Highlights

  • Ubisoft's success in creating open-world games is overshadowed by criticism for repetitive development.
  • Skull and Bones faced backlash for its grindy mechanics, highlighting a pattern in Ubisoft's open worlds.
  • Star Wars Outlaws is a highly anticipated Ubisoft game, aiming to break the cycle of underwhelming open-world experiences.

Game developer Ubisoft is one of the industry's biggest developers, having created longstanding modern franchises such as Assassin's Creed and Far Cry and now going on to publish the very first open-world Star Wars game, Star Wars Outlaws. The developer has had numerous successes in the past, including several titles from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia, as well as some of the earlier Assassin's Creed and Far Cry games. Unfortunately, despite Ubisoft's success, it regularly receives harsh criticism from both gamers and critics about its tendency to develop one type of game.

At the center of Ubisoft's ongoing controversy is its infamous open-world model. While the genre has grown to become massively popular over the last decade, many open-world gamers have been left with a bad taste in their mouths on account of Ubisoft's approach to it, despite the developer being one of the household names behind the genre's success. Now, Ubisoft's most recent title, Skull and Bones, is attracting even more negative attention to the developer, much of which has been aimed at the flawed execution of its open-world activities. Needless to say, Ubisoft's open-world formula just can't seem to catch a break.

Skull and Bones Combat
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A Brief History of Ubisoft's Open-World Model

Ubisoft hasn't always been an open-world developer, nor is it only known for its open worlds. Franchises like Rayman, Prince of Persia, and Splinter Cell all avoided the open-world model and succeeded just fine without it. However, once Ubisoft learned what it was capable of doing with an open world, especially when it came to how players would receive that type of game, it established momentum on an unfortunate track that would take it to where it is today — and that all arguably began with the open world of Far Cry 3.

Far Cry 3 is considered the best Far Cry game to date, but there is likely a better reason for that beyond its story and characters. Specifically, Far Cry 3 is considered a master class in open-world design. Rather than simply filling the game's map with extra space, Ubisoft ensured that every area of Far Cry 3's map was handcrafted with intention and care. This is far from where Ubisoft's open-world model is today, as the developer tends to design games with the idea that "bigger is always better" in mind.

Still, it was likely the success of Far Cry 3's open world that led to Ubisoft creating more, even grander open worlds, like the hugely popular Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Since then, Ubisoft's open worlds have largely only become bigger and emptier, and no matter how hard it tries to avoid criticism, the developer's familiar formula just can't win.

Ubisoft's Open World Just Can't Win

The long-awaited seafaring title Skull and Bones is Ubisoft's most recent experiment to fall prey to nearly universal negative criticism. Unfortunately, despite being originally inspired by Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, the developer's latest pirate adventure has fallen far short of its legacy. This isn't necessarily due to the beauty or vastness of its open world, as most of the criticism has been directed at its grindy mechanics and bland narrative. Even so, Skull and Bones' open world is yet another of Ubisoft's to meet its maker.

The next title awaiting release by Ubisoft is Star Wars Outlaws, which may very well be the most anticipated Ubisoft game of the last decade. As it is considered the first open-world Star Wars game ever made, much of its marketing has been fueled by high expectations from gamers and Star Wars enthusiasts, meaning a lot is riding on it to break the ongoing pattern of Ubisoft's open-world reception and finally deliver an open-world experience unlike those of the developer's past. However, time will tell whether Star Wars Outlaws can accomplish such a feat.