Ubisoft - No More Releases for PS3 and Xbox 360

Eurogamer brings news that Ubisoft no longer will release games for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Ubisoft will no longer release games for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, except for its casual rhythm series Just Dance. The company confirmed the move last night during a financial call with investors, and explained that it would focus on the current generation of consoles and PC from here on out.

More information.

Good news. So these platforms don't hold back developments.

In addition PC Gamer just reported that Ubisoft is working on VR versions of their biggest games:
http://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-worki…biggest-games/

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in yesterday's quarterly earnings call (via Gamasutra) that the company is "very bullish" on virtual reality, and that it plans to brings its major brands to VR platforms in the relatively near future.

This is good news. Game design only be held back to the dark ages of the already out of date "next gen" consoles instead of being held hostage by completely ancient previous gen.

This is good new, now just make PC the lead platform for all their games. Yes, I know this will never happen.

It's not the game developers' fault. PC is just in the minority. Also, I really don't want to spend 500 euro on a video card every two years again, like in the old days.

On the other hand, I miss the excitement and anticipation of games like Doom and Quake coming out, only to find out that my poor 486 was way to slow to run the damn game smoothly.

65 million Steam users is the minority compared to less than 20 million Playstation 4 buyers? Oookay…
In any case it's all still less than phonegames billions measured audience.

For major releases, the major moneymakers are indeed Consoles.
Would really love if it was differently, but unfortunately it isn't. Consoles dictate what PC Gamers will the in the AAA market most of the time.
One example would be the sales of Skyrim:

Within two days of the game's launch, 3.4 million physical copies were sold. Of those sales, 59% were for the Xbox 360, 27% for the PS3, and 14% for the PC.

Another would be Call of Duty: Black Ops:

Black Ops has sold 20 million units, 12 million of which were Xbox 360 copies.

Of course there are also a couple of games which are mainly PC based, like Minecraft, Sims, MMOs and so on.

I guess the next bix step might be Virtual Reality. Why? Because even the new console generation is already too weak to actually support VR to full extend but just began it's life cycle. PS3 was released in 2006, PS4 was released in 2013, XBox360 was released in 2005, XBox One was released in 2013.
So unless they break the cycle, they might support VR to some extent, like with the morpheus, but they won't be able to use it's full capabilities.
As GameStar.de wrote:
(translated) "In times, in which publisher are proud having their game run on 1920x1080 with 30 fps, expensive additional hardware which requires 90 fps will have a rather hard life."

Originally Posted by Thaurin
It's not the game developers' fault. PC is just in the minority. Also, I really don't want to spend 500 euro on a video card every two years again, like in the old days.

On the other hand, I miss the excitement and anticipation of games like Doom and Quake coming out, only to find out that my poor 486 was way to slow to run the damn game smoothly.

I don't blame devs for going where the money is, they're businesses after all. Having said that programming for the lowest common denominator isn't good for gaming IMO.

I rather miss the need to upgrade every 6 to 12 months but I understand not everybody has the means or desire to do so.

I love everything about PC's though. I love building them, upgrading, case mods, tweaking software and hardware, overclocking, watercooling and basically anything that has to do with tinkering with them and of course gaming on them. I want the absolute best experience possible and would never be happy just coming home flipping on a console and sitting down to a mediocre experience.

Anyway I don't want to derail the thread and at least ubi games usually offer some PC specific settings as do most games but it could be much better.

Originally Posted by sakichop
I don't blame devs for going where the money is, they're businesses after all. Having said that programming for the lowest common denominator isn't good for gaming IMO.

I don't mean that they're going for where the money is. Games cost money to make, and a lot of it. It's only gotten worse, so if you want to have your AAA+++ super high-end PC-only game, you need an gigantic investment and if it's going to release only on PC, you're not very likely to get your investment returned. (Cue joxer quoting the Star Citizen Kickstarter or something like it. )

I love everything about PC's though. I love building them, upgrading, case mods, tweaking software and hardware, overclocking, watercooling and basically anything that has to do with tinkering with them and of course gaming on them. I want the absolute best experience possible and would never be happy just coming home flipping on a console and sitting down to a mediocre experience.

I hear ya, but where that used to be the majority of gamers, now it's gone mainstream with enormous budgets and people that do just want to flip on a console to sit down with when they get home. And I get that, too. I prefer sitting down in front of my TV that my PC is connected to and playing most games with a gamepad these days myself.

Anyway I don't want to derail the thread and at least ubi games usually offer some PC specific settings as do most games but it could be much better.

I believe it's pertinent to the article enough.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
For major releases, the major moneymakers are indeed Consoles.
Would really love if it was differently, but unfortunately it isn't. Consoles dictate what PC Gamers will the in the AAA market most of the time.
One example would be the sales of Skyrim:

within two days of the game's launch, 3.4 million physical copies were sold. Of those sales, 59% were for the Xbox 360, 27% for the PS3, and 14% for the PC.

While it's true consoles are where the money's at those stats are pretty misleading as console sale at the time where almost all physical while a large portion of PC sales were digital.

I think these numbers already include both. In the case of skyrim however I am pretty sure that PC sales gained in momentum afterwards due to modding. But there are no numbers of that.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
I don't mean that they're going for where the money is. Games cost money to make, and a lot of it. It's only gotten worse, so if you want to have your AAA+++ super high-end PC-only game, you need an gigantic investment and if it's going to release only on PC, you're not very likely to get your investment returned. (Cue joxer quoting the Star Citizen Kickstarter or something like it. )

Well, I believe they are following the money. They have to if they want to be profitable and that's why I don't blame them.

It doesn't have to be PC only. Just PC as the lead platform and then downgrade for consoles rather than console as the lead and add a couple settings for PC. Obviously though that would cost them more money.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
I hear ya, but where that used to be the majority of gamers, now it's gone mainstream with enormous budgets and people that do just want to flip on a console to sit down with when they get home. And I get that, too. I prefer sitting down behind my PC and a gamepad these days myself.

Trust me , I know I'm in the minority.

Even my brothers who used to be big PC games have switched to consoles but they don't have the passion I do for the other things PC.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
I believe it's pertinent to the article enough.

Just found a more recent example Dragon Age Inquisition:

Inquisition Sells 1.14M Units Worldwide First Week - PS4, Xbox One, X360, PS3, PC
The game sold the most units for the PlayStation 4 with sales of 466,347 units. The Xbox One version sold 229,337 units. The PC version sold 176,731 units. The Xbox 360 version sold 136,113 units. The PlayStation 3 version sold 127,757 units.

This, from what I understand excludes all digital sales.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
I think these numbers already include both. In the case of skyrim however I am pretty sure that PC sales gained in momentum afterwards due to modding. But there are no numbers of that.

Are you sure? Your quote says physical sales and I thought steam didn't release sales figures.

Probably a moot point anyway as your point that consoles sell more is undeniable.

Originally Posted by sakichop
It doesn't have to be PC only. Just PC as the lead platform and then downgrade for consoles rather than console as the lead and add a couple settings for PC. Obviously though that would cost them more money.

Yep. I guess the most important thing is that Games can now build upon more modern platforms, allowing newer features. Switching to 64bit alone should make a significant difference.

I am currently following GalCiv3, which of course was never a console game, but if you follow the developers on the stream, they are mentioning "This would not have been possible with 32 bit" more than once.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Are you sure? Your quote says physical sales and I thought steam didn't release sales figures.

Haha, you're right!

Originally Posted by Thaurin
(Cue joxer quoting the Star Citizen Kickstarter or something like it. )

Eh?

Star Citizen will be a sci fi game of decade or a bigger failure than Amalur was.
I'm one of it's backers (on Kickstarter), but we live in years where everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. Honesty in industry is dead, we're all victims of PR.

Only one thing is certain. Star Citizen is a recorder when it comes to crowdfunding totals. But… Isn't it all offtopic?

Originally Posted by Kordanor
In the case of skyrim however I am pretty sure that PC sales gained in momentum afterwards due to modding. But there are no numbers of that.

Sadly, Bethesda keeps silent about that. Mods definetly gave Skyrim a second life on PC and boosted sales, but without actual numbers made public, no big publisher will easily risk it.
Will Bethesda suddenly change the strategy with TES6, and set it to be non-moddable? Of course not!
Currently we have two types of singleplayer games publishers on PC. Those who support modding and those who don't support modding but have multiplayer garbage integrated into a singleplayer game. On one side it's Bethesda and CDpr, on another it's EA an Ubi.
In one thing they're the same - all want a piece of consolemarket cake. You can't blame them, ofc.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Even my brothers who used to be big PC games have switched to consoles but they don't have the passion I do for the other things PC.

And my brother doesn't play videogames at all - for entertainment he's into other stuff. Oh he does have PC, but is using it only for music arranging, no gaming.
But then again, he doesn't see getting a fresh driver or update OS as a big deal, it's something so normal to him.
Those who switched from PC to consoles probably have the everchanging system as an excuse not realizing that it's the only way to move forward fast.
Connected to previous modding comment, all those people on consoles cannot imagine the difference between released Skyrim and Skyrim with ENB or whatever that mod is called. If they ever see it, jawdrop effect is imminent.
Ubi ditching "oldgen" is aware that if you won't cut ties to ancient technology, you can't move forward. And while the "nextgen" is better, it's still a garbage that puts boundaries to players' creativity. But it's a garbage that sells, so…

Originally Posted by Kordanor
more recent example Dragon Age Inquisition:

Apparently oldgen DA3 was (and still is) more buggy than on PC and nextgen. IMO EA should have taken the Ubi's move and cancel oldgen versions. Sure, it's less sales on the release day, but if they did it, more people would switch from PS3 to PS4 plus no cash would be needed for oldgen versions development.
Basically, I can't understand why all publishers, when nextgen consoles got out, didn't stop development for oldgen ones. Because of that, there was no point in buying nextgen consoles.

Lemme be more evil in light of the TW3 downgrade drama.
Console audience obviously don't care for visuals. If they did, they would never accept and defend 30 FPS usually with motion blur idiocy. When was the last time you heard a console gamer asking why none of their games runs on 4K resolution?
PC audience on the other hand is hungry for change, hungry for better stuff, drooling over every new thing. Whoever plays games on PC says they aren't graphics whore is a liar. If that was true, they'd play games on consoles*. Not just any. But oldgen ones, ones Ubi just told to shove off.
When progresshungry PC audience saw Playstation gameplay vids combined with noncareful CDpr statement that the game looks almost the same on all platforms, it resulted in numerous rage posts, trolls and tweets. How come no console player was unhappy with the game looking different than on the three years old alpha footage? Because they're trained not to be.
Just to say, after last night's PC vid on IGN, I can say that TW3 on PC is the best looking game I've seen so far. Try to prove me wrong. Of course FF13 CGI looks better and of course CGI with integrated QTE will look better - please use an actual game, not CGI.


——————————
* or even worse - phones

Well, the publishers don't profit from console sales directly. Don't think they care if they sell their games on the one or the other.

Guess the Console Developer would need to give them incentive. But then again they will probably rather want to get exclusives for their platforms rather than eliminating one of their own platforms.

Originally Posted by joxer
Lemme be more evil in light of the TW3 downgrade drama.
[bullshit removed]

I'm not even gonna reply to that nonsense you wrote. *rolls eyes*

Woo so they drop the extremely outdated system and will now only develop games with outdated systems in mind.

Well one step at a time I guess.