I remember when they said “players should get used to not owning their games”.
Well Ubisoft. You should get used to not getting a penny outta me forever.
Steam says the same thing and everyone jerks them. Plus the quote was actually out of context.
While you don’t technically own the DRM games you buy on Steam, it’s a whole world different than putting games behind subscriptions.
It’s not Steam’s decision to make. The statement you’re referring to is just Steam highlighting a decision made by the game publishers. Even if Steam didn’t highlight it, it would still exist, as you would see if you read the games’ license terms before paying.
Ubisoft is a game publisher. They actually make the decision that you don’t own the games you pay for.
valve is a publisher too, and they have the exact same policy for their games.
Practically all game publishers do. Sadly, it’s the industry standard.
(By the way, you linked Steam’s subscriber agreement, which concerns Steam’s service and client software, not the games bought on Steam. Maybe you meant to link a Valve game license?)
In any case, it doesn’t matter here, because the complaint was about Steam, not Valve.
I’ve never had Steam entirely revoke a game from my library that I paid for though.
It happens every few years when a publisher gets petty:
- https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/4157463936692986362
- https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/2495505669486891393
- https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/2239921952554905285
- https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sentinels_of_the_Store/announcements/detail/2736357490467304767
I don’t get the downvotes. You’re right, everything you “own” in steam is through a license. People just don’t like to admit that we’re willing to let that one slide for convenience.
Gamers are not always the most unfrozen pogos of the box.
Or as I like to say, two buns short of a hamburger
I may be misremembering but don’t some steam games have no drm? KSP1 and Ultrakill come to mind, are they still on a licence like games with drm?
You are right - https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Big_List_of_DRM-Free_Games_on_Steam.
My main arguement though was that it’s not like your steam library is yours without restrictions. You’re agreeing to Steams terms and services and there are lots of ways they can prevent you from playing (most) games you “own”.
the downvotes are because it’s borderline misinformation:
whether a game comes with DRM or not has nothing to do with steam, and everything to do with the publisher.
plenty of games on steam are completely DRM free!
(…but the majority does have DRM, which, again, is on the publisher, not steam)
Don’t bother reading the EULA for all commercial software then. You don’t actually own anything you purchase.
Unless you have the code there is no freedom and it is all an illusion.
Yeah, that’s the point I and the person above were stating.
I was pretty sure Steam was getting dunked on because you don’t actually own the games according to the contract. I was just pointing out this is also true of any commercial piece of software.
For example, you go to GameStop and buy a physical copy of your favorite game. When you install it the EULA makes it clear you don’t actually own the product, just a license.
True but if I own the .exe or physical disk, it’s going to be a lot harder to stop me playing the game than if I’m accessing it through a platform.
That is a good point.
If their customers are going to have to get used to not owning games they paid for, I guess Ubisoft is going to get used to not having money 🤷🏻
Works for steam tho Edit: apparently Ubisoft wanted subscriptions, so steam isn’t exactly comparable
In addition to Steam not being subscriptions, Valve has so far not screwed over their users. The way the Ubisoft exec suggested that we should change our attitude really showed what they in plan
Gross. Good riddance!
“review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders”.
Ah there it is. That’s the only thing that matters anyway.
fyi, in case someone isn’t clear on the difference:
stakeholder ≠ shareholder
stakeholders are basically all people involved, including staff, and even stuff like landlords, janitors, citizens (sometimes things like parents), etc.
it’s anyone with a stake in an organizations operations!
example: a city decides to create a new bus route. in this case, stakeholders include the local residents, the companies involved in creating the route, the companies supplying the buses, the mechanics needed to keep the fleet running, etc., etc.
there’s a usually a LOT of stakeholders, and typically you don’t always include everyone in every little decision because it quickly becomes unmanageable. so only the most relevant ones are included in most decisions, and who exactly that is depends on the project.
shareholders on the other hand are what everyone is probably thinking of, and that’s the people (“people” being used generously here) only interested in next quarters profits. you know! the parasites!
of course the message is still bullshit and nothing but coded corpo-speech for “shareholders”, but i thought some folks might be interested in knowing the difference anyhow.
even if, in this case, it’s only important to highlight the extra special bullshit they put into the statement…
Good point and thanks for pointing it out, I misread it. A shareholder and stakeholder aren’t (necessarily) the same indeed.
actually good point on your part too, cause i should have mentioned that as well:
shareholders can also be stakeholders!
totally not confusing or anything…
i really hate basically all the language around finance…
Goodwill with your playerbase doesn’t show up on a quarterly report, but without it your company is sunk.
It’s incredible that a company with the resources of Ubisoft couldn’t figure that out, even with people shouting it at them daily.
I think the big “issue” is that there’s a notable lag between loss of goodwill and loss of income/profit/value, and there’s an even bigger lag between trying to fix goodwill and returns on that. It makes it too hard for any profit-first company to get right.
I think you’re absolutely right. When these studios go public and start having pressure from shareholders, it starts the gradual decline in quality.
External MBAs taking over running businesses will either result in this or making a billion dollar company through the heavy exploitation of their workers and the consumers. I think the vast majority are the former though.
It feels like a complete bloodbath with the job situation in the gaming industry in the west.
The worst thing is none of the executives are getting fired (in a proper manner, no golden parachutes and clawbacks on any stock based compensation).
The worst thing is none of the executives are getting fired (in a proper more manner, no golden parachutes and clawbacks on any stock based compensation).
lol, welcome to the west
Yeah? The executives are firing people, to lower costs, make the numbers look better…? Which makes the owners of the business money?
Why wouldn’t the executives get bonuses or golden parachutes if let go? They are doing exactly what they are supposed to do.
Executives don’t make products, provide services, or add any productive value. They are just the face of the owners, and will do the “hard” things for them.
Like lie, commit crimes, do mass-layoffs etc etc.
I feel horrible for the people affected, because for a lot of them, this was probably a dream job, but Ubisoft will get 0 sympathy from me
And they probably had to sweat blood and tears to get there, because the videogame industry is a harsh mistress.
All the people making the shitty decisions will be fine. Everyday people will be the ones to lose their jobs, as is always the way in these things. :-/
Sucks for the workers but I hope this continues. Fuck Ubisoft
The employees should form a cooperative, they are the ones with the skills, the actual producers
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I like to think I had a very tiny hand in this, since I never pay for Ubisoft games I play.
I went one step better and didn’t even play them.
I can respect that.
That’s a shame, that was the studio that worked on Guitar Hero Live. I kind of liked that game
they should start by laying off executives and commercials who had that veeeery bad ideas of forcing internet connection even on offline mode, forcing Ubisoft Launcher even on steam and thinking that making a game pass with just Ubisoft IP was a good idea…
Spoiler alert: those were finally not good idea at all
In Skull and Bones they couldn’t even replicate the experience from their own previous IP, and then advertised is as AAAA game. It’s a disgrace - they deserve to burn.
When that game came out I bought AC4 for $5 instead. Had a fun time and the graphics still look modern anyway
a year
a week
Owners doing everything but admit they’re finished and just ride off into the sunset on their golden horse.
So… You’re saying to buy?
I was lucky enough to catch the big dip a few months back, my hope is that they have a big enough library that someone just buys it. But the Guillemot’s want to have their cake and eat it by selling but maintaining control. There’s a big old battle with the big shareholders and the Guillemot’s. It jumped 33% when tencent made plans to buy it. Course they could just liquidate the whole thing and walk off. The Guillemot’s really are being almost negligent at this point I think now more people have lost their jobs for ego.
Closure ? So… Ubisoft is gone ?
Just one of its studios, not the whole company.
Ubisoft Leamington is gone. Ubisoft as a whole is still around (for now)
