Ubisoft refuses to take accountability for past failures, instead blames gamers

In Ubisoft's latest financial report, the company has blamed Steam, internet trends, and gamers as a whole for the failure of Star Wars: Outlaws.

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The comments from Ubisoft come after the company revealed that it actually believes it is adding microtransactions into its games, making those games more fun for players. In what appears to be another completely checked out statement from the company that has been experiencing a tumbling stock price and recent parachute cash injection from Tencent to support its new company managing its top IPs, Ubisoft is now refusing to take any accountability for the quality of its product and instead, blames gamers for the failure of Star Wars: Outlaws.

Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot blamed the failure of Outlaws on the lack of popularity of Star Wars at the time of release, saying, "Outlaws was released at a time when the brand that it belonged to was in a bit of choppy waters." Guillemot must not have heard about the massive success of the hit Star Wars TV shows The Mandalorian, Andor, or Tales of the Empire.

Be that as it may, the financial report also says, "Ubisoft is exposed to risks of damage to its reputation resulting from online bashing, understood as massive, sometimes virulent and organized campaigns of criticism against its products, teams or public statements."

Adding, "These campaigns may occur on social media, content distribution platforms, or in certain specialized media, particularly following strategic decisions, technical issues affecting games, or statements perceived as controversial by certain segments of the public. The changing perception of the video game industry as a cultural and artistic medium is also leading to an increase in criticism based on ideological or societal considerations, sometimes to the detriment of technical or gameplay aspects."

There is only a brief moment of accountability in that statement, "technical issues affecting games." But other than that, Ubisoft blames "content distribution platforms," which seems like a jab at Steam users chattering in forums or the reviews section of game listings, and gamers who are criticizing Ubisoft's strategic and artistic decisions.

Unfortunately, Ubisoft was unable to recognize, maybe, just maybe, the game/s it has released just haven't been good enough to warrant praise, and that its impact in the market reflects that. Instead, it has decided to blame outside factors such as gamers and its customer base.