At this point I have a problem, clearly. At this point I'm pretty much a K-Pop stan except replace the love for hatred. But in my defence, the target of my disdain has been responsible for wasting copious amounts of my passion for this hobby as well as actively has a part in ruining the outward perception of this industry. (I would even say they've negatively influence the direction of the industry a couple of times.) So I'd say the ire is a bit justified on my end. Ubisoft- the Canadian boogey men, are entering something of a threat phase for me once again as they tackle a property I inexplicably still care about. Star Wars Series do nothing for me anymore, I can't be bothered to watch any after Andor. (At least I gave up on their high.) Their movies haven't interested my since The Force Awakens, and I doubt that will change anytime soon. The games, however, I've always loved the games.
In many ways my greatest ties to the Star Wars world has been through the interactive mediums through fantastic projects like 'Dark Forces', wish fulfilment like 'Jedi Knight Academy', anime wackiness like 'Force Unleashed'- there has never been a shortage of diversity present in this world. Thus it was with something of a stark astonishment I realised there hasn't really been anything implicitly 'Ubisoft coded' in this franchise up until now. You know what I mean: Checklist open worlds where you run from map marker to map marker across a world you'll become increasingly desensitised to as every gameplay mechanic reinforced your detachment to it has a breathing world. A ramshackle narrative stitched together from missions that would count as side quests under any actual high achieving studio in similar work. Ugly and rampant single player cosmetic monetisation.
Which is why I am not the least bit shocked that the new Ubisoft Massive developed Star Wars Outlaws game seems to be doing everything it can to reinforce the 'Ubisoft formula' in all the most obvious and least risky ways. (Which is what art is all about right, being predictable and safe?) But that's neither here nor there, what I want to discuss is something of the interesting rhetoric that has been drummed up around the game's interesting form of nickel-and-diming some of those sweet exorbitant pre-order bucks out of the audience. We've got the three days early access- the Han Solo outfit- (Jedi Survivor literally already offered that exact same cosmetic. Ubisoft can't even grift creatively!) And the exclusive pre-order quest with Jabba the Hutt. Nostalgia baiting at it's most prime.
Now apparently there was some confusion about whether or not this meant that all interactions with Jabba the Hutt were DLC exclusive, which they are not it turns out, but the community team coined a very interesting topic of discussions as they tried to waive away the significance of this issue. Quite simply, people were upset that key content was being withheld behind a $30 upcharge edition of the game for which the team assured- this content is not massive, nor is it key- so people don't need to get so worked up about missing out and just playing the base game. But then- if we are to assume that is true then the question should really be- how can the value proposition of the content on offer not be considered woefully inadequate?
Think about the Catch-22 they've built for themselves here. By the very existence of these special editions that come package with the season pass bundle, the team have infused a supposed value on that content. The extra 30-50 bucks they demand is their assertion of how valuable that extra content is, which means that cutting through the low-effort cosmetics on offer and pathetic early access crap- they believe their extra missions to be worth about $30. This includes the season pass for content they haven't detailed or developed yet- that's pretty much just a promise they'll make something decent, which after Assassin's Creed Valhalla's groan worthy DLC slate- that absolutely cannot be taken for granted. If we are to take that all at face value, then Ubisoft are plucking content about half as valuable as the base game itself and locking that away behind an upcharge.
But here's the likely reality behind it- it's all smoke and mirrors! The Jabba mission which they've thrown onto the season pass, Ubisoft content development history would insist that such a mission is actually a limp five minute distraction the team hardly thought more than two seconds about during development, which was cut out for how inconsequential it was and given a retroactive price tag. I speak with suppositions, no doubt- but borne from having experienced every major Ubisoft release ever- that is the kind of content they play with. Which would mean the company has unwitting admitted to the fact they overcharge for their content and play off the alure of exclusivity to peddle throw-away cut content at painful prices.
Value is such a tricky thing with the games industry, as everyone wants to believe themselves the highest value product on the market right now, whereas in truth the market decides value of each product by their participation with it. Suicide Squad kills the Justice League will insist it is worth the $70 price tag on the box, but when they have to slash that price in half within the first two months in order to make any sort of decent sales- it would seem the market has decided their game ain't worth half that price tag. Baldur's Gate 3 hasn't gone on sale since before it fully released- thus the market is pretty happy stating that game is absolutely worth it's full RRP. (Which is $60 by the way. Yeah, Suicide Squad thought it was more valuable than Baldur's Gate... ain't that a trip!)
Comparison is the thief of joy, so they say- but when finance is involved I consider comparison to be the highest art of discourse, for the ethereal art of value is but a shadow puppet play in the face of solid competition. As games insist on driving up their prices, ramping up microtransactions and even angling towards subscription access models if you're Ubisoft, (They're just the actual worst living people in the industry, what can I say?) the steel cogs of comparison turn against more and more- sternly judging the colour of their character. I applaud to see the weak and unimpressive churned within the guts and spat out on the otherside- and the very moment Ubisoft's caustic, yet ever tested, 'broad market appeal' withers enough to be subject to that 'comparison machine' is the exact moment we'll see an empire crushed into kibble within the space of a single console generation.
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