1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonvin Strickland. 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: are you. I am on the road to recovery myself. 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,439 Speaker 1: I hope all of you are well well. Back in 6 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: November of twenty twenty, I did a three part series 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: about the history of the video game company Ubisoft or 8 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: you be Soft, depending on how you want to pronounce it. 9 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:42,599 Speaker 1: They pronounce it different ways within the company itself, so 10 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: there's no universal agreed upon pronunciation, so I'll probably say 11 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: Ubisoft anyway. The video game company actually traces its history 12 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: back to farm machinery for reels. I'm not going to 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: go into everything that I covered in those twenty twenty episodes. 14 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: You could easily go back and listen to them if 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: you like. I do think that's a fun bit of 16 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: trivia to consider. Now. The company was founded in France 17 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: back in the late nineteen eighties by a group of 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: five brothers, the Guillelmo Brothers. One of them, Eve Guillelmo, 19 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: remains CEO to this day. And I'm going to go 20 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: over a little bit of the stuff I talked about 21 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: in those episodes just to kind of remind us. All But, 22 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 1: like I said, if you really want to dive into 23 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: the history of Ubisoft, then check out those episodes that 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,960 Speaker 1: published in November twenty twenty to get the full story. 25 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to like kind of an overview. 26 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: So the studio became known for several game franchises, ranging 27 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: from Rayman, which was the earliest big franchise for the company, 28 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: to Assassin's Creed and far Cry in more recent years. 29 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: They expanded tremendously in the nineteen nineties, in part because 30 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: the company made lots of acquisitions. They bought up lots 31 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: of other game developer studios. Notably, they purchased a development 32 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: company in North Carolina called Red Storm, and in two thousand, 33 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: UBI Soft required red Storm and in the process got 34 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 1: access to games with Tom Clancy's intellectual property. So I'm 35 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: talking about stuff like Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow six, 36 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: among others. The Tom Clancy games would become kind of 37 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: bedrock for Ubisoft over the years, like a very strong 38 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 1: foundation for the company. The two thousands saw Ubisoft Dodge Duck, 39 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: Dip Dive, and Dodge various attempts to acquire the company. 40 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: First up was Electronic Arts or EA. They showed interest 41 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: in Ubisoft for quite some time. EA purchased a fifth 42 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: of Ubisoft's stock at one point, but EA never actually 43 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: made an overt move to acquire the company. There was 44 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: obviously some feelers out there, but nothing ever coalesced into 45 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,519 Speaker 1: like a hostile takeover or anything like that, and by 46 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,920 Speaker 1: twenty ten EA had sold off its shares of Ubisoft. 47 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: But that experience had a really big effect on Ubisoft itself. 48 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: The company had played things a bit more conservatively then 49 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: they might have otherwise, and didn't make as many big 50 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: choices while under the potential threat of an acquisition. The 51 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: thing is the EA move was just the first time 52 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: uvie Soft was under the potential shadow of a hostile takeover. 53 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: A similar situation unfolded in twenty fifteen when another large 54 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: French company called Vivendi started scooping up shares of Ubisoft, 55 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: more shares than the brothers Guielmo themselves owned. Vivendi threw 56 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: its weight around and demanded that Ubisoft include Vivendi executives 57 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: on Ubisoft's board directors, but the brothers were able to 58 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: drum up enough support among other shareholders to keep that 59 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: from happening, because even though Vivindi owned more stock than 60 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: the brothers dead, the brothers were able to rally other 61 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: shareholders to support them. Now, the battle for control of 62 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: the company lasted about three years, at which point Vivendi said, fine, 63 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: keep your stupid company. We're selling our shares and we 64 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: won't buy them back for at least five years. Then 65 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: maybe then we will come back. We'll just have to 66 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: wait and see. And at that point, Vivendi held nearly 67 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:24,919 Speaker 1: thirty percent of all the shares in the company, so 68 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: it was a truly significant amount. And since then another 69 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: company bought up a bunch of shares and would be soft. 70 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: That would be the Chinese mega corporation Tencent. I'm sure 71 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: we won't see history repeat itself again. Right, Well, we'll 72 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: probably mention Tencent again before we end this episode today. 73 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: There are a few other things I want to mention 74 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: before we pick up where we left off in late 75 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: twenty twenty at the end of the last episode of 76 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: that series. First up, the video game industry is notorious 77 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,479 Speaker 1: for its crunch culture. Not just do be soft, I 78 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: mean like the industry in general is known for this, 79 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: and that is as a game is in development, particularly 80 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: as you get later in its development cycle, companies have 81 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: been known to pressure developers into working longer hours, sometimes 82 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: giving up weekends or really in extreme cases, discouraging them 83 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: from even going home. Then, as you might imagine, this 84 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: becomes a stressful and unpleasant situation. In more recent years, 85 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: we've seen employees and allies of employees push back against 86 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: the whole crunch culture of the video game industry. And 87 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,480 Speaker 1: to be clear, crunch is not just something that happens 88 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: in the video game industry. It happens in lots of industries, 89 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: you know, like overall developers, not just in video games. 90 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: It happens there, but it can happen in lots of 91 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: other situations as well. Now, in some instances, staff who 92 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,919 Speaker 1: work at video game companies have actually unionized to create 93 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: more leverage with their respective companies. There's a union among 94 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: Ubisoft Paris developers, for example. But there are other Ubisoft 95 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: offices all around the world, and some of them are 96 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: unionized and some of them aren't. And Ubisoft was no 97 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: stranger to crunch. In fact, in the early days of 98 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: the company they actually located their office in a chateau 99 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: in Brittany, France, and this was a sort of a 100 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: ploy to lure young developers to work for Ubisoft and 101 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: you know, not necessarily want to go home at the 102 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: end of a long day. And it worked at least 103 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: until the costs of maintaining a chateau proved to be 104 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: a bit too steep and were eating into profits, and 105 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: then they relocated to Paris. On a related note, Ubisoft 106 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: had identified something pretty concerning so by twenty nineteen, through 107 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: the various studios that the company had acquired over the years, 108 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: which again are all over the world, right, Ubisoft figured 109 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 1: that it employed around sixteen thousand developers. That's astronomical, that's 110 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: such a huge number of developers, and it was spinning 111 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: out triple A video game titles at a rate that 112 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: left competitors in the dust. And in case you're not 113 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: familiar with the term triple A video game, that's just 114 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: a big budget, major release right like Assassin's Creed typically 115 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: falls into Triple A video game category. Things like Halo, 116 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: you know, or Grand Theft Auto. These are triple A 117 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: video games. You might get spinoffs that are not triple A, 118 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: but the main entries all fall in the Triple A category. Ubisoft, however, 119 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: though it was releasing more Triple A games than any 120 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: of its competitors were, was not releasing a linked rise 121 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: in revenue and from a net revenue generated per employee perspective, 122 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: as in, how much money are we making? If we 123 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 1: say we've got X number of employees, we're making why 124 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: amount of money? How much were we making per employee? 125 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: They were were starting to lag behind others. In other words, 126 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: other companies were making more money per employee. Maybe not 127 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: more money overall, but per employee, they were making more 128 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: money than Ubi Soft was. So Ubisoft started to kind 129 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: of pump the brakes a little bit on Triple A 130 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: video game development, because that developing a Triple A video 131 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: game is uber expensive. And this was partly to give 132 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: development teams more time to polish games, and it was 133 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: also partly to try and focus on alternatives to these huge, 134 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 1: flashy and expensive Triple A titles, like what other types 135 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: of games could we make that would be less expensive 136 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: and more profitable. Now, the second thing that I want 137 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: to bring up before I move on to what's been 138 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 1: happening at Ubisoft since November of twenty twenty is that, Ubisoft, 139 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 1: like a lot of other companies, began exploring ways to 140 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: make games an ongoing revenue generator. So in the old days, 141 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 1: you would head off to the game store you know, 142 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:01,840 Speaker 1: or whatever, and you would buy a copy of the 143 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: game you wanted, and that was it, right end of transaction. 144 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: You purchased your game, and then you brought it home 145 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: and played it. Maybe sometime later, the game company would 146 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: release an expansion pack to the game you had purchased, 147 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: and you could go out and buy that and it 148 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: would add some more content to the game you loved. 149 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: But that was about it. Like that was the only 150 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: options open to a video game developer company, and even 151 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: that meant that you still had to pour resources into 152 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: developing and releasing an expansion pack. By twenty twenty, a 153 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: lot of things had changed in the video game industry. 154 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,440 Speaker 1: The Internet was essentially the facilitator for this change, because 155 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: now companies could stagger out downloadable content or DLC. Some 156 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: of that DLC could be free, but a lot of 157 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:53,079 Speaker 1: it would usually require at least a small fee to purchase, 158 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: and the transaction mechanism could be inside the game itself 159 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: and would hit the player just they were on the 160 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: verge of getting that dopamine release, but it's being denied, 161 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,440 Speaker 1: so like you can't beat that final stage Boss Babe, 162 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: if you spent five bucks or a new mega bazooka thingy, 163 00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: you can manage it. And a lot of companies, including Ubisoft, 164 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: experimented with free to play games or freemium games. So 165 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: with these titles, you don't even have to buy the 166 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: base game at all. It's free for you to download 167 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: and play, but for it to be fun or to 168 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: flesh it out, you might have to pay some cash 169 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:37,319 Speaker 1: to buffet up a bit. You know, the best freemium 170 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,319 Speaker 1: games are fun to play even if you never spend 171 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:45,319 Speaker 1: a dollar on them, but that's kind of counter productive 172 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: for the companies that make these games because they need 173 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: to be able to generate revenue or else they go 174 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: out of business. So ideally, you create a game where, yeah, 175 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: it's fun to play even if you never sink any 176 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:00,040 Speaker 1: money into it, but if you do sink money into it, 177 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: it's more fun. Or in a lot of cases, it's 178 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: not that it's more fun, it's just it's less frustrating, 179 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: which is kind of a grim way to look at things. 180 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: But that's how this free to play business model works. 181 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: The base game is free, but all the cool stuff 182 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:20,599 Speaker 1: is locked behind micro transactions. Then we get to the 183 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: third element, the least pleasant of the three, and that's 184 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: to put it lightly. So, word got out that Ubisoft 185 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: had a toxic corporate culture, absolutely rife with instances of 186 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: sexual harassment and discrimination, and this was company wide. Like 187 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:43,559 Speaker 1: a lot of the discussion was focused on Ubisoft Paris, 188 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: the home office for Ubisoft, the headquarters, but allegations spread 189 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: throughout the company and its various offices in places like 190 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: Canada and the United States and Singapore and things like that. 191 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: And word was that the company these human resources department 192 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: had effectively attempted to dismiss any allegations that executives in 193 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: particular were guilty of either you know, doing acts of 194 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:19,559 Speaker 1: sexual harassment or ignoring acts of sexual harassment, essentially allowing 195 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: it to happen. Now, possibly the reason why HR was 196 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,319 Speaker 1: not really paying attention to this is that those accusations 197 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: went way way up the leadership chain in the company, 198 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:34,439 Speaker 1: including but not limited to the creative director for all 199 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: of Ubisoft, a guy who had the ultimate yay or 200 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: nay on essentially everything that was under development within the company. Eventually, 201 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: news of these allegations in Ubisoft got out to the 202 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: public and the French authorities launched an investigation into the company. 203 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: Now the company couldn't afford to turn a blind eye 204 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: to what was going on after all, these these bombshell 205 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: news reports were coming out, and soon the media would 206 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,839 Speaker 1: start to cover a series of dismissals and resignations as 207 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: various Ubisoft executives were shown the door. That's kind of 208 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: where I left off in November twenty twenty, so let's 209 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,720 Speaker 1: pick up again to see what's been going on with 210 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: Ubisoft since then. Now, I'll go ahead and mention the 211 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: reason I decided to do this episode in the first 212 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: place is because recently those French authorities detained a group 213 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: of former Ubisoft executives based off serious accusations of illegal conduct, 214 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: primarily in the form of sexual harassment or some reports 215 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: reported as outright sexual violence. The investigation, which is technically ongoing, 216 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: it's been a really lengthy and thorough one, as reported 217 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: in the French newspaper Liberation or Liberacion I guess I 218 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: should say Libee is how it's often referenced. A French 219 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: union representing video game workers brought allegations against various ex 220 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: ub Soft employees back in twenty twenty one. Now, this 221 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: was after the scandal at Ubisoft. I know, I'm going 222 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:10,600 Speaker 1: back and forth on the pronunciation. It's driven me crazy too. 223 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: Just know that as you hear me say ub Soft 224 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: or ub soft and you're going crazy, I'm also going crazy. Anyway, 225 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: let me get back to that. So, this was after 226 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 1: the scandal at Ubisoft became public news. Two other individuals 227 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: also approached police with accusations. They obviously were not named, 228 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: because if you're naming the victims of sexual violence in papers, 229 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: that's not typically a good thing to do in the 230 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: middle of an investigation. So the police launched their own investigation. 231 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:44,359 Speaker 1: They interviewed more than fifty current or former Ubisoft employees, 232 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: and the whole thing took a place over the course 233 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: of more than a year, and the detainment happened on 234 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: October third and October fourth, which of twenty twenty three, which, 235 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: as I record this and publish it was last week. Now. 236 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: Among the five people detained was a guy named Serge Hascut, 237 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,160 Speaker 1: whose name I have butchered. I'm gonna be butchering lots 238 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: of names. I mean, they're all French names, and I 239 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: am not a French speaker, so my apologies for that. 240 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: Let's just blame my ignorant American tongue. Anyway, Serge had 241 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: served as the creative director for all of Ubisoft for 242 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: many years, so this was the person who had the 243 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,800 Speaker 1: year nay say for pretty much everything. The other person 244 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: who was named was Tommy Francois, who had been vice 245 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:37,840 Speaker 1: president of editorial and Creative Services. I'll talk more about 246 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: those charges, the allegations, and the ongoing investigation, and then 247 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: get into what else Ubisoft has been up to over 248 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: the last few years. But first let's take a quick break. Okay, 249 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:01,080 Speaker 1: we're back. So before the break, I'm mentioned that the 250 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: creative director for UBI Soft, Serge Pescut or Serge I'll 251 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: just say, because I know I'm butchering the name, and 252 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: Tommy Francois, the vice president of editorial and Creative Services, 253 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: had been detained by French authorities. The French authorities did 254 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: not identify the other three people they had detained as 255 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,120 Speaker 1: part of this investigation, so I do not know their identities. 256 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: There were several high level executives who left UBI Soft, 257 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: like in twenty twenty as part of the big scandal, 258 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: So there are multiple options as to whom those three 259 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: could be. Initial reports indicated that the police had detained, 260 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:43,359 Speaker 1: but not formally arrested these five former UBI Soft employees. 261 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: From what I can tell, they have made no arrests 262 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: so far. Like I tried to follow up on this 263 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: and see what was going on, and I did look 264 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: at some French publications, obviously translating them into English using 265 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: Google Translate because my French is terrible. But the lawyer 266 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: who represents the plaintiffs, you know, the people making the accusations, 267 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:06,880 Speaker 1: have made it has made it clear that the charges 268 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: are really serious, and that they're not limited to just 269 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:13,760 Speaker 1: these five individuals, and that, in fact, the charges point 270 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: to a systemic problem within Ubisoft itself, and the departments that, 271 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: at least on the surface, were meant to provide employee 272 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 1: protection were really nothing but a way to protect the 273 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: company and to squelch any efforts by employees to speak 274 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: out about the toxic culture and harassment that they faced. 275 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: It's really ugly stuff and it's still ongoing, and maybe 276 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:42,360 Speaker 1: there will be arrests that follow as part of this 277 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: ongoing investigation, but as it stands, right now as I 278 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: record this, I am unaware of any actual arrests. But yeah, serious, 279 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 1: serious stuff, and I'm sure I'll touch on it again 280 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: because there are allegations about a different arm of Ubisoft 281 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: that recently came to light. Leave that behind now and 282 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,640 Speaker 1: talk about other stuff in the company. So, while Ubisoft 283 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: was embroiled in this scandal, it still faced the challenge 284 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,040 Speaker 1: of developing and publishing games right. The world did not 285 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: come to a halt as it was dealing with this. 286 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 1: They were trying to forge a new strategy and perhaps 287 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 1: reverse a trend of diminishing returns like I had talked 288 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 1: about before. So in February twenty twenty one, Ubisoft held 289 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: an investor call to talk about the company's performance in 290 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:35,240 Speaker 1: twenty twenty and what it planned to do moving forward. 291 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,960 Speaker 1: The chief financial officer, Frederick Dugway, I think, emphasized that 292 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: Ubisoft would not be leaning as heavily on triple A 293 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: titles as the company had in the past. So to 294 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: quote him, he said, quote, we said for a number 295 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: of years that our normal template is to come with 296 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: either three or four triple A games, So we'll stick 297 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,200 Speaker 1: to that plan for fiscal twenty twenty two. But we 298 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,240 Speaker 1: see that we are progressively continuously moving from a model 299 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: that used to be only focused on Triple A releases 300 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: to a model where we have a combination of strong 301 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: releases from Triple A and strong back catalog dynamics, but 302 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,439 Speaker 1: also complementing our program of new releases with free to 303 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: play and other premium experiences. End quote, so again indicating 304 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: that games as a service was something that the company 305 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:27,919 Speaker 1: was really interested in. This, by the way, games as 306 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 1: a service has kind of had a really rocky go 307 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: of it as of late, Like a lot of game 308 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: studios are reevaluating that approach because a lot of players 309 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: have kind of rejected that version of games. They don't 310 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: like the idea of being sold to again and again 311 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: and again just to play a game they wanted to play. 312 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,679 Speaker 1: That's not to say that it can't work, but that 313 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: it requires a very careful approach for it to work 314 00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: well and for players to feel like it's fair and 315 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: not predatory. So it's a very tough line to walk, 316 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: and not a lot of games are able to do 317 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: it super well. Also, to touch on something else he mentioned, 318 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: he said talked about the back catalog of games as 319 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: it stands, Ubisoft's back catalog is an incredible contributor to 320 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: their revenue, Like something like more than ninety percent of 321 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: the game sold tend to be games from the back catalog. 322 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: And it may not surprise you to know that Ubisoft 323 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: is also looking into releasing remastered versions of some of 324 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,360 Speaker 1: their older games because people want to play them, and 325 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: that's a way of generating more revenue by updating the games, 326 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 1: giving people what they want, you know, making everything look pretty, 327 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: maybe fixing some gameplay issues that existed in the original 328 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:57,800 Speaker 1: version of the game, and charging you know, seventy bucks 329 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: a copy or whatever. The company was also starting to 330 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: really eye mobile games as a possible opportunity for growth. 331 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: At that time, less than ten percent of Ubisoft's business 332 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: came from mobile games. But Tencent had made and a 333 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: significant investment into Ubisoft, and Tencent is a company that 334 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: has a deep investment in mobile games, and the fact 335 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: that they were investing into Ubisoft suggested that things might 336 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: change soon. There might be more of a focus on 337 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: mobile games moving forward. However, it turns out that if 338 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,399 Speaker 1: there was going to be a dramatic shift for Ubisoft, 339 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: it hasn't quite happened yet. Not that Ubisoft hasn't been 340 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:44,120 Speaker 1: developing mobile games, but they haven't really changed as far 341 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: as how much they contribute toward revenue, at least not significantly. 342 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: All Right, so let's talk about some of the titles 343 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: that have been released since I published my episodes in 344 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: November twenty twenty. Now, Remember the strategy here was to 345 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: back away a little bit from Triple A games and 346 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,880 Speaker 1: focus more on things like freemium type stuff. But also 347 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: remember video game development cycles can last years and years 348 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,879 Speaker 1: and years, so it can take some time before you 349 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: start to see a dramatic strategy reflected in actual releases. Right, Like, 350 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 1: a change in strategy might take a while to be 351 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: evident in a company's releases because so many games were 352 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: still already in the development phase while the announcement was made. 353 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: So Assassin's Creed Valhalla came out right around the time 354 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 1: I was publishing my episodes in November of twenty twenty. Now, 355 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: the Assassin's Creed franchise is enormous. The major games, they're 356 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 1: like thirteen of them, so there's more than a dozen 357 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,840 Speaker 1: games in the main series. Then you've got like around 358 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 1: twenty spinoff games on top of that. The basic concept 359 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: behind the Assassin's Creed games is that there's this millennia 360 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: old conflict between two groups. You have the Assassins on 361 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: one side and the Templars on another side, and generally speaking, 362 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: the Assassins are all about free will and choice, the 363 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: Templars are all about creating order, and both sides are 364 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:22,560 Speaker 1: wanting to see sort of a peaceful existence, but it's 365 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: through two different directions. So the Assassins believe that only 366 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: through free will can you really have true peace, and 367 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: the Templars believe that only by locking folks down into 368 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: a very orderly system can you actually guarantee piece. And 369 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: that's where the maiden conflict comes from. There's also all 370 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: this stuff about a precursor to human civilization and some 371 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,880 Speaker 1: science fiction elements of various items that when assembled would 372 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: give incredible power. It gets pretty convoluted. Complicating this even 373 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: more is that while the Assassin's Creed titles are set 374 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: throughout history, there's a modern day component to the story. 375 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,120 Speaker 1: So typically in an Assassin's Creed game, you play as 376 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 1: a modern day person who more often than not, is 377 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: a descendant of some historical character who was involved in 378 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 1: this ancient conflict between Templars and Assassins, and using some 379 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:19,159 Speaker 1: science fiction technology, you're able to inhabit the ancestral memories 380 00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:24,679 Speaker 1: of these people from your ancient past, and in the 381 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,879 Speaker 1: process you uncover some of the mysteries that are at 382 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: the core of the struggle between the Assassins and the Templars, 383 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: mostly like trying to get an idea of where some 384 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: of these sci fi artifacts from this precursor civilization could 385 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,680 Speaker 1: be hidden. Now, I've only played a few of the 386 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed games. Personally, I find the historical segments to 387 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: be far more enjoyable to the modern day ones. I 388 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,920 Speaker 1: find the sci fi stuff kind of silly and convoluted, 389 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: and the historical components are maybe only slightly less goofy, 390 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: but I just find them more enjoyable that That's just my 391 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,880 Speaker 1: own personal opinion of the games anyway, Valhalla, as I'm 392 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 1: sure you can imagine, taps into Norwegian history and mythology. 393 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 1: The historical segments are set in the late ninth centuries 394 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,399 Speaker 1: of the late eight hundreds of the Common Era, and 395 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: if we go by historical chronology, that would mean this 396 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: is the fourth game if you look at the historical segments. 397 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,120 Speaker 1: If that's how you order the Assassin's Creed franchise, which, 398 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:31,720 Speaker 1: by the way, there are obviously lots of different ways 399 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: you could order the franchise. Most of them end up 400 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,879 Speaker 1: making everything make no sense. But if we were to 401 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: just go by the historical segments, first up would be 402 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed Odyssey, then would be Assassin's Creed Origins, so 403 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: ironically that actually comes after Odyssey. Then the new game, 404 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,639 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed Mirage, would be next, and then after that 405 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 1: would be Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Although Mirage and Valhalla butt 406 00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,640 Speaker 1: up against each other a super close because Mirage would 407 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:05,120 Speaker 1: have been taking place like a decade before Valhalla starts. 408 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a huge game. IGN estimated that 409 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,879 Speaker 1: it would take about sixty hours to complete it, so 410 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: that would actually make it the longest game by playtime 411 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 1: in the entire Assassin's Creed series so far. By contrast, 412 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 1: the new title, the one that just came out, Assassin's 413 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: Creed Mirage, is far less complex. It completely gets rid 414 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,159 Speaker 1: of any modern day story at all, so you're just 415 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: focused on the historical element. It's really stripped down the 416 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:39,040 Speaker 1: game to its stealth and assassination components, and it debuted 417 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: on October fifth, twenty twenty three, you know, just shortly 418 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:46,160 Speaker 1: after all those Zubiesoft executives had been detained by police. Anyway, 419 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 1: it's interesting to compare and contrast Valhalla with Mirage, because 420 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,880 Speaker 1: one is a huge, sprawling game with tons of content 421 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,879 Speaker 1: that generally got positive reviews, but some critics were calling 422 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: it out as being a little too long, that it 423 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: had excessive length to the main storyline. According to gamer Rant, 424 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: Valhalla falls pretty much in the middle of all the 425 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:14,840 Speaker 1: games by gamer By metacritics score, It's a little bit 426 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: on the bottom side of the middle, so not smack 427 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,159 Speaker 1: dab in the middle. It's a little too early to 428 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: make a call on Mirage, but as I record this, 429 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,080 Speaker 1: Metacritic has Mirage at a score of seventy seven, kind 430 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:30,439 Speaker 1: of averaged out among more than eighty critics. If it 431 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: holds at seventy seven, that would put eleventh on the 432 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 1: list of thirteen games, so toward the bottom end. So again, 433 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: it's interesting because it depends, I guess, on whether or 434 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: not you value the strip down core gameplay of Assassin's Creed, 435 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: which would suggest that you would prefer a game like 436 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: Mirage or if you prefer, you know, sort of the larger, 437 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: more sprawling kind of gameplay of something like Valhalla. And 438 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 1: again it's sarly maybe other reviews will change that score 439 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: over time. It'll be interesting to see if we be 440 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: softicides that the Valhalla approach is better than stripping things 441 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: down to their roots. Also, while Ubisoft would release downloadable 442 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:17,719 Speaker 1: content or DLC for Valhalla, they've said that they're not 443 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 1: going to do that for Mirage. Mirage does have microtransactions 444 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,639 Speaker 1: included in it, but it's purely for cosmetic elements. So 445 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: you can pay to have different cosmetic features added into Mirage, 446 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,879 Speaker 1: so you can change like the appearance of your character 447 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,840 Speaker 1: and their costume, that kind of stuff, but you won't 448 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: be getting additional content. So very interesting that they're taking that. 449 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,360 Speaker 1: I guess they're kind of testing the waters to see 450 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: what resonates with gamers more because if it is something 451 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: where it's like a stripped down version, that could potentially 452 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: mean a smaller investment resource wise into game development and 453 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 1: perhaps a better payoff down the line. But if it 454 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,120 Speaker 1: turns out that gamers kind of reject that, then it 455 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: may mean like, well, I guess we're stuck with planning 456 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,479 Speaker 1: out these really huge games. Now, let's go over some 457 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: of the other games that have come out since November 458 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Besides Assassin's Creed, Valhalla, and Mirage, there were 459 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,840 Speaker 1: several you know, TV or game show or board game 460 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: based games that came out, like Family Feud or Trivial Pursuit, 461 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Family Feud, by the way, in 462 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,960 Speaker 1: case you're not aware, is a long running TV game show, 463 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 1: and so that was one of the titles that Ubisoft 464 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: released since November twenty twenty. Then let's see there was 465 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: three different Just Dance games came out, because there's one 466 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,840 Speaker 1: every year, So Just Dance twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, 467 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: and twenty twenty three all came out since November of 468 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: twenty twenty. There were several Tom Clancy titles that came 469 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: Mount Sin Sin Rainbow six Siege and Rainbow six Extraction 470 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,240 Speaker 1: were two of those. Ubisoft also released Scott Pilgrim Versus 471 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: the World, the Game Complete Edition. The game had been 472 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,800 Speaker 1: out before, but this was kind of a remastered full 473 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: version of the game. Then there was also far Cry 474 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: six in twenty twenty one. Far Cry series is one 475 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: of those. That's also like a long standing franchise with 476 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:31,719 Speaker 1: Ubisoft Far Cry. Typically you take on the role of 477 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: a person who is stuck in an environment where there 478 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 1: is an oppressive leader of some sort, and you are 479 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: essentially trying to either escape or overthrow that leader, depending 480 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: upon which Far Cry you're looking at. And Far Cry 481 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: six got some mixed reviews, which is a shame because 482 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: gian Carlo Esposito, the actor who I think of as 483 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: Gus Frang from the Breaking Bad series, he played the 484 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: villain in Far Christ six, a character named Antom Costillo. 485 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: I have not played far Crai six. I think the 486 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,280 Speaker 1: last Far Krai game I played was Blood Dragon, which 487 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: was quite a ways back, but from what I understand, 488 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: it also received mixed reviews and people were generally a 489 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:22,360 Speaker 1: little disappointed in it, which is a shame because, I mean, again, 490 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: that's a series that has a lot going for it, 491 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: but I think a lot of people feel that it's 492 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 1: a little formulaic, and so a lot rests on the 493 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:35,080 Speaker 1: story of those games, because if the gameplay is pretty 494 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: much the same as the previous one in the series, 495 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: you got to make sure that the story really sets 496 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 1: it apart. And I think a lot of people didn't 497 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: resonate with that story based upon my impressions from reading 498 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: various reviews and such. Anyway, that's just a selection of 499 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: some of the games that Ubi seft released over that period. 500 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,680 Speaker 1: They also had lots of other games as well. Shouldn't 501 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: be because again, Ubisoft has offices all over the world 502 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: these days. But already we can see that the pace 503 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: of releases is different from earlier years at the company. 504 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: Like let's take Assassin's Creed for example. We got Mirage 505 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: just last week, and before that we got Valhalla in 506 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 1: late twenty twenty. But let's compare that to the era 507 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: of twenty ten to twenty nineteen. So in that ten 508 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: year period, Ubisoft released nine Assassin's Creed games. Started with 509 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, which came out in twenty ten, and 510 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: the last one in that era was Assassin's Creed Odyssey, 511 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: which came out in twenty eighteen. So the pace today 512 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:47,000 Speaker 1: is absolutely glacial compared to back then. Anyway, there's a 513 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 1: selection of games that Ubisoft has released over the last 514 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: few years. But what about a game that hasn't been 515 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 1: released yet, one that's been development for more than a decade. 516 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 1: Has slipped launch dates half a dozen times and has 517 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: experienced development hell on a level that rivals that of 518 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 1: titles like Duke Nukem Forever. I am talking, of course, 519 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: about the long awaited pirate game Skull and Bones. We're 520 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: gonna go into the drama behind Skull and Bones, but 521 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: first let's take another quick break. Okay, before the break, 522 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: I alluded to Skull and Bones, which you could, if 523 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: you wanted to keep with the Mariner theme, you could 524 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: say what has been an albatross around the corporate neck 525 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: of Ubisoft for a few years. The general public first 526 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: got a look at Skull and Bones back in twenty 527 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: seventeen during E three, which I'll remind you used to 528 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: be a thing. But the game had been in development 529 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: for several years already, mostly over at Ubisoft Singapore, and 530 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 1: in part that's where a lot of Ubisoft's problem comes from. 531 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: Not that the developers at Ubisoft Singapore are bad or substandard, 532 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 1: but that the deal Ubisoft made with Singapore the country 533 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: has kind of put the company in a bit of 534 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: a bind. So when Ubisoft set out to establish the 535 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,319 Speaker 1: Singapore office, which was back in two thousand and eight, 536 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: Ubisoft had to negotiate with Singapore's government, and this is 537 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:28,440 Speaker 1: to establish stuff like tax breaks and incentives and that 538 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:32,280 Speaker 1: kind of thing. And you can land those sorts of stuff, 539 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: but typically you have to offer something in return. So 540 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: part of those negotiations included Ubisoft guaranteeing that they would 541 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: hire a certain number of people in Singapore to staff 542 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,840 Speaker 1: the office, so they wouldn't just be bringing people to 543 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 1: Singapore to do it, they would be hiring from the 544 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: developer community within Singapore itself. Another was a commitment that 545 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: the Ubisoft Singapore office would release original IP games, so 546 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:03,520 Speaker 1: not gay that belonged to other franchises, but that this 547 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:09,320 Speaker 1: office itself would become known for creating original IP Also, 548 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 1: the developers at Ubisoft Singapore were largely responsible for the 549 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:18,000 Speaker 1: ship gameplay mechanics of one of Ubisoft's best reviewed games, 550 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,800 Speaker 1: and that would play a part, in fact, a primary 551 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: part in the Skull and Bones story. So, according to Kotaku, 552 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:29,319 Speaker 1: Uisaft first launch development of Skull and Bones back in 553 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:34,279 Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. Now at that time, the idea was this 554 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: was just going to be an expansion, a multiplayer expansion 555 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:42,200 Speaker 1: for Assassin's Creed for Black Flag that just happens to 556 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,760 Speaker 1: be my favorite Assassin's Creed game that I have ever played. 557 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 1: But keep in mind, I've only played like three or 558 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,640 Speaker 1: four of the titles, so I haven't played the vast 559 00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: majority of Assassin's Creed games. It's possible that if I 560 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:56,839 Speaker 1: played one of the other ones, more of the more 561 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,399 Speaker 1: recent titles, I'd say, oh, well, this one's actually my favorite. 562 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 1: But for now, Black Flag is my favorite. And in 563 00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:07,360 Speaker 1: that game, you play as a privateer slash pirate slash 564 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:11,759 Speaker 1: eventually an assassin, and it includes sections of the game 565 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,200 Speaker 1: in which you control a ship and you can engage 566 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,920 Speaker 1: in ship to ship combat and pursue you know, generally 567 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 1: piratical pursuits. So the initial plan was to create a 568 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:28,880 Speaker 1: multiplayer feature where gamers could purchase this multiplayer expansion to 569 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,600 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed four and set their own skills against other 570 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,640 Speaker 1: players and have ship to ship battle against people who 571 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:40,160 Speaker 1: are controlling the other ship. However, while in development, the 572 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,000 Speaker 1: team added more features and components, and this kind of 573 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,839 Speaker 1: inspired executives to expand the project and it went from 574 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: being just an expansion to a full spin off of 575 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: Black Flag, and it had the working title of Black 576 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:58,560 Speaker 1: Flag Infinite and that decision wasn't just because of the 577 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: game getting fleshed out more or it was also an 578 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 1: indication that the games as a service model was really 579 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:09,279 Speaker 1: appealing to Ubisoft. So why spend so many internal resources 580 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: to make an expansion to an existing game that you 581 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:17,000 Speaker 1: can only really sell the one time? Instead, why not 582 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,560 Speaker 1: create a fully fledged game that has the ability to 583 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 1: generate revenue repeatedly from the same player base for however 584 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,200 Speaker 1: long that game's life cycle lasts. You know, whether it 585 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:33,040 Speaker 1: comes in the form of subscriptions or micro transactions or whatever, 586 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: it means you can keep making money off the same 587 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 1: title year after year. I mean, like, look at Grand 588 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 1: Theft Auto Online. That's a great example of a game 589 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: that has done that incredibly effectively. Meanwhile, a problem that 590 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: has hit lots of game developers was hitting this particular 591 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 1: development project. Actually, you could argue that two very common 592 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 1: problems within video game development hit the Black Flag Infinite Project. 593 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 1: One was that while developers were hard at work on 594 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:09,479 Speaker 1: the project, technological innovation in the game hardware space kept 595 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,560 Speaker 1: on going, which meant some of the assets that the 596 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:15,800 Speaker 1: team had been using were starting to really show their age. 597 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:19,080 Speaker 1: And this leads to a pretty tough choice. Do you 598 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: adopt newer technologies knowing that this means a lot of 599 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: your earlier work will no longer be usable right as 600 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:31,160 Speaker 1: you adopt these new technologies, it means you got to 601 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,960 Speaker 1: toss a lot of stuff you've already built. Or do 602 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,680 Speaker 1: you stick with the stuff you've already created and you 603 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,600 Speaker 1: just resign yourself to the problem that folks are going 604 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:45,719 Speaker 1: to think your game looks outdated at launch. They're going 605 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:47,840 Speaker 1: to say, oh, this looks like a last generation game. 606 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,520 Speaker 1: So you be self decided they were going to go 607 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:52,880 Speaker 1: with the first option. They were going to adopt the 608 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,800 Speaker 1: new technologies, but it meant that they were going to 609 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 1: lose a lot of that early development work. Now, the 610 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,840 Speaker 1: other big problem that a lot of game companies have 611 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:05,560 Speaker 1: faced is feature creep. So this is when you have 612 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,600 Speaker 1: a set of defined features that you want in your 613 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,680 Speaker 1: project and then someone typically you know, someone in charge, 614 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,640 Speaker 1: decides that, hey, while we're doing all this, we should 615 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: also add in feature X. Except adding feature X means 616 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:22,359 Speaker 1: that you also have to do a whole lot more 617 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 1: work not just to have feature X work, but to 618 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,320 Speaker 1: have it work within the context of the overall project. 619 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,920 Speaker 1: Right because just including feature X might break other stuff. 620 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: So it's a lot of work, and it's rarely just 621 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:40,080 Speaker 1: feature X. Often it becomes feature X and Y and Z, 622 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: and next thing you know, you've run out of letters 623 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: and you've got to start with numbers and stuff, and 624 00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:47,840 Speaker 1: your project becomes bloated and difficult to manage. That happened 625 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: to Ubisoft's project of Black Flag Infinite as well. Now 626 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:56,080 Speaker 1: a little bit later, you Besoft decided to divorce the 627 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,640 Speaker 1: game from the Black Flag title entirely, which also meant 628 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,840 Speaker 1: Skull and Bones. The new title would be one of 629 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,840 Speaker 1: those original ips that they needed to produce out of 630 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:08,840 Speaker 1: Ubisoft Singapore, So that would solve that problem, right Like 631 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,880 Speaker 1: here would be a brand new intellectual property that sure 632 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: was drawn from the experience of designing Assassin's Creed Black Flag, 633 00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,799 Speaker 1: but had no other connection to it. Now the game 634 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:27,759 Speaker 1: changed scope and gameplay several times. So originally it was 635 00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:30,480 Speaker 1: meant to be set in the Caribbean. It was going 636 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 1: to be this ship to ship combat between players where 637 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: you would have these specific instances of ship to ship combat. 638 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:42,240 Speaker 1: Then after a while it migrated to a fantasy setting 639 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: called Hyperborea for a bit. Another variation had a floating 640 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: pirate citadel called Libertalia as a focal point of the game, 641 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:55,760 Speaker 1: but then it would ultimately migrate over to the Indian Ocean. 642 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,319 Speaker 1: It had, actually, according to at least some histories I read, 643 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:02,120 Speaker 1: had moved to the Indian Ocean before and then got 644 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,560 Speaker 1: moved out. Now it's back in the Indian Ocean. That's 645 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: the setting for Skull and Bones as it stands today. Meanwhile, 646 00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:13,040 Speaker 1: the video game developer Rare was at work on a 647 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,799 Speaker 1: similar concept. This one called Sea of Thieves, would be 648 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:19,880 Speaker 1: a multiplayer game in which players would form small pirate crews. 649 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,799 Speaker 1: They would command ships. They would go on adventures, which 650 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,640 Speaker 1: could include ship to ship combat as well as adventuring 651 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: on land and searching for treasure and that kind of stuff. 652 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:31,799 Speaker 1: Rare also decided that progression in the game could be 653 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,480 Speaker 1: marked with cosmetic items, and to not lock any weapons 654 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:38,480 Speaker 1: and tools and such behind that so that way, you know, 655 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:41,080 Speaker 1: you wouldn't just log into the game for the first 656 00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,040 Speaker 1: time and then find yourself obliterated by a veteran player 657 00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:48,360 Speaker 1: who's using I don't know, capt'n Chonky's Intercontinental Ballistic cannonball 658 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,360 Speaker 1: or something. So Rare began developing Sea of Thieves around 659 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, so not too long after Ubisoft had started 660 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: on what would become Skull and Bones. Rare first announced 661 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:03,440 Speaker 1: the game in twenty fifteen at E three, so this 662 00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:07,000 Speaker 1: is before ub Soft would announce Skull and Bones and 663 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: the original plan was to release Sea of Thieves in 664 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, but that got delayed till twenty eighteen. Meanwhile, 665 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,240 Speaker 1: back at ub Soft, the project that would become Skull 666 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: and Bones hit some choppy waters. To fit in with 667 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: the metaphor, developer leadership was mercurial. It changed multiple times, 668 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:28,120 Speaker 1: and that also changed the direction of the development of 669 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 1: the game, and so it meant that developers were working 670 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:34,200 Speaker 1: and working and working on this project, but they weren't 671 00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:37,160 Speaker 1: any closer to getting a finished game, and that was 672 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:41,640 Speaker 1: very much demoralizing. Ubisoft announced the game in twenty seventeen. 673 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:45,359 Speaker 1: They launched their own preview video at E three. That year. 674 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: Sea of Thieves was not yet out, so now we 675 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 1: knew about two Pirate Crew games that were coming out. 676 00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,160 Speaker 1: The twenty seventeen preview of Skull and Bones showed off 677 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: what appeared to be an encounter involving four ships. First, 678 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,759 Speaker 1: what seems to be a navy ship succumbs to an 679 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:08,120 Speaker 1: attack led by a female pirate captain, but her victory 680 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:12,880 Speaker 1: celebration doesn't last very long because just as she's looking 681 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:16,480 Speaker 1: over the spoils of her attack, two other pirate ships 682 00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:19,399 Speaker 1: come into view, and they flank either side of her ship, 683 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,520 Speaker 1: and then all three vessels open fire on each other, 684 00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:23,680 Speaker 1: and it looks like all four of them sink, and 685 00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:25,880 Speaker 1: that was the end of the preview. The graphics and 686 00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,520 Speaker 1: Sea of Thieves tends toward the cartoony, whereas Skull and 687 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:31,840 Speaker 1: Bones looked more aligned with what you would see in 688 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 1: an Assassin's Creed game. Again, no big surprise since it 689 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:39,239 Speaker 1: did spawn from Assassin's Creed originally, but it didn't really 690 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:41,400 Speaker 1: show any gameplay in that trailer. This was like a 691 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,399 Speaker 1: cinematic approach really didn't give you a sense of what 692 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,400 Speaker 1: you could experience while playing the game. Internally at do Besoft, 693 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:51,800 Speaker 1: there was chaos. There was concern that Skull and Bones 694 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:55,359 Speaker 1: didn't have enough sticky content to keep players interested. If 695 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:59,480 Speaker 1: the game only involved player versus player combat, how long 696 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:02,719 Speaker 1: before that gets old and people stop playing? And if 697 00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:04,600 Speaker 1: it's meant to be a games as a service where 698 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:07,839 Speaker 1: you're generating revenue over time. You want people to keep 699 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:11,120 Speaker 1: playing your game for as long as possible, so they 700 00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,440 Speaker 1: got to development on some PvE elements. PvE stands for 701 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: player versus environment, so the player is pitted against stuff 702 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,600 Speaker 1: that's under controlled by the game itself rather than under 703 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:24,760 Speaker 1: the control of a different player. In twenty eighteen, Ubisov 704 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 1: showed off some of that PvE stuff in a preview 705 00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:31,600 Speaker 1: called Skull and Bones the Hunting Grounds, where the Hunting 706 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,040 Speaker 1: Grounds showed off some of the things you could do 707 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:39,160 Speaker 1: in player versus environment missions, and at the end of 708 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,000 Speaker 1: that trailer it proclaimed the game would launch in twenty nineteen. 709 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:45,680 Speaker 1: Obviously that did not happen. In fact, the whole Hunting 710 00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:47,879 Speaker 1: Grounds version of Skull and Bones would suffer the same 711 00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:51,960 Speaker 1: fate as many other decisions during the development cycle. It sank. 712 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,560 Speaker 1: So instead you'd be Soft was looking at a different 713 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,719 Speaker 1: set of games that were becoming really popular around this time, 714 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,880 Speaker 1: and those would be survival games that includes stuff like 715 00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:06,359 Speaker 1: resource management and crafting, So games like Arc are in 716 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:08,680 Speaker 1: that category. I play a game like that called Seven 717 00:45:08,760 --> 00:45:11,760 Speaker 1: Days to Die, and that's a Zombie Hordes survival game 718 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,800 Speaker 1: that has some of those crafting elements. And resource management 719 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,440 Speaker 1: included in it. So now Skull and Bones would need 720 00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:21,000 Speaker 1: to adopt those kinds of features as well, and the 721 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:23,400 Speaker 1: development would drag on because it's not just as simple 722 00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:26,160 Speaker 1: as saying, well, let's add an inventory, right, You had 723 00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:29,200 Speaker 1: to build a whole new player economy. It would change 724 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:32,759 Speaker 1: motivation for why the player is playing the game like 725 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:37,000 Speaker 1: it has massive impact on the game's development. So the 726 00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:39,080 Speaker 1: changes would mean that players would need to venture on 727 00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:42,000 Speaker 1: land to find and collect resources, so there had to 728 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 1: be new ways to manage that inventory. The game would 729 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:47,680 Speaker 1: have to have an entire crafting mechanism built into it 730 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,320 Speaker 1: to make it all work, and the existing foundation of 731 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:52,960 Speaker 1: the game wasn't really suitable for all this kind of gameplay, 732 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,359 Speaker 1: so it made it even harder to achieve the new 733 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:58,319 Speaker 1: direction of the title. So what was actually going on here? 734 00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:01,320 Speaker 1: It's not like game development follows some sort of natural progression. 735 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:04,759 Speaker 1: The leadership on the project spread out across multiple managers 736 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:07,360 Speaker 1: and appears that not everyone was on the same page. 737 00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:10,200 Speaker 1: According to some of the folks that Kotaku talked to, 738 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,760 Speaker 1: it seemed like a lot of leadership practiced a passing 739 00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 1: the buck routine when it came to making you know, 740 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 1: critical difficult decisions, which meant those decisions just didn't get made, 741 00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:23,200 Speaker 1: so things were left in limbo. Then there's the fact 742 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,319 Speaker 1: that Ubisoft Singapore was a young studio that never had 743 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:29,480 Speaker 1: shipped its own full Triple A title. It had participated 744 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,840 Speaker 1: and contributed to them, but never made its own, so 745 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:36,000 Speaker 1: that was also an issue. Is possible that, you know, 746 00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:39,360 Speaker 1: the studio itself just didn't have the experience to really 747 00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:41,920 Speaker 1: tackle this and it was a little too soon out 748 00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:45,400 Speaker 1: of the gate for the studio to helm such a 749 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:49,680 Speaker 1: big title. The game has had three different creative directors 750 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:52,640 Speaker 1: of the course of its development. The most recent creative director, 751 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:57,480 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Pellin, left the project back in September. She still 752 00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:00,840 Speaker 1: works for Ubisoft, but now she's back in the Ubisoft 753 00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:06,120 Speaker 1: Paris studio, and Ubisoft announced and missed launch dates for 754 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:09,200 Speaker 1: the game six times so far. Currently, the plan is 755 00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:13,160 Speaker 1: to release it in twenty twenty three or twenty twenty four, 756 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:14,800 Speaker 1: and since we're coming up on the end of twenty 757 00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:17,560 Speaker 1: twenty three, I think most folks now are assuming that 758 00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:21,160 Speaker 1: we're looking at twenty twenty four at this point. But 759 00:47:21,239 --> 00:47:24,080 Speaker 1: the game has been in beta, so it's not like 760 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:27,600 Speaker 1: it's totally behind closed doors. People have had a chance 761 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: to experience the game a select number of people, some 762 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:34,319 Speaker 1: of them people who work at prominent video games websites. 763 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,640 Speaker 1: They've taken part and reported on it, and the reviews 764 00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,440 Speaker 1: are mixed. Some of them are positive, some of them 765 00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:43,080 Speaker 1: are more meh. I don't think I've seen anything that 766 00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:47,200 Speaker 1: was outright negative. The one person said that he was 767 00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:51,200 Speaker 1: bored most of the time, but not like the game 768 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:55,560 Speaker 1: was outright bad. Not everyone finds the gameplay really that engaging, 769 00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:57,480 Speaker 1: But for the people with whom it clicked, it sounds 770 00:47:57,520 --> 00:47:59,640 Speaker 1: like it clicked really well. So it sounds like, for 771 00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 1: at LEAs some types of players, this is going to 772 00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:06,719 Speaker 1: be a pretty fun game. The Kotaku report on the 773 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:09,320 Speaker 1: development of Skull and Bones, which came out in twenty 774 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,160 Speaker 1: twenty one, I might add, and you know, the game 775 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:14,520 Speaker 1: still doesn't come out two years later, say that Skull 776 00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:17,440 Speaker 1: and Bones at that point was well over its initial budget, 777 00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:20,680 Speaker 1: having hit more than one hundred and twenty million dollars. 778 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,160 Speaker 1: This actually has a really big impact, not just on 779 00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:26,360 Speaker 1: the company, but also the developers themselves, because you see 780 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:30,960 Speaker 1: at Ubisoft, developers are eligible for a bonus depending upon 781 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:33,840 Speaker 1: how well their game does when it hits release compared 782 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:36,360 Speaker 1: to how much it cost to make the game. But 783 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:39,879 Speaker 1: because Skull and Bones was so grossly over budget and 784 00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:43,040 Speaker 1: not at the full of the developers necessarily, it meant 785 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:45,040 Speaker 1: that there would be no way for the game to 786 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,000 Speaker 1: do well enough to trigger those bonuses. So, according to 787 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:51,560 Speaker 1: Kotaku's sources, Ubisoft had to do an internal write off 788 00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:53,920 Speaker 1: on the game in order for there to even be 789 00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,080 Speaker 1: a chance for developers to get a bonus at all. 790 00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:58,279 Speaker 1: And again, the game hasn't come out yet, so we 791 00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:01,040 Speaker 1: don't know if there will be a bonus. In twenty 792 00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:05,799 Speaker 1: twenty one, Libbey, that French newspaper, reported that Ubisoft Singapore 793 00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:09,600 Speaker 1: had shared some of the toxic traits of the overall 794 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:12,960 Speaker 1: ub Soft company, and then an investigation was launched into 795 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:16,640 Speaker 1: the charges of sexual harassment and racial discrimination at that office. 796 00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:19,680 Speaker 1: That probably had a huge impact on the development of 797 00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:24,320 Speaker 1: Skull and Bones as well. More recently, there's been reports 798 00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:30,440 Speaker 1: that the Singapore Creative Media and Publishing Union or CMPU, 799 00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:35,520 Speaker 1: has been campaigning within Singapore's office to try and get 800 00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:39,759 Speaker 1: workers there to unionize and to organize. That has not 801 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:42,880 Speaker 1: yet happened, but apparently that's been going on for about 802 00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:46,000 Speaker 1: a month now. Ubisoft has also faced other instances of 803 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:51,040 Speaker 1: labor resistance. Earlier this year, there were members of the 804 00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,399 Speaker 1: Paris office who did a walkout around forty of them 805 00:49:55,000 --> 00:50:00,720 Speaker 1: in protest of how Guielmo had released a man stating 806 00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:03,919 Speaker 1: that the problems that the company had faced with were 807 00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:09,160 Speaker 1: largely due to developer issues. And they were saying, Hey, 808 00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:11,960 Speaker 1: it's not us, it's the people you put in charge 809 00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:15,759 Speaker 1: who created this terrible toxic environment. How dare you say 810 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:18,520 Speaker 1: it's because of us and other demanding things like an 811 00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:21,759 Speaker 1: increase in pay and a four day work week and 812 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:26,600 Speaker 1: some other considerations. And yeah, then there's Tencent, right. Tencent 813 00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:29,719 Speaker 1: got a forty nine point nine percent economic stake in 814 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:34,880 Speaker 1: a company called the Guielmo Brothers Limited. This company actually 815 00:50:35,480 --> 00:50:40,520 Speaker 1: holds the stock that belongs to those five brothers who 816 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:46,080 Speaker 1: founded Ubisoft. So this one entity actually holds the stock 817 00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:50,120 Speaker 1: that belongs to the brothers, and now Tencent owns almost 818 00:50:50,239 --> 00:50:53,560 Speaker 1: half of that company. In addition, it has about ten 819 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:58,799 Speaker 1: percent ownership of Ubisoft stock overall. Ironically, this is kind 820 00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:03,160 Speaker 1: of old worries that ten Cent could take over ub 821 00:51:03,239 --> 00:51:07,799 Speaker 1: Soft entirely because ub Soft shareholders have indicated they would 822 00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:11,280 Speaker 1: not consider a buyout unless the Ubisoft stock was trading 823 00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:14,640 Speaker 1: for around sixty to seventy euro per share. And when 824 00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:20,200 Speaker 1: Tencent made this this acquisition deal for like fifty percent 825 00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:23,640 Speaker 1: or forty nine point nine percent of the holding company, 826 00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:26,720 Speaker 1: the stock price for Ubisoft fell fifteen percent to thirty 827 00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:30,120 Speaker 1: six point six euros, So it's far below the threshold 828 00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:33,560 Speaker 1: that shareholders would consider for a buyout. And as I 829 00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:36,160 Speaker 1: record this episode, Ubi saft stock price is just below 830 00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:38,319 Speaker 1: twenty nine euro per share, so yeah, it's not on 831 00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:41,719 Speaker 1: track for that buyout option, at least according to shareholders. 832 00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:45,640 Speaker 1: I should also mention Ubisoft's hope that mobile gaming would 833 00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:48,000 Speaker 1: make up a larger percentage of revenue has not really 834 00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,760 Speaker 1: panned out that way, at least not yet. It's still 835 00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:53,120 Speaker 1: hovering around the ten percent mark, which is what it 836 00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:57,120 Speaker 1: was at back in twenty twenty, so that might change 837 00:51:57,440 --> 00:52:00,160 Speaker 1: in the next year or two, but so far it 838 00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:03,239 Speaker 1: just hasn't really skyrocketed the way the company had hoped. 839 00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:05,480 Speaker 1: So that kind of gets us up to speed as 840 00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,080 Speaker 1: to what Ubisoft has been up to since twenty twenty. 841 00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:11,560 Speaker 1: Felt good to get through all of that. I should 842 00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,359 Speaker 1: probably also do this for Blizzard because I did one 843 00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,160 Speaker 1: a series on Blizzard not too long ago, and I 844 00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:19,080 Speaker 1: should do an update on that, especially with all the 845 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:23,520 Speaker 1: Activision Blizzard acquisition shenanigans that have happened over the past 846 00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:26,480 Speaker 1: year and a half or so. But that's enough for today. 847 00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:29,600 Speaker 1: I hope you are all well, and I'll talk to 848 00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:40,520 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. 849 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,839 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 850 00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:51,920 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.