Man I was so sad when Ubisoft bought Blue Byte. I always held out hope that they'd switch publishers eventually but they never did and then they got bought. Now I know I'll always have to put up with Ubisoft bullshit to play Anno, one of my all time favourite franchises.
They know people are making a private server so revoked everyone's license so that even when they finish it, everyone will have to pirate their own game to play it.
Wish someone cracked the game with modded p2p online servers.
That does happen sometimes, but doesn't fix the underlying problem.
who's laughing?
This is probably a big reason I don't buy/play newer multiplayer games, especially ones that are mp only, and a big reason why I buy everything on steam and avoid other platforms.
I've heard of games being dropped by steam, but those that already own it, still own it and can access it on steam as normal. In the situations I'm aware of, those games eventually returned to steam later, but still.
I prefer games that are either peer to peer mp, or you can self host a server for mp. I'm not saying that I'll always self host, but if the option is there, then I'll never lose the ability to play the game with friends, since I only need to set up a server to play on. Since I have a homelab, setting something like that up is trivial for me, and I can shut down and delete the server afterwards when it's no longer wanted or needed.
Everyone going crazy for the latest version of whatever battle Royale type game, laying down premium money to play on day one, and spending a lot to get buffs and cosmetics.... It just seems stupid to me. No thanks.
Free to play multiplayer with the option to buy cosmetics is less bad, but still not great. You can play, enjoy some time with friends while playing the game and if it goes offline tomorrow, who cares? You didn't pay anything for it and I'm certain there's other options in the same vein. As long as you're having fun, enjoy.
If I'm paying for a game, it's probably because of the single player experience. Anything multiplayer is icing on the cake, but not motivation to buy it.
How's the lawsuit in Australia doing by the way?
I wonder how long it'd take until they take down STEEP. I suppose it's even less popular than The Crew, but I liked it that much I'd pay once more if someone would keep it alive after Ubi does the Ubi thing. Extreme sports are rarely portrayed in games, and for me it would be a huge loss even though I feel like I enjoyed every penny I spent at least thrice.
The third item, while it fits the narrative, was a quote directed more towards the option of subscription services. It wasn’t really directed to gamers, but to shareholders to explain low Ubisoft+ numbers, basically saying people may need time to warm up to the idea.
Considering how many interesting indies I’ve played on Game Pass (and, ever since Tango was murdered, PS+) I think there’s merit to that (just not on Ubisoft’s platform). There’s probably dozens of old PS1 classics we never would have tried out if our local Blockbuster hadn’t had them available for rent. I mean heck, $60 was a LOT back then for those polygons.
