Ubisoft is performing a hefty mea culpa to gamers in an effort to placate all the angry players and reviewers of Assassin’s Creed Unity. The company has officially announced a free downloadable content program for the video game. It looks like free DLC programs are in right now, and Ubisoft is getting in on the act with Assassin’s Creed Unity. So what does this all mean? The Season Pass program for Assassin’s Creed Unity has been discontinued. Instead, Ubisoft will offer all players who purchased the Season Pass a brand new, free game from a select group of games. What else? Ubisoft will offer players the DLC for Unity absolutely free.Was the implementation of a big apology program for the game was worth the cost of rushing the game out for release in November 2014, instead of delaying or announcing the game for another year.
It is clear that Unity should not have been released in 2014 at all. What should have been the game for the franchise this year? Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, which is actually getting more favorable write-ups than Unity. That way, Ubisoft could have kept Assassin’s Creed as an annual franchise; and Unity would have had more time for Unity to get polished and completed.
I realize why Assassin’s Creed Unity was released in November. Ubisoft is a publicly traded company. A company like Ubisoft has sales quotas to meet and must answer to financial investors. Therefore, reason and logic take a back seat to those goals. However, the problems that Unity suffers from since launch have created a major black eye upon Ubisoft. Now the company has to bite the bullet and discontinue the Season Pass program. So, the Season Pass program is gone. The revenue Ubisoft made from the program is insignificant because Ubisoft now has to offer a free game to the players who already bought into the program. Additional revenue from the program is lost because individually priced DLC will be available to players for free.
Ubisoft is now suffering the brunt of rushing out a game before it was ready to be released. How much money would Ubisoft have lost if the company had scheduled the game for a 2015 release? Perhaps the amount is greater than what the company is currently spending on the apology program and the free DLC. However, Ubisoft’s reputation among players is potentially, irreparably damaged. Will free DLC and a free game be enough to repair Ubisoft’s reputation with gamers? It is possible. The free DLC and game program is actually a good peace offering. However, Ubisoft would have been better off giving Unity the additional time needed to create a more polished and effective product.
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