Ubisoft Massive Sweden leak on Division downgrade

[deathjester]

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/rumor-the-division-has-already-been-downgraded-visually/

 

http://whatifgaming.com/the-division-developer-insider-we-already-downgraded-a-few-things

 

"We really loved the reception to the demo we showed on the PC version at E3. Currently as it stands, there is definitely a lot of push coming from publishers to not make the experience so different on consoles as to alienate people into thinking that next generation is not as powerful as PC. This is probably what happened at Ubisoft Montreal. I think that while making stability changes is definitely important, it does not completely obliterate a lot of enhanced rendering applications.

 

Right now we already took out quite a lot of screen space reflections from the game and are working on asset management the best we can given consoles have that great unified memory. Naturally we will also be using online servers and have to produce a synchronization that higher graphics add to the latency so it had to be turned down. To me it still looks good, but not as good as the original reveal. I am sure as we get closer to launch and the actual console versions of the game featuring SD (Snowdrop) that it will start to seem all too obvious to people especially those on PCs. I just wanted to write and let you know that it definitely is not just stability but marketing politics plays into this a lot as well."

 

UPDATED 2nd Response from The Division Developer: "Truth be told in regards to your question that while ‘Yes’ the lead platform is the PC, we simply cannot have such a big gap. As you know when the first WATCH DOGS Review was published by that one site, Ubisoft called it a “false review” and I am sure everyone can see how bad that sounded when they saw the game did look marginally better than something that was a last generation GTA IV. But no, they will not admit that they practice this or actively downgrade a game. It is much easier to say they removed things for stability which is often a lie as you can tell by the post-issues which are expected in any production we do.

 

Also to answer your 3rd question, no…they will never fully disclose what was removed from what build as no laws ask them to do so in terms of consumer rights. If we as developers published that information in very real terms for the consumer such as “Replaced particle fog simulation with 2d layer simulation in 3d space, removed particles from all explosions, lowered explosion volume multiplier by 20x, removed X # of trees and civilians, etc.” we would be out of a lot of sales and probably it would actually require too much time to deliver on the current hype that a lot of downgraded games see which look incredible with a vertical slice. I do share this in the hope’s that my colleagues and publishers and a lot of people who make false promises and do demonstrations which wrongfully create too much hype that they cannot deliver on ultimately stop doing such things. I want to see the industry actually move forward and not be so full of itself by promising too much and delivering too little. Regards."

 

Welp least someone who worked there was honest. Another game I have no interest in purchasing. 

 

[Jeroen1322]

HEY! HEY! HEY YOU! YEAH YOU, UBISOFT! 

 

[Si3Rra_7]

Yup , Ubisoft , you deserve it .

[Si3Rra_7]

HEY! HEY! HEY YOU! YEAH YOU, UBISOFT! 

 

 

Lol same idea

[M-ursu]

yeah ubisoft....

[scaryjam823]

This is ridiculous. I always thought the consoles are what you go to to have a smooth experience and not pay much attention to the graphics, you go to pc to have the highest quality available if your system can run it. Since when did this have to change? We pay a premium for our rigs and we should be getting just that, a premium.

 

I think ubisoft is on the road to beat EA as worst company of the year, that's pretty sad really.

[Ren]

Consoles are killing the game industry.

[PokémonTrainerFour]

We need a GIF of Linus digging with the caption
"UBISOFT JUST KEEPS ON DIGGING"
if you watch him on NCIX this shouldn't be a problem

[Si3Rra_7]

Believe me or not , there's a Ubisoft conference at the hotel i'm an intern at . I'm about to barge in asking to be shown their leader and punch him in the face.

[daemonowner]

Little skeptical of this, but still. I fucking told you so. Ubisoft will find a way to fuck up The Division. Predicted.

[ACatWithThumbs]

Now it's official I'm never going to buy an Ubisoft title ever again.
 

[sonarctica]

I stopped buying Ubisoft games quite a while ago, I think it was Ghost Recon Future Soldier which they completely fucked up on launch for PC, mouse and/or keyboard wouldn't work and it wasn't fixed for at least 2 weeks and even then it didn't work that great either.

[old reece frost]

Might as well jump on this band wagon while it lasts... 

[Puddleuk]

Digga tunnah, 

Dig, digga tunnah. 

When you're done, ya digga bigger tunnah. 

Digga tunnah, 

Dig, digga tunnah. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djLxCygdN_E

[ianskie]

Oh man, no more money from me to Ubisoft then. T_T

[Puddleuk]

Oh man, no more money from me to Ubisoft then. T_T

 

Same here.... *See Far Cry Complete on Steam Summer Sale* Damn it  :unsure:

[LtRoyalShrimp]

It's Ubisoft: 

 

[IAmSkip]

How is ubisoft different from EA?
I think EA has realised that they need to change, and at least (appear) to be trying to. 
Ubisoft wants to be what EA is hated for...

[ianskie]

Same here.... *See Far Cry Complete on Steam Summer Sale* Damn it  :unsure:

I'm still waiting for Splinter Cell Blacklist to go 75-80% off.

And I just got AC: R when it was 5 bucks.

 

I still like AC right now, and I've tried Splinter Cell Blacklist which is still a good game. It helps that Splinter Cell doesn't use their own engine for it.

[xentric]

Do console players really care about how much better a game looks on PC? I don't think they do. I think most console players are very aware that playing on a PC they could have a better experience but they choose not to.

 

I hope Ubisolf and every other publisher learn from this. Ubisolf admit to reducing the gap was a huge mistake. If they would have released the game has it was originally intended they wouldn't be getting such a huge backlash. 

[ThreePinkApples]

 

Seriously, let us just move to another planet and make our own games

[kuddlesworth9419]

I have already decided to not buy a Ubisoft game for a while. I played Watch Dogs but I feel really bad after playing it. I would love a refund but I doubt I will ever get one. 

[gill2k]

Where does Ubisoft get the idea from anyway to narrow the gap?  As xentric mentioned, why would a console only gamer care if it looks good on PC?  Why does it have to be artificially "equal" across the board?  Are Microsoft and Sony telling them to do this or just flat out laziness / stupidity from the devs / publisher to optimize the game on each platform?

[deviant88]

This is ridiculous. I always thought the consoles are what you go to to have a smooth experience and not pay much attention to the graphics, you go to pc to have the highest quality available if your system can run it. Since when did this have to change? We pay a premium for our rigs and we should be getting just that, a premium.

 

I think ubisoft is on the road to beat EA as worst company of the year, that's pretty sad really.

Just like he says,we pay premium for our PC's 800-1000$ + for high end stuff and we get downgraded versions THAT ARENT EVEN OPTIMIZED WTF  is this shit.

 

Make a mission out of this and pirate/boycott/criticize(justified) all their games until Ubisoft will cry.

[swifty7]

Where does Ubisoft get the idea from anyway to narrow the gap?  As xentric mentioned, why would a console only gamer care if it looks good on PC?  Why does it have to be artificially "equal" across the board?  Are Microsoft and Sony telling them to do this or just flat out laziness / stupidity from the devs / publisher to optimize the game on each platform?

of course they're telling them! because if the graphics are that much better then potential console buyers will be inclined to go pc.