Hello fellow PC gamers,
My name is Eric and I am a Combat Systems Designer for a game development studio called Rogue Robot Studios. You can find us here:
https://www.facebook.com/roguerobotstudios/timeline
Anyways this is my personal response to Ubisoft's statement on how they are maintaining console parity by downgrading AC: Unity to 900p 30 frames per second and by also stating that the entire game industry is moving towards 30 frames per second. I just want to make the disclaimer that this message does not reflect the rest of the studio I work for and is just my personal opinion as a developer.
I understand that working in the industry can be hard at times and very often frustrating. I remember pulling all nighters compiling code and debating the impact of including certain features in our projects to the point where fights almost broke out. And at the end of your projects you are expected to deliver the best possible product both you and your customers expect. Customers these days expect at bare minimum, 1080p and 60 frames per second. However this may not always be possible and breaking the news to your customers is a very delicate matter that needs to be handled cautiously. The method you have delivered to your customers is one of the worst ways I've seen yet. Instead of just keeping the graphics settings separate on each platform you feel the need to lock them into the same resolution and frame rate to "avoid debate". Well as I'm sure you can tell from social media that didn't exactly work out the way you had hoped it would. So your decision to lock the resolution and frame rate at a sub par quality was strike one.
Strike two was you saying that 30 frames per second provides a more "cinematic feel" to the game. I would expect this argument from a 13 year old on YouTube in a long comment thread arguing about whether you can tell the difference between 30 frames per second and 60 frames per second all to justify his purchase of a console but not from a AAA game publisher. I personally thought that it was common sense among the industry that higher frame rates were better for the overall game experience; however you have now proven yourselves to be the exception and your incompetence shows.
This leads me into strike three, the statement that the whole industry is moving towards 30 frames per second for their development. This is simply not true. The company I work at, Rogue Robot Studios, is currently making a game for PC and will be running at a bare minimum 1080p and 60 frames per second with no ceiling on how high the frame rate can be. People who have paid for better parts on their PC deserve better performance out of the games that they purchase. We are actively trying to make our game's experience better so that our customers see the benefit of our hard work. It becomes rather difficult to do that when you go and make blatant and broad statements that the entire industry is moving towards 30 frames per second when in fact there are numerous exceptions to that statement. I am working for a company that is scraping by on every dollar we get, barely being able to afford Ramen noodles every night, and yet we can manage 1080p and 60 frames per second on our projects yet you, a multi-million dollar successful publishing company can't seem to find an excuse as to why your game is not 1080p and 60 frames per second. 30 frames per second is not cinematic, not an excuse, not a marketing term, and certainly not an "artistic" decision. 30 frames per second is a failure.
Since you are really committed to delivering a cinematic experience why don't you charge people $8.15 for your game because after all, that is the average price of a movie ticket in the United States.
But let's be honest we all know you're not going to do that because you would never be able to make a profit on the game if you were to charge that price.
People all over social media are threatening to pirate your game and I can understand why. Because they know that the pirates and even modders will alter the code so that you can safely get around resolution and frame rate restrictions. And they will probably also remove all the DRM you are going to include with this game especially the restriction of having to play through UPlay instead of a more convenient and user friendly platform like Steam. So why give the pirates an opportunity to offer your game not only for free but provide a better service to your game as well? Because you want to stick to your decisions? Well hopefully you wake up and realize sticking by your decisions is costing you customers and money in the long run.
So in conclusion, Ubisoft, I hope you realize the grave mistake you are making by intentionally downgrading your games just to "avoid debate" and next time when you downgrade your own product, please don't drag the industry down with you, because unlike you some studios and publishers are actually trying to move the game industry forwards not backwards.
