this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024

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Ubisoft director blames gamers, says they've been exposed as 'non-decent humans' (www.tweaktown.com)

submitted 1 month ago by nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works to c/games@sh.itjust.works

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[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 77 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

This article sucks. The original quote could be talking about anything, because it's so vague. It could be about legitimate criticisms of the game, or it could be nonsense like people yelling about Sweet Baby and DEI. There's no way to know, but the author of the article would clearly like you to ascribe it to something rational that still makes Ubisoft the bad guy.

EDIT: Original tweet is from a MAGA guy, so it's very easily actually about shitty people.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 8 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Especially with the gamergate 2.0 that's opening a new article-specific case on Wikipedia court for the first time in 8 years...

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[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The quoted bit is pretty clear the guy was simply against people tearing each other down rather than supporting each other. They weren't even talking about the people who play their games. There has always been shitty people who play games. They expect better from people inside the industry, though.

Is there any reason you would be against video game developers supporting their field in general?

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's vague enough that it could be people complaining about DEI nonsense, which is stupid, but it could also be about anything from destroying good will with their fans to creating an industry that's a house of cards responsible for the bubble bursting that we've witnessed for the past two years, and I could see game developers railing against their own if it's for something they perceive to be destroying their industry. Like, this guy is a monetization director; I could absolutely see developers railing against manipulative monetization practices like loot boxes. But again, the statement is so vague and presented without context that it could be anything. The twitter account that linked it would absolutely be motivated to have people hound them about Yasuke and then say, "See?! They blame us innocent gamers for hate even though Ubisoft is obviously bad!"

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Their statement, in my opinion, is comparing two perspectives. The first thinks that Ubisoft has failed their customers and they should fail as a company for it, as punishment. The second perspective thinks Ubisoft has failed their customers and they should revise their business model so it aligns again with the public.

They are saying the first perspective is toxic, and won't fix any problems. People can and do change constantly. The position of monetization director isn't going anywhere, although it might be renamed. We should allow people the room to receive feedback and improve. Ubisoft is well positioned to reassess and get back to making games people want to buy.

Also, if Ubisoft literally goes bankrupt, does anyone realize how many developers will be out of work?

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (9 children)

I listen to Jeff Grubb's daily news podcast, and when some toxicity came up around Ubisoft recently, he mentioned that maybe not everyone feels that way, but they don't have anyone who feels so positively about Ubisoft that they're about to jump to their defense either, and I think that tracks. Me, personally: Is it worth openly hating and spewing vitriol at Ubisoft? No. Do I hope they fail? Yes. Do I realize how many people would be out of a job as a result? Yes. Do I feel good about that? No. Do I want products that I perceive as "bad" to succeed in the market? No. Similarly, it sucks that the talented folks at Crystal Dynamics were set to work on Avengers and that the talented folks at Rocksteady were put to work on Suicide Squad, but I'm proud of the market for not supporting that garbage, and there are positive consequences to that that affect what gets made in the future.

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[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 59 points 1 month ago (3 children)

How can you wish a company to fail

Very easily, actually.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I want most all big companies to fail. Those running it ruined the companies, and the planet. Fuck em and let them all burn and rot.

These companies have never been loyal to consumers, why the hell should anyone give a damn if they exist tomorrow. Not like they will actually honor their warranties anyways, or they just replace garbage with more garbage.

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I mean, a bit of context may go a long way here.

How can you wish a company to fail simply because they do not cater to you or that the produce does not please you is beyond me. We are all on the same boat, please please please, stop spreading hate, we should all uplift each other instead of bringing each other down.

I get it, pithy joke, why let it pass, but still.

[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The context is irrelevant because nobody wants Ubisoft to fail because they don't make content that caters to them. It's a strawman argument. Does this Director of Monetization want to uplift his competitors? Absolutely not. He would love if all his competitors failed. Yet he gets on his high horse saying we must uplift his corporate venture to extract as much money as possible because we're all in this together??

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I would be a lot more willing to agree with you if "nobody" hadn't been driving a massive harassment and hate campagin complaining about "DEI". I mean, it pops up explicitly right in the comments of the piece linked here. "Nobody" has been busy.

I can't believe we haven't learned anything since "it's about ethics in games journalism". "It's about monetization in AAA games" now, apparently.

FWIW, I don't know this guy, but I don't believe for a second that he would love it if his competitors failed. People have a wild, distorted idea of how AAA game development works and how people making it (leadership included) look at these things. The guy went online to say he's frustrated at seeing industry insiders siding with an online hatred campaign and people are all dogpiling because hey, his title sounds like the thing I don't like, so the assholes being assholes online must be justified this time.

Look, much as the heavily online audience likes to pretend otherwise, most people making these games are perfectly nice, care about what they do and even have some degree of attunement to their audiences. Corporate dynamics are more than capable of producing dysfunctional results without an evil mastermind pulling the strings.

Also FWIW, I mostly agree with him. If you're in the games industry get the hell off of LinkedIn comments at all (as Chassard just learned the hard way), but especially don't be on LinkedIn cheering for colleagues doing badly. That's just rude and unprofessional. You are allowed to keep your opinions offline and should exercise that right when it comes to commenting on your colleagues' livelihoods.

[–] Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Look, much as the heavily online audience likes to pretend otherwise, most people making these games are perfectly nice, care about what they do and even have some degree of attunement to their audiences.

Sure, most people involved in these projects do. But for any given team, if you told me you knew for a fact that exactly one person in that team wasn't, and asked me who I thought that person was, I'd guess "the money guy" every single time.

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Right.

Except "the money guy" isn't the monetization designer, which is what it seems this one guy has been his entire career. "The money guy" has some nondescript title, like "head of sales", or is just the CFO of the company. Or isn't even part of the company and just sits in a board with a bunch of other people and periodically shouts at the CEO to make more money.

Bet Chassard was super glad when he got promoted from being a game economy designer in a bunch of mobile games and got a fancy "monetization director" title instead. Irony is a bitch, because you KNOW he wouldn't be getting half the crap he's getting if he still had a job with "designer" in the name.

For the record, economy designers, monetization designers and, presumably, monetization directors, whatever the difference may be, have as much of a chance at being nice guys who care about their jobs and are attuned to their audiences as anybody else. I don't know this guy, and I don't know if he's any of those things, but what he wrote doesn't suggest that he's not. If people dogpiling think they're delivering karmic justice or disproving his point, they're almost certainly doing neither.

[–] Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well, surely we can agree that it's an unfortunate job title at least - it's easy to see why the people are dogpiling on him. If it actually were the money guy saying this, I assume you'd have no objection to the public reaction?

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It depends on what the money guy is saying and doing. I have no need to rag on people because of their job title if they're not messing it up. Valve has had economists working on monetization for them, you don't see audiences publicly stating that they're sure that guy is an asshole because they work on monetization.

And no, it's not an unfortunate job title. This may come as a shock to people, but you DO need money to make videogames. And however you're going to monetize yoru game, you need someone looking at that. You may not like how they've monetized AssCreed or Outlaws or The Crew or whatever, but they also have The Division and XDefiant and Rainbow Six Siege and Brawlhalla. I would be shocked if they didn't have a monetization design department.

Look, Ubisoft is struggling, particularly on the expensive AAA stuff that is their traditional bread and butter. I would say they are very late to the party at breaking free from their framework mindset where games are largely built on a bit of a template. They need a new approach to coming up with game concepts, if only for PR's sake. But please, please, stop feeding the anti-woke mob's bad faith nonsense and stop trying to find indivduals to try to pin structural anger about certain corners of game development. We can -should- be better than that as a community.

Also, good for them for reversing course on the The Crew server stuff and for doing PoP The Lost Crown, that game is awesome and underrated. Would love to see them diversify into more mid-size stuff like that, because they nail it suprisingly often when they do.

[–] Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'm not one of the people flinging insults at this guy. I just understand why others are doing it. They see that it was a monetization guy from Ubisoft and they flip out. Is it a rational and objective reaction? No, but people are neither rational nor objective most of the time.

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[–] pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago

Doesn't matter, cause that's not what's happening here lol

[–] wizblizz@lemmy.world 42 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ubisoft needs to get used to not owning a business anymore.

[–] schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business 29 points 1 month ago

Ubisoft MBA: Why is everyone so mean to us, we're only trying to take your money and provide you sub-par entertainment!

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 month ago (5 children)

What an absolutely dogshit headline.

"What is even more revolting, is coming on LinkedIn and seeing the same comments from people within the industry... How can you wish a company to fail simply because they do not cater to you or that the produce does not please you is beyond me. We are all on the same boat, please please please, stop spreading hate, we should all uplift each other instead of bringing each other down," said Chassard

He didn't blame anyone for the gaming industry being bad right now. He stated it was bad, and explained why certain groups acting a particular way were hurtful and counterproductive.

Y'all get up in arms about literally any poorly written headline, and then watch all these people reply and explain how he did actually say that gamers are indecent humans who are the cause of the decline of the gaming industry.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

we should all uplift each other instead of bringing each other down

Ubisoft's business practices are part of why the industry sucks.

They're not caught in a tide with all the little indie studios. They're one of the 800-pound gorillas setting the rules everyone else has to play by.

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[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 month ago (2 children)

[–] SPRUNT@lemmy.world 42 points 1 month ago (1 children)

"Monetization Director at Ubistft"

Get fucked, dickbag!

[–] seejur@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

When I create gambling addiction to kids I'm an outstanding human being, but if gamers don't like my games, they are horrible human beings.

This blowhard

[–] ColdWater@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago

This is what I imagine a monetization director would say if their company got shit on

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

It's true.

I'm a non-decent human (but a good dog) and I think Ubisoft games are soulless garbage.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

wait I thought you were two good dogs.

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[–] YungOnions@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 month ago

Maybe they should turn that mirror on themselves. Take a long look at the 'non decent humans' within their own ranks:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/4/23901575/ubisoft-executives-arrest-sexual-harassment-investigation

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 14 points 1 month ago

On the one hand I'm sympathetic to a lot of people in the games industry. It's long hours, not great pay, low job security, and takes advantage of people who are passionate about games and crushes them beneath the wheels of capitalism.

On the other, anybody who's job it is to make games worse to make a quick buck, can politely go fuck himself.

[–] Weirdfish@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My shelf is full of Ubisoft games. I'm playing one right now in fact, Farcry 2.

Thing is, I've bought a lot of them based of my love of the series, and the truth is, all the recent one's have sucked. Farcry 2,3,5, primal, AC black flag, rocksmith 2014, anything splinter cell, ghost recon wildlands, all amazing games.

Farcry 6, AC anything after black flag, breakpoint, the new rocksmith, I hated them all. Not because I want to see a company fail, but because the games just don't have the mechanics I enjoy.

I've spent a lot of money in good faith because ubisoft made some of my favorite titles, but I'm done. The only games I might buy at this point on faith are GTA6, Kingdom come Deliverance 2, and Subnautica 2.

I won't buy anything ubisoft again until I've seen multiple reviews telling me exactly why I'm going to love this one.

[–] ihatetheworld@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

I played plenty of Ubisoft games and I believe the only game I beat was Immortal fenyx rising. I like farcry 3 & black flag but I never got to finish playing because live service games took up all my game time.

I also tried AC Odyssey and Valhalla more than once and the longest I managed was under 20hr before calling it quits.

I don't hate their games I just don't enjoy playing them and I don't see myself buying anything Ubisoft because their games are just not my cup of tea as much i want it to be.

[–] Kaboom@reddthat.com 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The Ubisoft monetization director has the gall to call others non-decent humans? Now that's newsworthy.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

If he meant the anti-woke brainrot, then yes, but that itself is just shielding corporations from actual critiques. There's a very racist and transphobic caricature that even tries to make fun of people that doesn't blame woke creators, but monetization practices.

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[–] maxenmajs@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

We don't have to respond seriously to that, right? He's clearly non-decent. Pointing and laughing seems like the appropriate response.

[–] IcyToes@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 month ago

Senior Ubisoft employee. Don't be mean and criticised us. Celebrate our shitty choices and track record. Think of the developers.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

I mean, a significant portion of gamers are shitgibbons, but that doesn't stop the criticism of Ubisoft and lootboxes from being true. Get fucked, Stevy Chassard

[–] azvasKvklenko@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Wow, after all this they’re still in the denial stage of grief, not knowing they continue to harm themselves

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