I'm boycotting Ubisoft. I can't take it anymore.

[gf78]

With the news that Ubisoft is banning Farcry 4 users who purchased their games through G2A, Kinguin and G2Play, I've finally had enough.

Ubisoft has been getting progressively worse year by year.  They force the worst DRM on their users that has only gotten worse with time.  They've turned their once great franchises into yearly cash-ins that are half-bakes, content either left out or ripped out to sell later as DLC and releasing beta versions of games as retail titles with the intent to just "patch it later."  I'm looking at you Unity.  They hype up games to look fantastic, but the end product like Watchdogs is nothing like you were lead to believe.  They intentionally lower the resolution of their titles that perform better on one platform in the quest for "platform parity."  Now, they are dropping the DRM banhammer on users who purchased Farcry 4 through who they deem to be an "unauthorized seller."  If this is the case and the licenses weren't valid, would it hurt Ubisoft to allow these gamers who were obviously DUPED to continue to play their games and go after...I dunno, the guys selling their software illegally?

So for me personally, I'm done.  It's not worth it.  The only way these companies are going to change is to take a hit in their wallet.  I'll support the guys like CD Projekt Red who put out a complete game, keep improving upon it after release and giving the improvements and additions to their loyal customers for FREE.

[bikingjahuty]

Ubisoft is one of my least favorite publishers and always has been. I feel like their entire catalog is saturated in mediocrity, with some of their franchises (mainly Assassins Creed and Farcry) being the poster children of overrated, over hypes crap. And yes, their anti-gamer, anti-consumer business practices are on par with Activision and EA. I guess in a way I boycott them as well, but it's not that hard to when they're games are mostly shit imo.

[Warmsignal]

Most Ubisoft games I buy come out of bargain bins, I don't think I've ever bought one of their games at launch. Had the chance to pick up Assassins Creed II and III the other day for $18 and decided to just pass on it. Think my money is better spent elsewhere.

[foxhack]

With the news that Ubisoft is banning Farcry 4 users who purchased their games through G2A, Kinguin and G2Play, I've finally had enough.

Ubisoft has been getting progressively worse year by year.  They force the worst DRM on their users that has only gotten worse with time.  They've turned their once great franchises into yearly cash-ins that are half-bakes, content either left out or ripped out to sell later as DLC and releasing beta versions of games as retail titles with the intent to just "patch it later."  I'm looking at you Unity.  They hype up games to look fantastic, but the end product like Watchdogs is nothing like you were lead to believe.  They intentionally lower the resolution of their titles that perform better on one platform in the quest for "platform parity."  Now, they are dropping the DRM banhammer on users who purchased Farcry 4 through who they deem to be an "unauthorized seller."  If this is the case and the licenses weren't valid, would it hurt Ubisoft to allow these gamers who were obviously DUPED to continue to play their games and go after...I dunno, the guys selling their software illegally?

So for me personally, I'm done.  It's not worth it.  The only way these companies are going to change is to take a hit in their wallet.  I'll support the guys like CD Projekt Red who put out a complete game, keep improving upon it after release and giving the improvements and additions to their loyal customers for FREE.

I'm not going to make any friends with this post.

1: Anyone who bought something from Kinguin or G2A... got what was coming to them. Those two sites sell CD keys from regional releases where games are really cheap in order to compete against piracy. The sites buy cheap copies in bulk then turn around and sell those keys in regions they're not meant to be used for a profit.

1.1: Oh, these sites buy bulk indie bundle keys and then resell them.

2: G2A and Kinguin sells keys that require you to use a VPN to bypass regional restrictions. How is that legit?

3: G2A sells retail keys and then they tell you "WARNING! This product cannot be activated on any online platform (e.g., Steam, Origin, etc.). You have to register it while installing the game from a disc. You will have to acquire the instalation files on your own." HOW IS THAT LEGIT?!

4: Valve did the same back in 2007 because a lot of people were buying cheap (for the time - $20) The Orange Box keys from a Thailand game seller. Thousands of copies were disabled. I -almost- fell for it too, but I managed to score a cheap copy from Best Buy a few months later.

5: Rebellion deactivated thousands of copies of Sniper Elite 3 sold through the site and released a statement explaining the situation.

6: Devolver Digital revokes keys sold at G2A and officially stated that they are not an authorized reseller.

7: The Natural Selection II devs only sell their game at three places: Steam, Humble, and GreenManGaming. I checked to make sure. So why does that site have keys?

If someone bought keys from those places, despite repeated warnings from people telling them not to, it's their own fault for not listening.

[kamikazekeeg]

I'm not going to make any friends with this post.

1: Anyone who bought something from Kinguin or G2A... got what was coming to them. Those two sites sell CD keys from regional releases where games are really cheap in order to compete against piracy. The sites buy cheap copies in bulk then turn around and sell those keys in regions they're not meant to be used for a profit.

1.1: Oh, these sites buy bulk indie bundle keys and then resell them.

2: G2A and Kinguin sells keys that require you to use a VPN to bypass regional restrictions. How is that legit?

3: G2A sells retail keys and then they tell you "WARNING! This product cannot be activated on any online platform (e.g., Steam, Origin, etc.). You have to register it while installing the game from a disc. You will have to acquire the instalation files on your own." HOW IS THAT LEGIT?!

4: Valve did the same back in 2007 because a lot of people were buying cheap (for the time - $20) The Orange Box keys from a Thailand game seller. Thousands of copies were disabled. I -almost- fell for it too, but I managed to score a cheap copy from Best Buy a few months later.

5: Rebellion deactivated thousands of copies of Sniper Elite 3 sold through the site and released a statement explaining the situation.

6: Devolver Digital revokes keys sold at G2A and officially stated that they are not an authorized reseller.

7: The Natural Selection II devs only sell their game at three places: Steam, Humble, and GreenManGaming. I checked to make sure. So why does that site have keys?

If someone bought keys from those places, despite repeated warnings from people telling them not to, it's their own fault for not listening.

I think you are totally right.  This isn't the fault of Ubisoft or really should be the reason to hate on them.  There are plenty of other legit reasons to not like them ahead of that.  This is kinda one of those rough awakenings people are just gonna have to take on the nose to learn from their mistake and in the process this will damage the company selling the keys and hopefully shut them down eventually.  I mean, it's crazy to think that buying AC:Unity for 30 bucks off its price tag is legit.  Steam sales aren't even that good lol

[foxhack]

There are plenty of other legit reasons to not like them ahead of that.

Yep. You want to boycott Ubisoft, do it for valid reasons, like poor management and ridiculous DRM policies.

But don't boycott them over this. They're actually in the right. For once.

[dashv]

Why boycott at all now when you can just wait a while and buy used & legit for a fraction of the price?

You get the game for cheap and they get nothing.

Win - lose!

[foxhack]

Why boycott at all now when you can just wait a while and buy used & legit for a fraction of the price?

You get the game for cheap and they get nothing.

Win - lose!

We're talking PC games here. Used games? What's that? We only buy new. Silly console people. :p

(Really though, the issue is "new" sales since these game keys cannot be transferred or sold to other folks once you're done.)

[argyle]

AC:Unity, by all reports was rushed to market and a buggy mess at release. That is not cool and shouldn't be supported. But I think hating on Ubi as a whole is kinda silly. Watch Dogs was about what I expected - a promising start to a franchise that will undoubtedly see some big improvements in future releases. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first Assassin's Creed game. Did it live up to the hype?  No - but what could?? People insanely overhyped that game.

Meanwhile, they released great games this year such as Child of Light, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Valiant Hearts and Far Cry 4, which was my personal GOTY.

[amauriel]

I think you are totally right.  This isn't the fault of Ubisoft or really should be the reason to hate on them.  There are plenty of other legit reasons to not like them ahead of that. 

So true. I just played through James Noir's Hollywood Crimes this past weekend. Full Motion Video, cut into bouncy .gif-style art, in 2011? So much hate.

[devancowan]

Im with you on this one. Ubisoft to me just seems like they don't care about the people actually playing the games. They're just looking at how much money they can bring it. The only game I actually like that they have made is FC3. I just wish they would put they extra work into they're games before releasing them to make the play enjoyable unlike unity which I believe might still be having problems!

[gf78]

AC:Unity, by all reports was rushed to market and a buggy mess at release. That is not cool and shouldn't be supported. But I think hating on Ubi as a whole is kinda silly. Watch Dogs was about what I expected - a promising start to a franchise that will undoubtedly see some big improvements in future releases. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first Assassin's Creed game. Did it live up to the hype?  No - but what could?? People insanely overhyped that game.

Meanwhile, they released great games this year such as Child of Light, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Valiant Hearts and Far Cry 4, which was my personal GOTY.

I'm cool with Child of Light and Valiant Hearts.  These were small-scale, download-only games that were inexpensive to make and aren't basically bastardized-vessels for future DLC.  South Park was a THQ-published title until they went belly-up so Ubi just inherited publishing rights to that one.  I can't speak on Far Cry 4.  But all of Ubisoft's "AAA" titles like Watchdogs, Far Cry and Assassin's Creed are DLC-fests under the guise you are buying a complete, $60 retail title.  Watchdogs was severely downgraded in the graphics department and basically hamstrung so the Xbox One wouldn't look like a turd.  Assassin's Creed Unity was nowhere ready to be released on top of the fact that Ubi downgraded the graphics so the Xbox One wouldn't be the odd-man-out in the graphics department. 

I'm not going to poo-poo your taste in games, but as long as gamers continue to pre-order and buy this stuff knowing full well that you are getting an incomplete title/buggy title, companies like Ubisoft will continue to milk us.

[argyle]

AC:Unity, by all reports was rushed to market and a buggy mess at release. That is not cool and shouldn't be supported. But I think hating on Ubi as a whole is kinda silly. Watch Dogs was about what I expected - a promising start to a franchise that will undoubtedly see some big improvements in future releases. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first Assassin's Creed game. Did it live up to the hype?  No - but what could?? People insanely overhyped that game.

Meanwhile, they released great games this year such as Child of Light, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Valiant Hearts and Far Cry 4, which was my personal GOTY.

I'm cool with Child of Light and Valiant Hearts.  These were small-scale, download-only games that were inexpensive to make and aren't basically bastardized-vessels for future DLC.  South Park was a THQ-published title until they went belly-up so Ubi just inherited publishing rights to that one.  I can't speak on Far Cry 4.  But all of Ubisoft's "AAA" titles like Watchdogs, Far Cry and Assassin's Creed are DLC-fests under the guise you are buying a complete, $60 retail title.  Watchdogs was severely downgraded in the graphics department and basically hamstrung so the Xbox One wouldn't look like a turd.  Assassin's Creed Unity was nowhere ready to be released on top of the fact that Ubi downgraded the graphics so the Xbox One wouldn't be the odd-man-out in the graphics department. 

I'm not going to poo-poo your taste in games, but as long as gamers continue to pre-order and buy this stuff knowing full well that you are getting an incomplete title/buggy title, companies like Ubisoft will continue to milk us.

Which is why I didn't buy Unity. Heck, the only Ubi games I bought last year were AC: Black Flag, South Park, Watch Dogs & FC4. None of those had serious bugs that I noticed, and none of those had dlc that felt required to make the game feel "complete". I didn't buy a single piece of dlc for any of those, and I don't even think I redeemed the free preorder/pack-in dlc for any of those games.

My point is, don't buy incomplete/broken/shoddy games, yes. But boycotting an entire publisher is kinda silly IMO.

[redblaze57]

Last new Ubisoft  game I bought was Rayman Legends. Nothing since has intersted me.

[devancowan]

AC:Unity, by all reports was rushed to market and a buggy mess at release. That is not cool and shouldn't be supported. But I think hating on Ubi as a whole is kinda silly. Watch Dogs was about what I expected - a promising start to a franchise that will undoubtedly see some big improvements in future releases. It wasn't nearly as bad as the first Assassin's Creed game. Did it live up to the hype?  No - but what could?? People insanely overhyped that game.

Meanwhile, they released great games this year such as Child of Light, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Valiant Hearts and Far Cry 4, which was my personal GOTY.

I'm cool with Child of Light and Valiant Hearts.  These were small-scale, download-only games that were inexpensive to make and aren't basically bastardized-vessels for future DLC.  South Park was a THQ-published title until they went belly-up so Ubi just inherited publishing rights to that one.  I can't speak on Far Cry 4.  But all of Ubisoft's "AAA" titles like Watchdogs, Far Cry and Assassin's Creed are DLC-fests under the guise you are buying a complete, $60 retail title.  Watchdogs was severely downgraded in the graphics department and basically hamstrung so the Xbox One wouldn't look like a turd.  Assassin's Creed Unity was nowhere ready to be released on top of the fact that Ubi downgraded the graphics so the Xbox One wouldn't be the odd-man-out in the graphics department. 

I'm not going to poo-poo your taste in games, but as long as gamers continue to pre-order and buy this stuff knowing full well that you are getting an incomplete title/buggy title, companies like Ubisoft will continue to milk us.

Totally forgot about Child of Light. My mistake that was a great game but it can't compare to a huge physical release game.