Ubisoft’s on again off again, full retail once, download-only now, earthquake survival game I Am Alive will not be coming to PC because of piracy concerns. Apparently all of the requests “bitching” for more information regarding a PC release has not gone unnoticed by Ubisoft. Unfortunately the answer is not a good one, and it seems that that’s thanks to the publisher’s dwindling faith in the PC as a commercially viable platform.
According to the game’s creative director, Stanislas Mettra: “we’ve heard loud and clear that PC gamers are bitching about there being no version for them. But are these people just making noise just because there’s no version or because it’s a game they actually want to play? Would they buy it if we made it?”
More heart-warming quotations and business decision influences after the jump.
Ellaborating on Ubisoft’s decision to exclude the PC market, Mettra said that the time and man-power required to port the game would just not be a good business decision. Of course, that decision is being made based on Ubisoft’s assumption that the game won’t sell well on PC and that the majority of PC gamers are mangy pirates.
“It’s hard because there’s so much piracy and so few people are paying for PC games that we have to precisely weigh it up against the cost of making it. Perhaps it will only take 12 guys three months to port the game to PC, it’s not a massive cost but it’s still a cost. If only 50,000 people buy the game then it’s not worth it.”
Last time I checked, this funny little download service called “Steam” was doing a pretty good job at selling PC games. It’s probably not such a bad thing that the game won’t be coming to PC; seeing as it’s an Ubisoft title, it would have been riddled with crappy DRM policies anyway.
Source: IncGamers
Comments
Posted On
Nov 24, 2011Posted By
PsiCoReWhy should anyone care about a developer that treats its audiences and customers this way? I have 9 Ubisoft titles in my collection but I think buying or playing anymore of their titles will just leave a foul taste in my mouth. Besides Ubisoft hasn’t made a memorable title in a while, hopefully they’ll disappear into obscurity soon.
Posted On
Nov 24, 2011Posted By
Matthew ViceOoof. This issue is a powder keg and no mistake. Unfortunately, Ubisoft is just too big to disappear into obscurity on the loss of the PC market alone. They’re a powerhouse with some of the biggest franchises under their belt. Not gonna happen.
Unfortunately, this is one of the issues I can see both sides of. I can understand the dilemma of a developer when looking at the PC market, just knowing that their game is going to be cracked and torrented – probably before it even hits the shelves – no matter what they do. The same thing happened with the PSP, where the releases ground to a halt after most developers woke up to how easy it is to pirate the games on the machine.
I can also understand the viewpoint of PC gamers – well, some of them. I just know that a good percentage of the PC gamers doing the “bitching” would, if the game were released, immediately load up a torrent, play the game, forget about it, and move on to the next free-for-all. My sympathies do go out to the few straight-arrow PC gamers out there, however. But if you’re a pirate, you’ve got no right to bitch. Let he his without sin and all that…
Unfortunately, even games released on Steam are not immune to being pirated. I’ve seen plenty of pirated Steam releases out there.
Posted On
Nov 24, 2011Posted By
Matthew Vicewho is without sin, I meant to say…. bleh… typo.
Posted On
Nov 24, 2011Posted By
PsiCoReOk. Just added my 10th game to the list, but I ordered it over a month ago and it’s an older game. My previous post was just out of anger at another company perpetuating the lie of the PC pirate. No platform is safe from piracy and Ubisoft is too arrogant to admit that they have failed the PC community with their excessive DRM policies. I also don’t think that their more recent titles are that great – it is a good sign that they are on a downward slope. Assassin’s creed looks like it could be fun, but I’ve heard the PC version is a horrendous bastard of a port. Far Cry 2 was apparently good though.
Posted On
Nov 24, 2011Posted By
Matthew ViceTalking from first-hand experience, I’m not entirely sure it is a lie. I’ve been to enough LANs in my time, and it’s always the same scene – the rich guys with the pimpin’ PCs and the uncapped connections always have all the very latest (sometimes up to the day) cracked new releases they share as a free for all – and everyone there takes it. Everyone. That’s like, 50 guys would otherwise have had to buy a game that just got it for free.
True, no platform is safe from piracy, but some are harder-hit by it than others, and the poor PC is one of the worst victims. The handheld consoles are probably next in rank. Nobody wishes it wasn’t so more than me. I’ve finally got a super-powerful PC that would enable me to play recent games – but the PC gaming scene is such a mess that I just want to stick with my consoles.
I agree about DRM being a scourge, too. I mean, I can fully understand a developer wanting to find a way to protect their product — but DRM clearly doesn’t faze the pirates at all and it only hurts the paying customers. The fact that they’ve continued to punish their paying customers is blood on their hands too.
So, for now, I’m content to play older games on my PC (at full settings no less, since I have power for like, the first time ever). Games with no DRM or classics from GOG.com. There are enough games on the consoles to make me not miss the few PC exclusives (are there any any more?) that I might have liked to play.