torok said:
The Internet forum crowd is just a tiny, tiny minority. It doesn't matter, if I was from a publisher I wouldn't even bother reading forums. |
I think AC as a series will be damaged by Unity. Not due to internet forums particularly, but more of the famous issues. Forums like ours are not a big deal. Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook however, combine to make a HUGE deal. Word of mouth can spread like wildfire, and in the case of AC:U, the word is all bad and/or hilarious (glitchfest, ghoul faces, etc).
I agree utterly that the number of people specifically boycotting Ubisoft is probably negligible in the big picture of course. If FC4 was a similar mess to AC:U, then it could risk becoming a problem for them in terms of brand image, but that appears not to be the case.
BF as a series was damaged by BF4.
COD as a series was damaged by Ghosts.
AC as a series is being damaged by AC:U.
All of that is undeniable, but what's debatable is to what degree that it affects sales in the end.
BF5 probably won't have the same preorder levels that 4 did (as 3 was pretty well received overall, it wasn't without problems but nothing compared to 4's laundry list of uh-ohs).
COD:AW looks slightly dinged compared to Ghosts, nothing huge, but then again one could argue it's just series fatigue and some of their core people being more interested in 'modern warfare' rather than 'robots and jump-suits' kind of stuff. After all, BF:2142 was a similar departure and pretty much tanked compared to BF2.
I bet AC 2015 has preorders decline from AC:U compared to install base totals in linear terms.
