Ubisoft demands high Assassin's Creed 2 review score?

Jim Sterling writes: "We hear about these situations far too much, where a publisher is accused of attempting to broker a guaranteed favorable review from a press outlet. The latest to face such allegations is Ubisoft, having been named and shamed by German magazine Computer Bild Spiele for demanding a high score for Assassin's Creed 2. SCANDAL!"

[naughty57]

very sad though, websites and mags can't even keep their word no more

[dgroundwater]

This issue is a bother, no doubt about it. Many publishers besides Ubi pull shenanigans like this. Just check multiple sources before picking a game up.

It doesn't say anything about the quality of the game though, AC2 will still rock.

[evrfighter]

so herein lies the problem

as soon as the review embargo's are lifted. What does that say about sites like IGN or Gamespot who give it at least a 9?

[Kira83]

no kidding, guess i can disregard the 9/10 OPSM gave the game.... for now.

[mikepmcc]

Seriously, who has the time to care about this kind of stuff? I'll buy a game if it's good, and not let the "politics" get involved in my purchase. Anyone who will negate a $60 purchase on a whim because of some obscure issue obviously didn't care about the game very much in the first place.

[DaTruth]

Do you use E.S.P. to know the game is good??? That is why we go to reviewers, because we can't play every game before it comes out to know if it's good.

That's what the problem is!

Oh and this completely owns all the people saying PS3 fanbabies want MW2 to fail! Clearly PS3 owners had a point when they were arguing the reviewing process was skewed!

[DaTruth]

It's Kane and Lynch all over again!

Edit:Excuse my above post where I say PS3 owners were arguing the review process is flawed! It might have appeared I was saying all PS3 owners everywhere!

[ozstar]

@DaTruth, thats right. That was the other recent game that came up.
If your job is threatened because of an review you pretty much guarantee they will choose self preservation.

@mikepmcc, calling it obscure? Jesus it affects the WHOLE industry, its not obscure. Its the reason why GTA4 is the "best reviewed game of all time", but in retrospect, most people don't think it actually is.

[SaberEdge]

You want to know what's really shameful?... the way a bunch of know-knothing gamers are willing to hang Ubisoft out to dry based on compeltely unsubstantiated claims by one German game magazine that most of us have never even heard of.

What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? With you guys I guess it's "guilty until proven innocent". *Shakes head*

[nan0]

Not to believe everything you read. This is probably a loud of BS. Some unreliable source in Germany trying to get hits for their site. It's probably some noobs who are pissed that they couldn't get a copy so they made up this BS.

----------------------------- --------Yeah

[Blaze929]

I suspect IGN has long since been bending over for publishers. That's the problem with the "big name" sites/magazines now; start to wonder if they even play the games they review anymore.

That's why I like some of the smaller sites and sites that are doing that N/A score thing now.

[kaveti6616]

Well, I IGN gave the first game a lower than excellent score. A 7.8 right? Anyways, it's sad to see Ubisoft doing this because I really thought that with a few minor tweaks and gameplay improvements, Assassin's Creed could have been great. Now, it seems that Ubi has less confidence in the sequel, and that makes me less confident in purchasing it.

[TOO PAWNED]

in a long run this will destroy our industry.

[Kain81]

T.T

Bubbles+

[rbluetank]

you and only you know what type of games you like...

[kaveti6616]

That ends up costing money. I know you will say in the long run that it saves money, but I'm not going to feel that way if I rent a game for 7 or 10 bucks that I end up loving enough that I want to buy, thus meaning that I will pay more money for it. It's not impossible to find a dedicated and unbiased reviewer in the industry.

[DonCorneo]

POP was an overrated POS

but it got 9+ from most sites.

[iown-ipwn-ikill]

i really enjoyed prince of persia

[aliens]

Killzone2 was an overrated POS also.

[ginsunuva]

Halo 3 was an overrated POS also.

[likedamaster]

Yeah, I kinda liked POP.

On topic/
Ubisoft is one of my favorite developers/publishers, its sad to hear this.

[raztad]

What a shame.

I still have high hopes for AC2.

[kaveti6616]

Doesn't it put a dent in your hope? If the publisher of the game is doing this, what does that say about the quality of the game?

[raztad]

@^^^

Not exactly. I'm sure this kind of pressure is more common than we know. Moreso, when the sequel of a big hyped game with a massive follow up is about to be released I suspect many reviewers try to behave "properly".

I'm gonna wait for more reviews and user feedback.

[Dawn_Of_Ashes]

with the failure that was assassin creed 1, i can understand that ubisoft is afraid of getting bad score but they dont have to do that kind of thing. It only prove that they dont believe at the quality of the game.

[rob6021]

I honestly think they did the same thing with AC1

[Unicron]

Yet more proof...

SCORES are STUPID AND WORTHLESS.

[Karum]

Then well done to that site for not giving Ubisoft their wish.

Also, if it's true then it shows Ubisoft don't have as much confidence in their game as they should.

[Sigh]

Like someone said on here last week, honest journalism is dead.

[tweet75]

I hope other gamers will join me who were looking forward to this game and choose not to purchase it because of these actions. Also I will never buy a game if a company is accused of doing this for the game.

[Sprudling]

Then you need to stop buying all high budget games. This has been going on for a while now.

[mikepmcc]

really? Do you know how many developers poured their blood and sweat into the game? You shouldn't deny them that on the decision one marketing person made, much less deny yourself a great game. I'm sorry, but there is nothing you can to end corruption forever, it's going to happen. Your loss though, I'll be having fun playing...

[DaTruth]

This is pretty much the effect of huge amounts of marketing money on your favourite gaming magazine or site. The threat of losing those ad revenues next time they release a big game almost assures a good score.

Imagine losing Halo ad revenues!

[GameOn]

there would all ways be someone else that wants to advertise though.

[zerocrossing]

what happened to earning a good score by making a good game? Ubisoft should be ashamed of themselves, not only do they obviously have no fathe in there own work but its just unaceptable to push for a high score just because your a big bev.

[Kalowest]

You should let your product speak for its self.

[Polycarp]

It would be better if reviews never included scores. Honestly, you can't really assign a number to each game. They are all so varied. It would be better if people just read the opinions in reviews to see what people liked or didn't like, and then made their judgment on how important each of those features is to them.

[Danteh]

This is disgusting, but I've been supecting it for a while. I heard stories that if you don't give X game a high score, then maybe they won't let you an early hands on with their next big game... and that's a disaster for any magazine. So they must keep the companies happy.

I'm not trying to start a flame war, but I think that's exactly what happened with Halo ODST. While thye game may be fun, there is no possible way that if it was named for example... Shellshock ODST, it would have gotten even into the 80's scores. It's basically a short DLC with outdated graphix

So yeah I hope this trend dissappears I trust reviews very much when buying :(((

[DaTruth]

A far worse fate would be if MS didn't advertise the game in your magazine after a bad score! Denying you a piece of their $30million ad campaigns!

Ya, it's worse than you ever imagined!

[Solans Scott]

There are many gamers that only purchase games based on their review scores and publishers know this. I have seen people have breakdowns because a game that deserved a 10 in their opinion only got a 9.5. The reality is that a very positive review score can propel sales but it is shameful when a publisher actually demands a good score from a reviewer. They should have enough confidence in their own product and it worries me that they don't.

[No FanS Land]

That's why I gave up willing to work at ubisoft. Plus it was ubi montreal.

Love the developer but damn is the publisher some crazy moneygrabber! Stupid ubisoft france.

[DaTruth]

they didn't want you! j/k

[CrippleH]

I can't really blame them for that. People buy from reviews. I do.

[Kakihara]

Can't blame them for that?? Have I missed something and you're referring to something other than Ubisoft demanding a high score for their game whether it deserves it or not? I don't care how important reviews are to sales, demanding that someone lie is ... well, how aren't there legal repercussions to this???

It's absolutely disgusting, not that it's a shock. I've seen a bunch of good review scores but I'm still very skeptical about this game. Well ... I was skeptical and a little hopeful, now I'm pretty much expecting it to be as big a broken piece of crap as the first.

[DaTruth]

Can't really blame that dude for stabbing me and my wife, killing her and robbing us blind; A guys gotta eat!

[gamejediben]

Yeah I remember last year when the new Prince of Persia game came out and all the early review scores where really high. But once I tried it out I wouldn't have given the game more than a 7.5 or if the ending wasn't pay to play, an 8.

Also the only thing "grade A" about Far Cry 2 was how much of a disaster it was.

Ubisoft is probably the most bullshit game company out there. Call me a pessimist, but I'm sure all the things we hated about Assassin's Creed 1 will be even more magnified in the sequel.

[DaTruth]

Nobody could have seen FarCry 2 as anything other than a pretty picture. That game was highway robbery in all gameplay respects!

There were so many things wrong with that!

[Feral Gamer]

Destroid is the least reliable site. Their articles are written for hits.

Furthermore, a German mag most of us have never heard about? Sorry but I have trouble trusting the story from only one site.

[ozstar]

I can't believe people are shocked by this.

Firstly, didn't Ubi fly certain press all the way to Italy to preview this game?
Secondly, hasn't there been a long term bias inherent in game reviews when "press packs" are distributed to these "journalists"?
Thirdly, we know there have been threats in the past, don't be so naive to assume this isn't a common thing in gaming media.

Remember that just making this public is a threat to jobs, exclusive news preferential treatment and free copies. Bias, because of job security fears is a HUGE problem in normal journalism these days, game journalism is no different.

[ElementX]

Funny how people make fun of Gabe Newell's weight but Jim Sterling is just as obese. Pathetic attempt at slander. Just look at the source: wearetheinternetz.com? That just screams "bullshit". How can such a crappy site have any valid info? How come there hasn't been any reports from mainstream sites about this? Bogus!

[ozstar]

One example, Ign is owned by News Corporation. News Corp (the owners of Fox News) are famous for "selling" doubt, regarding second hand smoke and cancer links in the eighties. Today, you will see preferential treatment in defense of the coal industry, and other climate change associated polluters, so if this is the case with serious issues what do honestly believe you will get from a game review site?

[DigitalAnalog]

Damn Ubisoft, you were one of my most respected gaming companies. Your games rock and I would pass up many of the PS3 exclusives just to play Assassin's Creed II and you RESORT TO THIS?

............................. ..........................

I just hope this rumor is false.

[spunnups]

I was really pulling for this sequel to be a hit. If this is true, you have to wonder if this game really is that good? Oh well, no shocker, it's not like Far Cry 2, Ass Creed, and PoP were anything but repetitive anyway.

[GraySnake]

don't trust everything you see on the internet...especially when it smells this rank.

[likedamaster]

Konami committed the worst sin. They gave 1up contracts to sign on the spot right after playing their game and said they could not release the review or leave for that matter if they didn't sign the contracts. The worse part were the contracts themselves, stating they could not mention the amount of downloads this certain game required and the length of certain cutscenes of the game. Despicable. What game was this you ask? Well, MGS4 of course.

[gamejediben]

MGS4 kicked whole truckloads of game's asses. But the gaming press had the option of waiting until the release of the game to start reviewing the game. It was only if they wanted an EARLY playthrough that they would have to sign those contracts. Not an unfair price to pay really.

In the motion picture industry, to see an early screening, you have to fill out the same kinds of paperwork.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

And this is why I stopped reviewing games. It's all just fanboys, money and politics. :|

[nan0]

That he can't play MGS4.

People need to stop believeing whatever they read. Some Germna site is probably pissed that Ubisoft didn't give them a copy so they make a BS story up.