When did Ubisoft go bad?

[Nakamichi]

I remember playing AssAssins Creed 1 and 2 and thinking they were pretty alright actually, but lost my interest after that, so now i wonder, when DID ubisoft actually go bad?
was it a slow descent in quality or was there a rapid dropoff?
Any current/former Ubisoft fans here that could illuminate the subject with some experience on the matter?

"Tyyrrell" slow cooked chips/crisps are kinda... a bit disappointing. I expected them to be better and more flavorful.
Unrelated, but im munching the cheddar and chive ones while writing, so i thought i may as well mention it.

 

[Robert Newbie]

They were always around, back in the days of the Super Nintendo and such. They really rose as underdogs around the time Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Beyond Good & Evil were released. They had become mid-level darlings to outlets like IGN, and back then, we as consumers went along for the ride. Other successes, like Splinter Cell, further cemented their progression into the spotlight.

The 7th gen started fine enough with Assassin's Creed. Even Beyond Good & Evil HD was well-received. Games like Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands was a bit of a misstep, and the Splinter Cell sequels didn't fare much better. Ubisoft Connect, uPlay, whatever it was called was a clear indication that the company had switched to a big dog mindset, going up against Steam and EA's Origin.

As the company continued on, it was clear Assassin's Creed was Ubisoft's future, and even popular hits like Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends didn't shift public opinion.

I feel like I've missed some steps along the way, but these are the parts that stand out in my mind.

 

[Nakamichi]

@Robert Newbie oh yeah, i played Rayman origins and legends! those were actually really good! beautiful too.

 

[shadowflare7799]

Ubisoft went bad a long time ago and they are known for half assing their work. The worst splinter cell to date would have to be blacklist. I don't want to see a remake I rather have michael ironside with a new sequel. I know that not everyone loved splinter cell conviction but I thought that it was great. Of course the best splinter cell game to date would have to be Chaos Theory. About assassins creed I never got into that series or liked it for that matter.

 

[Taleweaver]

For me, it was the decline with the anno series. Got on board with anno 2070,but while I liked the futuristic setting, the ironic futuristic novelty then (uplay) was a pain. Steam had their growing pains earlier, but you'd think they took what worked. But nope... Getting back after ahiatus made you lose interest before even getting anywhere.
Worse: they doubled down on some controversial thing, which meant i pretty much had to skip 2250.
Anyhow... This was around 2012, i think. I considered it clumsy, but not much more.
Around wiiu time, i felt disappointed when they pulled the plug on support after launch (ey... I liked zombiiu). Rayman legends was great... But perhaps their swan song to me. But granted: i was growing tired of their open world games by that time ('here's a map with a million fetch quests')

 

[Skv0ra]

I'd say after AC3 or so? I personally pulled out after AC1 because it became sooooo repetitive, soooo quickly. Came back occasionally for Tom Clancy's games and Splinter, but overall everything was very sloppy at that point in time. I think last bits of decent experiences were Ghost Recon Wildlands and Break Point for their open approach to and having a story mode you could easily co-op.

 

[namename11]

I think they still make good enough games, at least for me. There are often times when I simply want to turn my brain off and watch a drama while playing a game, and what is what Ubisoft games excel at. Too bad they ruin the physical releases on purpose, even on PS5 by not putting the entire game on disc. Or I would buy every single one. Their consistency is an art form.

 

[Veho]

Once the majority got bought up by various equity funds the company was dead. Still moving, but very much dead.

Take a look at the current ownership and tell me which of these parties is interested in making good games, and which are only looking to skin and gut the company of all its assets to make number go up before they dump the stock and move on.

 

[Magsor]

I have been a big fan of Rayman Legends and I think shit hit the fan before the release of this game because they reused a lot of the levels of the previous game and never released a sequel which would be kind of cheap and kind of easy to make...

 

[Reiten]

I'd say somewhere after Assassins Creed 3. It felt like they were trying too much to chase the trends instead of working on their own thing. Also after this point they kind of started to half-ass things, so the overall quality of their games went down.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Around the time they launched the Assassin's Creed franchise they kept releasing more and more games and the quality went down.

The best Splinter Cell they've ever made was Chaos Theory and no other SC came close.

 

[InsaneNutter]

Ubisoft is a weird one for me as I've never really liked any of the games they have been involved with. I've always kind of seen them as the French version of EA.

I do like some of the older Settlers games, in addition both Trials HD and Evolution were amazing back in the day. However they got those by accruing Blue Byte and RedLynx.

 

[Romy_Arths]

The earliest I can remember is with Assassin's Creed Unity in 2014. All of it pretty much went downhill afterwards.

I remember seeing people saying that Ubisoft was becoming the "next EA" when AC Unity came out.