this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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[–] fluckx 290 points 1 year ago (18 children)

Can we boycot the companies that do this already. I get the AC IP is nice, I've certainly enjoyed my fair share of their games.

But the ad industry is completely getting derailed. What's next ? Watch a 15s promo video every time you want to open te fridge? Watch a promo video before you can open the door?

Have your walls randomly show you ads?

Stop buying their shit. Regardless of how decent the game is. Punish them for the predatory practices. Demand refunds.

But no. People will likely be outraged, and then next game angry and then the next game they'll suck it all up and complain about the good all days.

#remindmein5years

[–] [email protected] 138 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I always thought the cyberpunk genre was a warning, not a blueprint.

[–] xantoxis 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't Create the Torment Nexus etc etc

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stop buying their shit.

Way ahead of you.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah, unfortunately, it is hard for me to hurt their bottom line because I checked out of the series after Origins.

That said, I've never sought a refund on a digital copy of a game, but I wouldn't hesitate if I paid full price for a game only to find out there were in game ads

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[–] kromem 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Companies should focus on making in-game advertising appear 'diegetic' as opposed to the low hanging fruit of inserting it like a sore thumb.

Had Ubisoft scattered a number of graffiti or town criers in Odyssey's cities talking about visiting a foreign land for less money the next few days only, where the art direction looked and felt perfectly at home in the world itself and interacting with the hooks alerted users to the promotion details, this would have been way less disgusting to players.

You didn't have players revolting when Cyberpunk's 2.0 update suddenly had characters talking about Dogtown which then hooked into trying to upsell the DLC. It fit the world and was something that could be ignored or engaged with as desired.

GTA: Online's phone calls hooking into paid or new content are another example of doing it better (though their frequency is tuned really poorly).

The problem is most publishers don't want to spend the extra time and money to fit ads into the worlds players are in. Which is dumb, as testing a really terrible UX that players will revolt on and press will cover negatively is going to shoot in the foot an initiative that would have gone much smoother with a bit of elbow grease and respect for the players.

Especially with the increase in in-game commerce I expect that we will see a spike in in-game advertising over the next few years, and with advances in generative AI that might even end up being tailored to the in game world as well much more often.

But the reactivity of the audience here means that the publishers who do a good job on limiting the degree to which moving in that direction abuses the playerbase are going to end up much better off than the ones that think dumb shit like a popup ad in the game UI during play is a good idea.

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[–] madcaesar 202 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I have a hard unbreakable rule:

Free, you can serve me ads, I'll try to avoid them but ok. But the minute I pay for something and you try to give me ads on top, we're gonna have a problem.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Newspapers. You paid for it, and it still got ads.

I know, digital and printed ads are different.

[–] kautau 56 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Cable TV, same thing. This is just old media execs trying to “bring back the magic” or new media execs thinking that old media techniques will work

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Ah, my hard line stance of "never buy anything ubisoft" is still working out for me.

[–] Duamerthrax 35 points 1 year ago (16 children)

Ubisoft, epic, ea, Blizzard/Activision...

I wont say Bethesda because I'm hoping for another Doom or Quake.

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[–] Snapz 89 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Always testing the line... This wasn't a mistake. They know you'll be upset, they are testing HOW upset and then they'll make their decision.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago

If you're "upset" but buy another Ubisoft game anyway, then you weren't that upset --> Ubisoft will keep doing it.

(you as in generic you)

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[–] kamen 83 points 1 year ago (17 children)

Something you're paying for should be completely ad free, period.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Enshittification infects all.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don’t mind in-game ads printed on in-map billboards and stuff, but ads that interrupt gameplay? Fuck that. Especially if you’ve paid for the content.

[–] Lightborne 107 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

I don’t mind in-game ads printed on in-map billboards and stuff

Not ten years ago people were complaining about this very thing.

It's fascinating to watch the boiling frog in basically real time. Give it another 10 years and ads that interrupt gameplay will be seen as normal too.

[–] 2deck 40 points 1 year ago

10 years later...

I don't mind ads that interrupt gameplay, but i hate when they require you to smile at your webcam and say "i love corporation!" and give two thumbs up. Other than that, the gameplay is monotinous enough to help me forget who i am and that the world is burning.

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[–] Alpha71 70 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And they will get away with it because nobody does what will really hurt Ubisoft, which is NOT buy the games. No. They will simply come on reddit or here and complain, and then throw their hands up and accept it when that fails to produce any results.

[–] witx 68 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

That's why those who "jUsT pAy PReMiUm" are at fault. These companies are just pushing the line to see what sticks, and you're perpetuating it by paying

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[–] chiliedogg 63 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The first time I saw Ubisoft doing this was actually kinda neat because it was done well.

It was Rainbow Six Vegas/Vegas 2 and the billboards and posters scattered around were real ads. I thought it was a clever way to improve immersion.

[–] Moneo 39 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Funny, cause nothing breaks immersion faster for me than product placement.

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[–] CosmicCleric 31 points 1 year ago

Clever or not, you're not paying to watch advertisements, you're paying to play a game as a recreational activity.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago

I did think it was clever, but I distinctly remember for R6V1, every single billboard, truck side, and bus stop poster, was Shia LaBeouf staring at you with binoculars for the movie "Disturbia" lol.

I guess in the R6 universe that was going to be the biggest film release of the century hahaha. Maybe they just didn't get a ton of takers?

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[–] regdog 61 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I stopped buying Ubisoft games years ago. It was around that that time where they forced always-online mode on their single player games.

I stopped playing their games (literally) because I was sure from that point on the user experience is only going to get worse. I thing I was right in that decision.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

That's enough for me to never buy any of their games ever again.

Remember when they said that if we pay for the product, we dont get ads? :)

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago (4 children)

i can't wait for the day when we will need to watch ads or buy premium before we can use our cars

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (4 children)

BMW already tried to charge $18 a month for heated seats.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago

Forza Horizon 4 did this but worse. It would be an unskippable 2 minute video ad ignoring your volume settings. It only played 5 times in my 45 hours of gameplay but it was so damn unacceptable that it's reminding me to give that game a negative review.

Forza Horizon 5 does not do this. Get that game or something else instead.

[–] DrMango 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] Gruntyfish 36 points 1 year ago (8 children)

[Everyone] enraged at [any company] for injecting ads into the middle of [everything]

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[–] TheBat 35 points 1 year ago

Still playing Ubishit games

Lol

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (4 children)

They should be enraged about the rape apologists who are in charge of the company. But consumers forget fast when the shiny new thing is out.

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[–] MeanEYE 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

There are people who are not already angry at Ubisoft?

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (16 children)

When piracy becomes more convenient to actually play the game sail those ships boys

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[–] cyberpunk007 30 points 1 year ago (5 children)

What if we took cable tv... And combined it with gaming?

Fuck off with this shit. Micro transactions are bad enough

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (6 children)

And this is why retro games and open source games make up the bulk of my gaming experience

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[–] 5BC2E7 28 points 1 year ago

disgusting. it doesn't surprise me. publishers are continously testing how much their customers can bend over.

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