• Re: AAAA Games (Ubisoft)

    From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Werner P. on Tue Feb 13 12:32:46 2024
    On Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:26:35 +0100, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Werner P. wrote:

    Ubisoft calls their latest game Skulls and Bones an AAAA game, given
    their track record of shady monetarization schemes, and given that my
    native language is german, it instantly was clear for me that
    the fourth A stands for the german "Abzocke" aka in english Rip Off!

    And the first three stand for "Achtung, Achtung, Achtung!" I suppose. ;^)

    --
    Zag

    No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
    spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Tue Feb 13 19:35:04 2024
    Am 13.02.24 um 19:32 schrieb Zaghadka:
    On Tue, 13 Feb 2024 19:26:35 +0100, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
    Werner P. wrote:

    Ubisoft calls their latest game Skulls and Bones an AAAA game, given
    their track record of shady monetarization schemes, and given that my
    native language is german, it instantly was clear for me that
    the fourth A stands for the german "Abzocke" aka in english Rip Off!

    And the first three stand for "Achtung, Achtung, Achtung!" I suppose. ;^)

    jepp, spot on!

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  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Tue Feb 13 19:26:35 2024
    Ubisoft calls their latest game Skulls and Bones an AAAA game, given
    their track record of shady monetarization schemes, and given that my
    native language is german, it instantly was clear for me that
    the fourth A stands for the german "Abzocke" aka in english Rip Off!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Wed Feb 14 08:43:03 2024
    Am 13.02.24 um 20:35 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    And, yeah, I know the whole 'AAAA game' thing is just Ubisoft
    marketing trying to hype the game up. But I just wish they at least /pretended/ to have something special to back that claim up.
    Absolutely hence the fourth A stands for "Abzocke", aka rip off!

    But seriously this is a marketing spin which absolutely will backfire!
    I have yet to see the game, but your comment basically just says what I
    read generally about it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Werner P. on Wed Feb 14 10:01:46 2024
    On 14/02/2024 07:43, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 13.02.24 um 20:35 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    And, yeah, I know the whole 'AAAA game' thing is just Ubisoft
    marketing trying to hype the game up. But I just wish they at least
    /pretended/  to have something special to back that claim up.
    Absolutely hence the fourth A stands for "Abzocke", aka rip off!

    But seriously this is a marketing spin which absolutely will backfire!
    I have yet to see the game, but your comment basically just says what I
    read generally about it.


    I haven't seen it either but yes what I've read about it follows the
    same lines of why is this AAAA. I wonder how long it will be before it
    becomes free-to-play?

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  • From Anssi Saari@21:1/5 to Werner P. on Wed Feb 14 14:44:38 2024
    "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> writes:

    Ubisoft calls their latest game Skulls and Bones an AAAA game, given
    their track record of shady monetarization schemes, and given that my
    native language is german, it instantly was clear for me that
    the fourth A stands for the german "Abzocke" aka in english Rip Off!

    Kinda reminds me of the funnily named game "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!
    for the Awesome". I think there's still space for Ubi to add a few more
    As into their quality claims... Why stick with measly quadruple-A if you
    can go to imaginary 17-A level of quality by just leaning on the
    keyboard a little longer? It doesn't even cost anything.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Wed Feb 14 13:45:39 2024
    Am 14.02.24 um 12:09 schrieb kyonshi:
    On 2/14/2024 11:01 AM, JAB wrote:
    On 14/02/2024 07:43, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 13.02.24 um 20:35 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    And, yeah, I know the whole 'AAAA game' thing is just Ubisoft
    marketing trying to hype the game up. But I just wish they at least
    /pretended/  to have something special to back that claim up.
    Absolutely hence the fourth A stands for "Abzocke", aka rip off!

    But seriously this is a marketing spin which absolutely will backfire!
    I have yet to see the game, but your comment basically just says what
    I read generally about it.


    I haven't seen it either but yes what I've read about it follows the
    same lines of why is this AAAA. I wonder how long it will be before it
    becomes free-to-play?


    Epic Games free giveaway Christmas 2024. Who's up for the bet?

    Good bet... I doubt they will do it before!
    But F2P is definitely the long term trajectory before being shut down!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Wed Feb 14 13:46:41 2024
    Am 14.02.24 um 13:44 schrieb Anssi Saari:
    Kinda reminds me of the funnily named game "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!
    for the Awesome". I think there's still space for Ubi to add a few more
    As into their quality claims... Why stick with measly quadruple-A if you
    can go to imaginary 17-A level of quality by just leaning on the
    keyboard a little longer? It doesn't even cost anything.

    Jepp there is definitely more space... Arse/Ass also starts with A...
    All they need to do is to add some kind of smell strip to every order
    with a very distinctive odor de toilete...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Wed Feb 14 09:54:27 2024
    On 2/14/24 08:52, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    On Wed, 14 Feb 2024 13:46:41 +0100, "Werner P." <werpu@gmx.at> wrote:

    Am 14.02.24 um 13:44 schrieb Anssi Saari:
    Kinda reminds me of the funnily named game "AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! >>> for the Awesome". I think there's still space for Ubi to add a few more
    As into their quality claims... Why stick with measly quadruple-A if you >>> can go to imaginary 17-A level of quality by just leaning on the
    keyboard a little longer? It doesn't even cost anything.

    Jepp there is definitely more space... Arse/Ass also starts with A...
    All they need to do is to add some kind of smell strip to every order
    with a very distinctive odor de toilete...

    I'm starting to think this marketing claim is working against Ubisoft
    rather than for it. ;-)

    Again, had the company offered up a product more worthy of the
    designation, it might have played out differently. But you can't just
    put out your usual tripe and then say, "This is better than anything
    else!" and not get ridiculed for it.


    Apparently the whole "quadruple-A" thing came out as a response to why
    the game cost $70, rather than the more usual $60, too.

    "Despite very much being billed as a live, ongoing game,
    Skull and Bones is charging $70 up front, then will add
    its microtransactions and battle passes and such on top of
    that as time goes on. This prompted a question posed to
    Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot about why they were doing that
    instead of broadening the playerbase as a free-to-play
    game. His response:

    “You will see that Skull and Bones is a fully-fledged
    game,” he said. “It’s a very big game, and we feel that
    people will really see how vast and complete that game
    is. It’s a really full, triple…quadruple-A game, that
    will deliver in the long run.”

    - Forbes website https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/02/10/skull-and-bones-is-a-70-game-because-its-quadruple-a-says-ubisoft/

    (Which was then followed up with this witty response by the article's
    author:

    I am trying to understand how you say something is
    “a vast and complete game” and in the next sentence say
    it “will deliver in the long run.”

    )


    So more of an off-the-cuff comment rather than an intended marketing
    ploy, although Ubisoft leaned heavily into the comment afterwards. Not
    that makes any of it any better.


    I don't dislike Ubisoft games; they're fine. They're fun. They
    obviously show the tens of millions of dollars of effort poured into
    them. But they remain the formulaic, safe games that so-called
    'triple-A' publishers churn out by the dozen. Nothing I've seen about
    "Skull & Bones" looks to be any different. But they're hardly worth
    the premium Ubisoft wants to charge for them.

    60$ is too much IMO.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to kyonshi on Thu Feb 15 09:46:32 2024
    On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:59:40 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

    I never buy things for that price. They are going to go down with the
    price soon enough anyway. I don't need to buy the newest and fanciest
    games like that.

    Yeah, same here. I think the last game I paid full price for was
    either Baldur's Gate 2 or System Shock 2.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to All on Thu Feb 15 15:27:34 2024
    On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:46:32 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, Mike
    S. wrote:

    On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:59:40 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

    I never buy things for that price. They are going to go down with the
    price soon enough anyway. I don't need to buy the newest and fanciest
    games like that.

    Yeah, same here. I think the last game I paid full price for was
    either Baldur's Gate 2 or System Shock 2.

    I pay full price when I want to tell the developer I support what they're doing.

    So full price on BG3. Full price on D:OS. Sale price on Overload, but
    bought again at full price, because I really want to support 6DoF games.
    Full price on anything CDPR releases that I'm interested in, because I
    want to support no-DRM publication. I paid full price for Witcher 2 and Cyberpunk upon release. Probably will grab Phantom Liberty on sale if I
    want more.

    Finally, if someone is actually maintaining a game past a year after
    release and I like their game, I'm giving them more cash. I think I did
    that for Fallout 4: Season Pass, but I'm not sure if it was a year after.
    Also Civ V & VI add-ons. If they support a game, I pay for that.

    I think I'm going to find a way to buy Talos 2 a second time, because
    they gave me an exceptional amount of play time. Still going to check out alternate endings soon, but almost 60 hours of play time.

    My top 10 playtime games are 1. Civ V, 2. Fallout 4, 3. BG3, 4.
    Torchlight, 5. Talos 1, 6. Civ VI, 7. Picross Pixel Puzzle, 8. Talos 2,
    9. Fallout 3, and 10. FO:NV.

    Each of those I got at least 40 hours out of. The top 3, over 100 hours.
    I would happily send full-price money for sequels and DLC.

    Otherwise, the publishers can suck it. The Number is ruthless, and
    sometimes it turns a baleful eye upon pure shovelware and says, "Not even
    for free! The Number has spoken!"

    Does anyone else here spend their money strategically like that?

    --
    Zag

    No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
    spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Zaghadka on Fri Feb 16 09:01:31 2024
    On 15/02/2024 21:27, Zaghadka wrote:
    On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:46:32 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, Mike
    S. wrote:

    On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 09:59:40 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

    I never buy things for that price. They are going to go down with the
    price soon enough anyway. I don't need to buy the newest and fanciest
    games like that.

    Yeah, same here. I think the last game I paid full price for was
    either Baldur's Gate 2 or System Shock 2.

    I pay full price when I want to tell the developer I support what they're doing.

    So full price on BG3. Full price on D:OS. Sale price on Overload, but
    bought again at full price, because I really want to support 6DoF games.
    Full price on anything CDPR releases that I'm interested in, because I
    want to support no-DRM publication. I paid full price for Witcher 2 and Cyberpunk upon release. Probably will grab Phantom Liberty on sale if I
    want more.


    I do buy some games at full price, or very near to it, so in the last
    year I've bought Talos Principle 2 and Shadow Gambit~: The Cursed Crew.
    Other ones I've bought at full price but that price is dirt cheap anyway.

    Generally though my buying habits are now a mixture of games I really
    want, cheap indie titles and those on a steep discount that I wouldn't
    mind playing.

    Finally, if someone is actually maintaining a game past a year after
    release and I like their game, I'm giving them more cash. I think I did
    that for Fallout 4: Season Pass, but I'm not sure if it was a year after. Also Civ V & VI add-ons. If they support a game, I pay for that.

    I think I'm going to find a way to buy Talos 2 a second time, because
    they gave me an exceptional amount of play time. Still going to check out alternate endings soon, but almost 60 hours of play time.

    My top 10 playtime games are 1. Civ V, 2. Fallout 4, 3. BG3, 4.
    Torchlight, 5. Talos 1, 6. Civ VI, 7. Picross Pixel Puzzle, 8. Talos 2,
    9. Fallout 3, and 10. FO:NV.

    Each of those I got at least 40 hours out of. The top 3, over 100 hours.
    I would happily send full-price money for sequels and DLC.


    I can't say I know exact playtimes but some highlights are BG:1, Combat Mission, Close Combat, Civ II/III, FO:3/NV, Silent Hunter 3, Torchlight,
    Titan Quest, HL:2 + DLC's and Talos Principle 1. There's probably a few
    I've also forgotten about.

    Otherwise, the publishers can suck it. The Number is ruthless, and
    sometimes it turns a baleful eye upon pure shovelware and says, "Not even
    for free! The Number has spoken!"

    Does anyone else here spend their money strategically like that?


    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mike S.@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 16 09:49:17 2024
    On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:27:34 -0600, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
    wrote:

    Does anyone else here spend their money strategically like that?

    I don't because I just wonder when a company like Larian Studios, the
    current PC gaming darling, becomes tomorrow's modern Blizzard.
    Blizzard was once where Larian is today. It made no difference that I
    paid full price for their games back in the day.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Sun Feb 18 12:42:03 2024
    Am 14.02.24 um 15:52 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    But they remain the formulaic, safe games that so-called
    'triple-A' publishers churn out by the dozen

    I would call this, design by spreadsheet!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Werner P. on Sun Feb 18 16:01:27 2024
    On 2/18/24 05:42, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 14.02.24 um 15:52 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    But they remain the formulaic, safe games that so-called
    'triple-A' publishers churn out by the dozen

    I would call this, design by spreadsheet!

    I'm stealing this.
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Werner P.@21:1/5 to All on Mon Feb 19 08:34:53 2024
    Am 18.02.24 um 23:01 schrieb candycanearter07:
    On 2/18/24 05:42, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 14.02.24 um 15:52 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    But they remain the formulaic, safe games that so-called
    'triple-A' publishers churn out by the dozen

    I would call this, design by spreadsheet!

    I'm stealing this.

    Feel free!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Werner P. on Mon Feb 19 09:13:12 2024
    On 2/18/2024 11:34 PM, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 18.02.24 um 23:01 schrieb candycanearter07:
    On 2/18/24 05:42, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 14.02.24 um 15:52 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    But they remain the formulaic, safe games that so-called
    'triple-A' publishers churn out by the dozen

    I would call this, design by spreadsheet!

    I'm stealing this.

    Feel free!

    The Number takes many forms.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From candycanearter07@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Tue Feb 20 17:08:22 2024
    On 2/19/24 11:13, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 2/18/2024 11:34 PM, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 18.02.24 um 23:01 schrieb candycanearter07:
    On 2/18/24 05:42, Werner P. wrote:
    Am 14.02.24 um 15:52 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:
    But they remain the formulaic, safe games that so-called
    'triple-A' publishers churn out by the dozen

    I would call this, design by spreadsheet!

    I'm stealing this.

    Feel free!

    The Number takes many forms.

    I forget half the quotes I steal lol
    --
    user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)