wars game so far- lost their rights to exclusively produce Star Wars games in 2021. For many fans, this resulted in huge hype- EA’s Star Wars record has been a bit hit and miss, as seen in the experience of Star Wars Squadrons or the initially rough release of Battlefront 2. Many hypothesised this was a consequence of EA resting on their laurels, and hoped that competition in the field of Star Wars games would encourage improvement and innovation in the field. So, when Ubisoft announced in 2021 it would begin production on an open-worlds Star Wars game, fans were incredibly excited. Not only was this an opportunity for gaming’s biggest name to publish a new title, but with the recent success of Jedi: Fallen Order, Ubisoft had a clearly successful open world game to take inspiration from.
However, Ubisoft managed to disappoint even before the game was released. Development was slow due to financial setbacks and internal issues with Ubisoft, and without a stream of teasers, trailers or really anything of substance that might have energised fans for a new release, the hype for Ubisoft’s latest creation just fell to the wayside. However, by the time Ubisoft finally announced the game’s launch in 2024, fans were livid. While the gameplay teasers in early 2024 had caught the attention of some, many described their feelings as “cautiously optimistic”, as with Ubisoft’s latest failures they were anticipating a screw-up. And they got it. As part of their pre-order bundle, not only did Ubisoft price Outlaws at a ridiculous $70, but they used the promise of interaction with some of the franchise’s most iconic characters to be solely packaged into a pre-order premium deal costing a whopping $130. This was plainly exploitative pricing, and the fans rioted- why should they drop $130 for a fairly unexceptional experience, for a game with a few appealing elements, but on the whole seemingly a little dry. With Ubisoft’s refusal to apologise, revert their decision or even acknowledge the issue, anticipation for Outlaws died further and further and more content releases display the game’s stale gunplay and poorly written characters. By the time of release, there were claims that Outlaws had managed 1 million sales, but these were debunked as “number fudging” - but even still, 1 million sales would have been disappointing for a AAA game marketed as highly as Ubisoft did. Star Wars Outlaws is ultimately a lesson not so much in disappointing game design, but a terrible marketing ethos. Ubisoft produced an average, unexceptional game, but too concerned with profit, attempted to market it as a AAA title, and set the price accordingly, with some even going as far as to gaslight the consumers, even blaming them for the title’s failure. A terrible attitude exemplified by Ubisoft through and through.
However, if we’ve classified Star Wars Outlaws- despite its very mediocre gameplay- as a failure of marketing rather than development, Skull and Bones is absolute a failure of development. Pirate games have always been massively loved by the community, from Sea of Thieves to Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Considering that Ubisoft made the latter, one would expect Ubisoft could release a stellar new generation of pirate game. However, once again Ubisoft would massively fumble the execution of what should’ve been a winning strategy. First off, Ubisoft was completely tone deaf, producing a game totally divorced from the themes and gameplay loops that make pirate games enjoyable. The primary basis of the gameplay loop isn’t sailing the high seas for gold and glory, but going from point A to B making deliveries. The bar for Ubisoft was incredibly low- all players wanted were the core Black Flag mechanics with a new coat of paint- and yet they still failed. Furthermore, the development side of things was equally massive, including janky graphics, choppy frames and a general feeling of laziness and cut corners. Many said that the UI and mechanics at times felt like a mobile game, and overall it fell far short of the fan expectations. The irony of this is that Ubisoft massively up-marketed the game, branding it a ‘quadruple A’ title. That said, while Ubisoft clearly had some marketing failures (as this once again shows Ubisoft building hype when they have no intention of substantially delivering on it), this game was sunk primarily by a failure of development: lazy, out of touch development.
So, with Ubisoft stock plummeting and consumer confidence at an all time low, can Ubisoft come back from this? Honestly, I believe they can. The problems with Ubisoft’s latest releases are so glaringly obvious- overhyped marketing, rushed development, disappointing but overpriced final product. A lot of these practices- although undeniably predatory and generally poor business practices- can find roots in Ubisoft's recent financial difficulties, and so its likely the studio was not paying due attention to the actual realities of the situation, and just charging from release to release hoping to make a quick buck. I do believe, with the change of leadership set to come soon, paired with the fairly obvious mistakes of the past, Ubisoft can improve. However, some are more cynical. Ubisoft’s poor stewardship of even its most successful franchises like Assassin’s Creed, whose new releases have continuously disappointed for some time, fills some with dread. But, I truly believe there is a way out for Ubisoft, and I expect there will be light at the end of the tunnel in the near future.
