With continuous hits in Assassin's Creed and Just Dance, legacy titles that include Splinter Cell and Rayman, Indie gems with Child of Light and Valiant Hearts, as well as newer and upcoming titles Skull & Bones and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Ubisoft has had one of the most successful and eclectic libraries the medium has seen to date.However, Ubisoft has also had a legacy of fumbling, whether it's because of the myriad bugs, cringe presentations, server issues, or nonsensical messaging in some of their marketing. All of this and more has led to an overwhelming heap of jokes that make Ubisoft one of the easiest corporations to poke fun at as they continue to make some of the most odd and questionable decisions in the video game industry.
Servers
As Ubisoft has shifted focus over the years to live-service titles and massive games that need to consistently ping to a server alongside frequent updates (like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6), players have been required more and more to play their games online whether enjoying a single-player or multiplayer experience.
For unknown reasons, however, Ubisoft's servers are one of the worst in the industry, with frequent disconnects that can make one wonder if they're being powered by a sack of potatoes.
Historical Accuracy
In the beginning of the Assassin's Creed legacy in 2007, the series began with, and set out to be, one of the most authentic period pieces in terms of the historical playgrounds players found themselves immersed in.
Over the years, however, Assassin's Creed started to incorporate so many supernatural and mythological elements that historical accuracy was lost in favor of a few landmarks and notable figures sprinkled throughout.
Secret Recipe
Ubisoft has had a tremendous slate of IP that helped catapult them to where they are today, touching up on just about every genre and demographic to create a large following over decades through some of the best and most memorable adventures. It wasn't until post-2010, however, that Ubisoft's vision began to change following the transition into live-service and mobile gaming.
Unfortunately, it's become quantity over quality with franchises turning annual and riddled with the same exhausting open-world format that holds little value to gamers, which can certainly make for a depressed doge.
A Bit Hypocritical
Ubisoft is known now for their borderline cliché large-scale open-world games, but one of the biggest complaints over the years is just how much is shoved into a player's face for both the HUD and overall user interface, with this incessant need to constantly supply information that either isn't useful or can be displayed elsewhere.
Earlier this year after the release of Elden Ring, Ubisoft employees criticized the UI of the game, but they're no stranger to horrendous user interfaces themselves as they have a tendency to riddle them with icons and bloated information that can overwhelm the player, making for an on-screen mess that looks like it's been regurgitated.
You're To Blame
NFTs aren't the first time Ubisoft has made questionable decisions that gamers and audiences didn't want anything to do with. Between poor choices regarding mobile titles, toys-to-life, battle royale titles, and more, Ubisoft's projects don't always see a bright future as they're always at the tail-end of trends.
Interestingly, however, rather than view market research and the overall engagement of interest, they rather pin the blame on everyone else for "not understanding" their last-minute attempts at projects that should have been avoided to begin with, but where there is money to be found, Ubisoft will be there.
Constructive Criticism
Music is a big proponent to video games and, in some cases, may even make or break the overall enjoyment of one. Horrible music can completely ruin an otherwise joyful experience, like Yoshi's New Island, while some games have great music with frustrating gameplay but will still remain somewhat memorable because of it.
Outside of Just Dance (though some would include it), Ubisoft, unfortunately, has gotten into a habit of doing the bare minimum in both departments, delivering on half-baked products that leave fans sour and hesitant for future entries in a franchise.
Red Light, Green Light
To run or not to run? That is the question. Ubisoft's games as they've transitioned more into large-scale formats and open-worlds have seen plenty of quests in the Tom Clancy series, Assassin's Creed, and more that have required players to follow an NPC towards an objective, either through stealth or to simply gain information while walking and talking.
Historically and hilariously, however, Ubisoft has never gotten the speed of walking quite right for NPCs in their games, so players end up running for a bit as they get left behind before having to walk again to allow the NPC to catch up. Either way, many times have players almost "left the mission area" because of a lack of proper pacing.
Denial
Between Splinter Cell, Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, Prince of Persia, and more, Ubisoft has beloved properties that fans would be more than happy to throw their wallet at, yet instead the same content or type of game is released time and time again.
In the case of Splinter Cell, the last official release was Splinter Cell: Blacklist in 2013, but despite the long-term success of the franchise, Ubisoft continues to ignore the fan-driven market to focus on investor opportunities instead, much like how Konami has neglected Silent Hill for less favorable ventures.
Never Too Old
Back in 2014 before the release of Assassin's Creed Unity, Ubisoft came under fire for asinine comments about a woman being too difficult to animate when asked why there hadn't been any lead female protagonists in Assassin's Creed before, though what makes matters more bizarre is that they had done so with Assassin's Creed Liberation in 2012.
Since then, however, Ubisoft has had quite a few female protagonists in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Immortals Fenyx Rising to name a few - with user-created characters in plenty of others - but Watch Dogs: Legion showed a true evolution where you could play as an elderly lady looking for an adrenaline rush, which is an improvement over its predecessors.
Milkin' It
Though there's no denying the rich history of properties Ubisoft has under its belt, but the success of Assassin's Creed which continues to grow bigger and bolder for fifteen years now has, unsurprisingly, given Ubisoft much reason to invest resources as much as possible into it.
Unfortunately, because of the quantity over quality mentality, there's an oversaturating amount of Assassin's Creed content that typically feels devoid of life or meaning to the core essence of what makes Assassin's Creed so great, yet with the recent announcements of Assassin's Creed Mirage and Codename: Red, Jade, and Hexe, the milking will continue to happen.