Is CDPR the antithesis to Ubisoft or EA?

[marxduck]

Is CDPR the antithesis to Ubisoft or EA?

I've been thinking about this and I'm just curious what others think.

I know there has been some frustration particularly surrounding the latest patch (myself included), but taking a step back for a moment, not only is this game exceptional but a lot of the development choices are pretty damn atypical of a game studio.

Ubi and EA have recently released games bugged to all hell. To add insult to injury, they don't in any way communicate with their customers about what they are doing. Ubi apologised for the mess that was ACV (even though I loved that game, it was a mess) and to their credit, gave us a 'free' expansion. The expansion however, was total rubbish and short-lived. Staying with ACV for a moment - the DLC was a joke and you had to fucking pay for it. They actually charged you for missions that lasted maybe half an hour and that should have been in the game in the first place. Let's not even mention the micro-transactions debacle.

In contrast, CDPR have been giving us some really worthwhile DLC for free. From quests, to textures, to animations - they have all been pretty cool and all the cooler for the free price tag. Sure, maybe some of the DLC should have been included in the base game but what does that matter when these guys are giving us weekly gifts as a thank you for playing their game.
From what I hear, the expansions will be separate games in their own right, and just going off what I've seen, will be a worthy addition to the W3.

Add to this the fact that they regularly communicate with us, they have their own forum that they actually watch and they even take on user feedback.
Who would have thought, a company that listens to its customers!

Has the gaming industry really become so fucked that we are surprised when a developer actually listens to the people who buy their product? I'm inclined to say yes, but that being said, CDPR really have outdone themselves. I hope others sit up and pay attention. This is how you make a good game. This is how you make money. This is how you keep your god damn customers. And this is what will keep me loyal for the next installment in whatever CDPR wants to pursue.

Stick to your roots guys, please don't become another Ubi or EA!

 

[Pug.]

I've been thinking about this and I'm just curious what others think.

I know there has been some frustration particularly surrounding the latest patch (myself included), but taking a step back for a moment, not only is this game exceptional but a lot of the development choices are pretty damn atypical of a game studio.

Ubi and EA have recently released games bugged to all hell. To add insult to injury, they don't in any way communicate with their customers about what they are doing. Ubi apologised for the mess that was ACV (even though I loved that game, it was a mess) and to their credit, gave us a 'free' expansion. The expansion however, was total rubbish and short-lived. Staying with ACV for a moment - the DLC was a joke and you had to fucking pay for it. They actually charged you for missions that lasted maybe half an hour and that should have been in the game in the first place. Let's not even mention the micro-transactions debacle.

In contrast, CDPR have been giving us some really worthwhile DLC for free. From quests, to textures, to animations - they have all been pretty cool and all the cooler for the free price tag. Sure, maybe some of the DLC should have been included in the base game but what does that matter when these guys are giving us weekly gifts as a thank you for playing their game.
From what I hear, the expansions will be separate games in their own right, and just going off what I've seen, will be a worthy addition to the W3.

Add to this the fact that they regularly communicate with us, they have their own forum that they actually watch and they even take on user feedback.
Who would have thought, a company that listens to its customers!

Has the gaming industry really become so fucked that we are surprised when a developer actually listens to the people who buy their product? I'm inclined to say yes, but that being said, CDPR really have outdone themselves. I hope others sit up and pay attention. This is how you make a good game. This is how you make money. This is how you keep your god damn customers. And this is what will keep me loyal for the next installment in whatever CDPR wants to pursue.
Stick to your roots guys, please don't become another Ubi or EA!

EA has made a few steps in the right direction, but not enough in my opinion. They gave Bioware about 3 years to develop Inquisition, which is relatively generous, but still forced them to include a half-assed multiplayer component. At any rate, regardless of what they do in the future, I'll never be able to forgive them for gobbling up some of my favorite companies and then discarding them like a pair of dirty knickers (I'm looking at you, Westwood).

Don't really have any thoughts on Ubisoft, since I've never been into the Assassin's Creed franchise, and I think they did a horrible job with the Heroes series.

I'd definitely rank CDPR up there with the most consumer friendly companies in the industry, perhaps alongside Bethesda and Valve .... although the latter disappoints me these days because they don't even develop games.

 

[Paul_cz]

I would say Activision is even worse than EA and Ubi, so CDP is the antithesis of Activision.
And yes, the difference in approach to customers is startling, I amd damn glad CDP exists. They not only make best games I have ever played, but also treat us exceptionally well.

 

[jubeii]

I would say in a business and customer service sense they are the opposite of everyone out there.

Although content wise, I think this game is a step closer to the EA Bioware style of game.
Dont get me wrong, the grittyness, beauty and moral dilemas to the stories are still as good as ever. As is the general quality.
But the game has taken a large step towards the mainstream with such things like
Pc unfriendly controls. Not that consoles shouldnt have console friendly ones.
Avoiding potential contraversies with sex, nudity and alcohol.
Hand holding during quests.
There are other little things too.

I know they are only minor things, but I worry that CDPR is losing who they are to become more sellable.

 

[bauzzer]

@marxduck

see no difference

old cdpr is dead

 

[Tangsta]

Valve .... although the latter disappoints me these days because they don't even develop games.

Valve still very much develops games, I just don't like the direction they're headed in. F2P and mico-transactions seem to be their primary focus nowadays. Sure, their F2P stuff is actually pretty decent quality games, but I fear the greed will eventually get the better of them. Nobody is incorruptible, it just takes time. I think they need some pretty epic failures to keep them in check, the relatively recent fiasco with paid mods is a good example, and we definitely need more community blow-ups like it to keep Valve humble.

old cdpr is dead

If by 'old' you mean the still very young and inexperienced company, then yeah sure, it'll die, and will be replaced by a more experienced company with a more experienced marketing and community team. The only improvement you will see in the future is that they will be promising much less upfront as their experience will teach them that revealing to the community too much about your lofty goals can only end badly. Something Valve and many companies using Kickstarter have learnt the hard way.

I don't think it'll be such a big issue if people knew about the truth behind game development for a AAA game. Expecting a company to deliver on every single one of their promises is about as realistic as expecting them to give you the game for free on launch.

 

[HarelMor]

I still believe that CDPR is one of the best game developers in the industry, yes patch 1.07 wasn't the best and it caused a lot of problems to part of the game community, but i am certain that thy will fix it. When skyrim was shipped it had a lot problems like constant ctds when when running in the world, bethesda was able to fix it few months after release. some errors are easy to see but very hard to fix.

 

[marxduck]

@marxduck

see no difference

old cdpr is dead

I'm not totally following - are you saying that 1.07 fucked framerates for console owners? It's a fair criticism. As I've indicated, 1.07 pissed a lot of people off but I dare say CDPR will fix this. I do feel for console owners but if I'm honest, the console gaming industry has fucked gaming for PC owners in a big way. It's not their fault sure, but my sympathy for console owners in this case doesn't extend very far. They might have to wait. Yes, that sucks for them and they don't deserves it but we as PC gamers have definitely been there. Their frustration should be directed at the appropriate targets: Sony and Microsoft.

I still believe that CDPR is one of the best game developers in the industry, yes patch 1.07 wasn't the best and it caused a lot of problems to part of the game community, but i am certain that thy will fix it. When skyrim was shipped it had a lot problems like constant ctds when when running in the world, bethesda was able to fix it few months after release. some errors are easy to see but very hard to fix.

Yes I think you're right. Seeing how the forum blew up with negative comments after the 1.07 release, I doubt very much that CDPR is sitting on their laurels. And hey, 1.07 really fucked things for me too. I only just now have managed to get it working again (after a fresh install). However, starting all over again, while pretty frustrating, does make me realise how much I love this game.

I'm sure we can all remember a time when we were kids when games just worked. I don't know if it's that games are more complicated or that there is more pressure to release unfinished games - maybe a combination of both. The fact is, this is the unfortunate reality for practically every AAA game these days - they're unfinished and remain buggy for at least six months after launch.
There is an easy lesson to be learned here though. Stop buying games at launch. I don't buy beta games on steam no matter how good they look because I don't see the value in playing incomplete games. Even so, I have purchased a few games at launch in recent years. Every one of them was buggy as all hell.
We have an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee. Fool me once... shame on... shame on you. Fool me twice... shame... ah... point is, can't get fooled again.

If we just exercise our consumer sovereignty (the very little that we have), developers would pay attention and their share holders would have to shut the fuck up and let them develop a complete game instead of pushing for the big profits.

I believe CDPR did at least attempt to minimise the potential for bugs. Unfortunately, the competitive nature of business dictates that even well-meaning companies succumb to the game industry bullshit.

 

[SofaJockey]

All game studios are businesses.
They are there to make money.

/analysis

But let's go beyond the simplistic:
Some businesses, often because they are smaller, have less corporate control, or because the business culture in their location is more open to it, can allow the 'heart and soul' of game development to show.

CDPR shows its soul well, so does Bethesda.
You see BioWare's glinting occasionally behind the bars of corporate revenue recognition from its parent.
Ubisoft clearly has committed people, but it is somewhat of a lottery given the multiple studios and corporate control.

For most businesses, chatting with the devs or producers is out of the question because it is not part of the 'marketing plan'.
You can see CDPR being beaten up (even on this thread) for saying something and getting it wrong - so it is very tempting
just to shut up and let the game speak for itself.

Under the hood I expect these companies will develop in very similar ways,
and their differing corporate structures allow some to engage more with the 'fans' than others - and good for them.

 

[Charcharo]

Strange. 1.07 increased performance on both my old ATI HD 5770/4GB RAM/ i5 750 PC from 2009 and my newer GTX 760 PC (I can actually do COMPLETELY locked 30 FPS Ultra 900p without hairworks, with AI and Low Grass).

It has been a very VERY good patch for me

 

[RedFire01]

I don't think it'll be such a big issue if people knew about the truth behind game development for a AAA game. Expecting a company to deliver on every single one of their promises is about as realistic as expecting them to give you the game for free on launch.

That shouldn't be the case though. There was a time when developers didn't make unrealistic and false promises. They say things they know isn't real just to create hype and sell copies. I'm not accusing CDPR of this, but it's still fishy.

 

[marxduck]

That shouldn't be the case though. There was a time when developers didn't make unrealistic and false promises. They say things they know isn't real just to create hype and sell copies. I'm not accusing CDPR of this, but it's still fishy.

I really don't think it's the over promising and under delivering that drives customers to the tantrums like you see on this forum. It's the bugs. The bugs at launch. The new bugs introduced with patches. The bugs that should have been eliminated before putting the product on the market.

As I said, we should all learn from this and know that even the most customer friendly studio is likely to release a buggy game and fix it up down the line.

On that note, I'll end with this.

 

[Charcharo]

That shouldn't be the case though. There was a time when developers didn't make unrealistic and false promises. They say things they know isn't real just to create hype and sell copies. I'm not accusing CDPR of this, but it's still fishy.

That time never existed.
Never. Ever.
And it NEVER will.

Stop idolizing your childhood mate . It NEVER was so...

 

[Tangsta]

There was a time when developers didn't make unrealistic and false promises.

Sure, during a time when 'AAA' game development was nowhere near the complication it is today. Games from a simpler time didn't add as much stress to devs and set almost impossible standards like they do these days. The industry and market expanded massively, as did gamer expectations. Hence why you'll see people complain just about anything nowadays, from simple bugs to the way a tree branch didn't sway in the direction they expected it to.

You simply can't please everyone, hence why it's smart not to lose sleep over everything little thing consumers complain about.

 

[vesemas228]

That time never existed.
Never. Ever.
And it NEVER will.

Stop idolizing your childhood mate . It NEVER was so...

Depends on how old you are. When i started video games were still the exclusive domain of nerds (we were just adhead of our time ) and you got maybe.. 5-6 big budget games every 2 YEARS.

There was no need for hype back in those days. Well, remember daikatana? That was hype. It happens with every game now so its not funny anymore.

CDPR lieing and hyping to get mainstreamers, they did what they needed to do.

CDPR going backwards, censoring themselves, making stupid voice acting and consoles, thats not forgiveable.

 

[Tangsta]

making stupid voice acting and consoles, thats not forgiveable.

Ugh, what?

 

[BennyFischer]

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

 

[Charcharo]

Depends on how old you are. When i started video games were still the exclusive domain of nerds (we were just adhead of our time ) and you got maybe.. 5-6 big budget games every 2 YEARS.

There was no need for hype back in those days. Well, remember daikatana? That was hype. It happens with every game now so its not funny anymore.

CDPR lieing and hyping to get mainstreamers, they did what they needed to do.

CDPR going backwards, censoring themselves, making stupid voice acting and consoles, thats not forgiveable.

So you are going to the very old times when it was not actually an industry and even a real profession ?

Nah mate. The 60s and 70s wont do here.

 

[vesemas228]

So you are going to the very old times when it was not actually an industry and even a real profession ?

Nah mate. The 60s and 70s wont do here.

Lol, you must be very small. It was only in the early-mid 2000's when video games started making more than the movie industry. That's when this all started. Yeah. Normal people went to the cinema before that. Can you believe it?

 

[Charcharo]

Lol, you must be very small. It was only in the early-mid 2000's when video games started making more than the movie industry. That's when this all started. Yeah. Normal people went to the cinema before that. Can you believe it?

I was forced out of economic AND political necesity to go through the entire history of gaming.

I am not small. You just remember things fondly. You remember "the good old days" . Nothing more.

Games have been like that since the 80s. The Movie Industry is not some line that decides what is commercial and what aint.