I kveld annonserte Ubisoft altså at de har bestemt seg for å utsette både Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters og Rainbow Six: Quarantine. Når man får tre utsettelser samtidig sier det seg selv at det ikke bare skyldes at utviklingen har tatt lenger tid enn planlagt, noe selskapet kan bekrefte selv.
For som oppsummeringen av kveldens investormøte gjør klart er det Ghost Recon: Wildlands, og til en viss grad The Division 2, som skal ha mye av skylden for utsettelsene. Begrunnelsen for de kraftig nedjusterte innteksforventningene er nemlig følgende:
"A sharp downward revision in the revenues expected from Ghost Recon Breakpoint and, to a lesser extent, The Division 2."
Her er tankene deres om hvorfor spillene har mislyktes foreløpig:
"For Ghost Recon Breakpoint, while the game's quality appeared on track-based on E3, Gamescom, previews and our latest internal playtests-, critical reception and sales during the game's first weeks were very disappointing. As we have done with past titles, we will continue to support the game and listen to the community in order to deliver the necessary improvements. At this stage, we have identified three main reasons behind this underperformance:
•First, it is harder to generate interest fora sequel to a Live multiplayer game, when prior iterations benefited from years of optimization.Consequently, we need to make sure there is more time between each iteration of Live games.
•Second, our strategy of introducing gameplay innovations in our games has had a very positive impact on our brands. However, to win over players, these innovations need to be perfectly implemented in order to offer an optimal experience. This has not yet been sufficiently the case with Ghost Recon Breakpoint. While the change of formula has been very well received by some players, with an average daily playtime per player of over three hours, it also has been strongly rejected by a significant portion of the community.
•Finally, Ghost Recon Breakpoint did not come in with enough differentiation factors, which prevented the game's intrinsic qualities from standing out.
We are tackling these issues head-on and already are implementing significant changes to our production processes. We are confident in our capacity to adapt and evolve, as we have done successfully many times in the past."
Ubisoft innrømmer altså at det er vanskelig å gi ut oppfølgere til de såkalte Live Service-spillene som har fått oppdateringer og nytt innhold gjennom flere. Samtidig virker det til en viss grad som om de forstår at ikke alle spill trenger loot-systemer, rollespill-elementer og andre ting nærmest alt de gir ut har i disse dager, så det skal bli interessant å se om dette fører til noen forandringer i spill som Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin's Creed Kingdom og lignende det neste året.
Synes du Ubisoft treffer blink her, eller er det fortsatt noe de må endre?