I've been reading up on the thread here. One thing I can say for certain is that if Ubisoft doesn't make up for Unity, they're done for. Not only did they take a huge hit from gamers, but also from the business end. (
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthi...-unity-launch/)
People are tired of the same old formula. Right now I'm playing Watch Dogs, and it's just a skinned AC with cars really. Same with Far Cry 4. Find the radio tower, opens up a new part of the map. A thousands collectibles! And in reality, which I just had this conversation with a friend on the phone last week, how long is the game really? The story missions in all of these games usually only take about 10 hours. Yet there is usually around 40 hours of content to 100% a game. But why? It's literally all filler, and that same rhythm is across every Ubisoft game right now.
With Unity, it's an extremely unfortunate circumstance, one that ubi created. Every year the same thing happens ad nauseam. Game comes out, I pay full price for the CE and LE guide, plus any extras, season pass, etc. Numerous glitches right out of the gate, such as the notification and gun swap error from AC3. It took them TWO MONTHS to fix it, long past when I 100% the game, so it was pointless. Those too bugs were maddening, switching your weapons every zone, and every time you fast traveled the same five notifications popped up. Then AC:BF. Same scenario. Worst glitch was one where it didn't track stats properly so you could not complete 100% of the abstergo missions. I 100% the game as a whole though to date I have not unlocked every cheat, because the game isn't counting my stats, even post patch.
When AC3 came out I had a spreadsheet of everything I was buying. The LE game, LE guide, LE art book, Vita console bundle with liberation, all of the graphic novels, two art pieces from the Rock the Vote auction, and even the Adidas AC sneakers. I dropped $1,100 on AC merch because I just had to have it all. (art:
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681782/...-rock-the-vote)
Now most recently... "we can't put women in our game". What? You've done it for years. "We don't want a console war". What? No other developer has an issue with 1080p on PS4 and having a lower resolution on the xbone. Then the glitches... have you seen them?! They're 10x than any prior, they're game breaking! $100 USD macrotransactions, DLC from soda, shaving cream, email lists, action figures, season pass... and all for what, a game that doesn't even work after a two week delay?! Oh wait... no one knew that because of the embargo ubi enforced. That right there was an obvious sign not to pick up my preorder.
Take a look at Destiny. I've put hundreds of hours into the game until I realized that the developers themselves were intentionally sabotaging the game. At that point I stopped playing and it's been quite some time since then. I still do follow the forums and community though, and have been reading how nearly every single issue that was glaring back in January has now been addressed and even been improved upon. They seemed to have turned things around and I look forward to playing the game again.
On that note, I'm so glad I lost the urge to collect AC merch after Black Flag. I saw how greedy ubisoft was getting with the soda DLC, shaving razor promos, and just all garbage at that point. Especially when they took out the steelbook from the $130 limited edition game just to sell it separately. First time in AC history I bought the regular version, for $20 six months later after it was fixed.
As it stands right now with Ubisoft... Fuck. Them.