Ubisoft Montreal CEO On Always Online: "I Would Suspect The Audience Is


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The "always online" controversy seems to be rolling forward with new comments from a major publisher. In an interview with The Guardian, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat answered a number of questions about preparing for the next generation of consoles.

In responding to questions about hardware that requires a consistent connection to the Internet, Mallat had some surprising things to say. The furor over former Microsoft creative director Adam Orth's statements in response to rumors that the next Xbox would be an "always online" device has barely died down. Now, Ubisoft is lending credence to the speculation.

When asked if we are prepared for this requirement, Mallat stated, "Well, that's a question you should put to Microsoft and Sony! I would say that a lot of people are already always online through other devices ? I would suspect that the audience is ready."

This follows a question in which the interviewer specifically brings up the botched launch of EA's online only SimCity and consumer concerns about a similar necessity for hardware. Mallat replies, "The answer lies in the question ? as soon as players don't have to worry, they can only take into account the benefits that those services bring."

Just this weekend, Xbox Live suffered a number of problems that resulted from routine maintenance. Players were unable to sign into their accounts or communicate with friends. Offline play wasn't affected, but should the next Xbox require an active connection, even solo gaming might not be possible in a similar situation.

Whether Mallat's statements are his own or the official stance of the publisher isn't clear. We've reached out to Ubisoft for clarification.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/04/15/ubisoft-montreal-ceo-comments-on-always-online-i-would-suspect-the-audience-is-ready.aspx

[source: The Guardian]

I would say he suspects wrong.

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I would say that a lot of people are already always online through other devices

The thing is, people CHOOSE which device they want to be "always online", it seems in the future people will be FORCED to always be connected. :/

It could open up lots of things like always connected TV's that lock the remote when adverts start, even for OTA broadcasts, and what could you do?? nothing because the TV would not work without the connection.

An always connected future does not look promising for consumers, looks great for businesses though.

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I'm on an iPad and cannot read this article on this site at all. Why does so much text get posted in grey with the dark theme. It's impossible to read

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Dear Ubi CEO; no, we're not ****ing ready, as a community as a whole; I am - but I know many that would be screwed simply because they use a ****ty ISP that drops connection even on the clearest of days and at times where the "load" is not straining - they simply suck and are the main ISP of the area.

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I'm on an iPad and cannot read this article on this site at all. Why does so much text get posted in grey with the dark theme. It's impossible to read

When I copied it from the game informer site and pasted it it must have pasted the formatting with it. I take it that is why the text is grey.

I dunno why it copies all of the formatting (links, bold italics etc.) accurately except for the paragraphs. It just jumble sit all together.

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When I copied it from the game informer site and pasted it it must have pasted the formatting with it. I take it that is why the text is grey.

I dunno why it copies all of the formatting (links, bold italics etc.) accurately except for the paragraphs. It just jumble sit all together.

Wasn't a gripe at you, it's after 3am and I guess I'm cranky haha

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I think planning for "usually online" would be fine. Take the advantages of a usually online system for keeping the software up to date when it isn't in active use, caching and unlocking preordered games so they're immediately ready to go at the launch date, and accessing locally stored content remotely. These would all be fantastic features that could make the new system worthwhile and provide nothing but benefit for a pittance in electricity cost.

Kicking people out of a game mid-session because a connection for non-essential licensing services gets dropped is just silly. I would have a difficult time believing that anybody would ever implement that if I hadn't already seen it done by Ubi and EA for PC titles, and it is doubly unnecessary on a system with strong cryptographics and self-verification like the Xbox. I enjoy single player games quite a bit, and love the opportunity to take my system places with poor or no Internet connectivity with fewer distractions.

It's really quite simple. I like the Xbox right now have have only minor quibbles with how it manages licenses, but if the new games can't be played how I want to play them, I'll take my business elsewhere. Sony has made their promise, and Valve understands this just fine as well. I've heard far too much unofficial commentary from employees at Microsoft and these game publishers testing the waters. It's time for them to say something concrete.

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I'm on an iPad and cannot read this article on this site at all. Why does so much text get posted in grey with the dark theme. It's impossible to read

Cause so many people just copy, paste and hit post without thinking any more than that. Resulting in so much **** being stupidly hard to read. One would think after so long people would finally get it and maybe not continue to do this but nope. That's too much to expect from people i guess.

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Cause so many people just copy, paste and hit post without thinking any more than that. Resulting in so much **** being stupidly hard to read. One would think after so long people would finally get it and maybe not continue to do this but nope. That's too much to expect from people i guess.

Whine, whine, whine. The theme I am using looks fine, so I didn't even know that it was posted in grey. Instead of being a jerk about it you could have considered that.

bOl6CET.jpg

That is how it looks to me.

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He really doesn't say much, goes nowhere close to the subject of DRM for games etc. All he really says is that at some point most people will be fine with a console or any device being always on once we have better more stable connections.

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If the forum didn't have a time limit on edits, I would have fixed it. I don't understand the rationale of limiting the amount of time one can alter a post after posting it.

Or people could click the source link. But apparently that idea escaped everyone.

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