Ubisoft not giving out review copies for the Crew

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Ubisoft is getting ready to launch its social racing game in just a week, and has today issued a statement about reviews for the title. In short, critics will not have access to the game until it launches on December 2.

“While we totally understand (hey, we read reviews, too!), The Crew was built from the beginning to be a living playground full of driving fans, so it’s only possible to assess our game in its entirety with other real players in the world,” the company writes. “And by other, we mean thousands and thousands and thousands of players – something that can’t be simulated with a handful of devs playing alongside the press. For this very reason, The Crew will be available to media to begin their reviews when the game launches on December 2.”

Ubisoft has had a busy fall, with the release of two Assassins’ Creed games and Far Cry 4 in just the past month. Far Cry 4 suffered from some problems at launch, including a crippling bug on PlayStation 3.

Assassin’s Creed Unity is still under repair, with the most recently uncovered problem focused on a basic social feature. Late last week, Ubisoft shared that a game-breaking bug was caused by adding other players to the in-game friends list.

In its statement, Ubisoft goes so far to warn against early reviews of The Crew. “While we fully anticipate that you might see some reviews immediately at launch – largely built around the preview sessions we facilitated during the past months or the limited content of the closed and open betas – they won’t be based on optimal conditions or reflect the finished game,” the company writes.

Alright people, this is it. Ubisoft is now the new EA. They're the new assholes of the gaming industry. What the hell is this? There should be something done about this. First Unity, then Far Cry 4 and now this

It's pretty easy to figure out: the game probably sucks so best to avoid it. If a publisher/developer has no confidence in their product, why the **** should anyone else?

I think we all know what this means.

I'm hyping it a 10/10.

sketch city.... and I am out of here!

Ubi being Ubi.

They have a standard to maintain, being the heel of gamers everywhere.

They should be ashamed of themselves. Big publishers have slowly turned customers into beta tester for their products - and people were busy complaining about early access titles? The standards for a finished product, on any platform, are the lowest they've ever been. If gamers continue to support this practice like they've been doing, it can only get worse from here. Seems like literally only the most professional developers actually release finished products these days.

The fantastic flops: Watch Dogs, Ac unity, FC4 & the crew. What a difference a year makes.

I don't think it'll hurt them much, the game isn't that anticipated, it's pre-order numbers in North America are pretty low, each console garnering less pre-orders than Persona Q. And I highly doubt any launch praise is going to benefit this game, rather any release ready reviews probably stand a chance to hurt the game. They're probably aware of this. If you were in their position, it's probably a good idea not to give out review copies, give them a few days to maximize sale on the ignorant. They've everything to gain from doing this and nothing to lose. After all, regardless if whether they gave out review copies, trolls would flood every site that allows for user reviews and flood it with 0/10 scores because "Ubisoft is new evil EA and blah blah blah... Assassin's Creed Unity... Far Cry 4... microtransactions... DLC... post release patches... durrrrrr."

To be honest, I totally forgot about The Crew and I have actively try my best to stay on top of all upcoming games.

Its not ultimately as big a world no but with the release of GTA V on the PS4 you can organise your own online races through the city and/or countryside much the same as the crew if thats your thing.

The only real difference being customisation in ubisofts game however im not a fan making road cars into stupid off road buggy type creations with big wheels etc etc so im not interested in the crew at all.

The fact the devs are not giving review copies out speaks volumes to me atleast.

Pre ordered

My hype for any and every ubisoft game died after Unity PC version... I'm excited to see how The Division and Rainbow Six turn out, either the games are great and not glitchy and I have fun with them or I have fun on the forums burying Ubisoft in their apathy towards the quality of their products and the consumers who pay hard earned money for them.

Ok your all jumping the gun, yes Ubisoft is making very bad decisions at the moment and there games are very flawed, but you can't put this in the same group.

the game is basically a Racing MMO, how could anyone give a decent and fair review, before the game hits, they'd be pretty much playing the game by themselves and wouldn't be a fair judgement, I just see this as a good point by Ubisoft for this game, there right it can't be reviewed until the game is out to the masses.

but I don't deny Ubisoft as the new EA tho, but this embargo isn't the reason.

I suggest all reviewers just review the beta version as final then.

Yeah, that's an obvious sign it's gonna be a train wreck.

Either they're genuinely worried early reviews will be doing a disservice to their game or what they're saying is "nonono you have to wait until "thousands and thousands and thousands" of people buy our game before reviewing it".....

Honestly once AssCreed became a yearly game much like CoD I started losing hope; after they claimed they didn't have any female protagonists in AC:U because it was simply not possible to do I started to hate them entirely... They're like EA though, terrible company, but hard to avoid entirely in gaming >.<

It's in "Open beta" on consoles just days before release, like that is going to do any good.

If it was truly an open beta it should have been done weeks or months ago.

let me guess

Is this going to be yet another boring,repetitive,lazy,uninspired,buggy and poorly optimized ubitrash game?

It's sad to see also, we are beta testers for pretty much all the games atm

Broken game incoming.

I was about to create a topic about this.

So, who's ready to pay $60 to beta test the game?

You can beta test it for free on PS4 and Xbox One right now.

Any online game should be reviewed after launch,i say this because it is a joke to play a game in an enclosed environment vs few people vs playing the game with 300k people at the same time,greatly impact games so better save that sorry.

The things is Ubi with this move i am sure is not seeking that and what it is actually sicking with this is stop reviews from hitting the game hard on reviews,this day in age in gaming sucks freaking ass..

Well, we all know what this means...

...

...

Incoming GOAT!

Well racing games is a garbage genre but looks like this will be bad even by those standards.

Seems like they don't have confidence in their game . "but but but it's world of warcraft of car games"

Ubi taking another shit. Shocking.

I want this to get something on Sonic Boom level so their stock drops even lower. Expecting a 5/10 on GS but a 3/10 would be funny and from what i've seen in the beta, 3/10 is generous

I have a feeling many game companies will follow the same path; no review until launch. 343 may do the same for halo 5 just so they can get in as much sales possible than risk losing potential buyers due to bad reviews. They can do whatever they want by milking $$ from their new ip before letting it sinks in the middle of the ocean. To tell you the truth.... if i own a new ip and allowed people to beta test it and received back many horrendous feedbacks.. i would stop the beta asap, block reviews until launch, do many commercials showing only the best gameplays, photoshop to 4k hd quality, quote only positive comments from ign gameinformer gametrailers, include a chance to win 1 million dollar (never announce the winner), and limited edition comes with a racing flag (price at $100). Create 100s fake accounts as beta testers telling the world how good that game was and post it in every famous game forums sites and hype it to the sky. Sit back and watch the $$$ roll in.

The beta was poorly received and didnt have an NDA from participants iirc.

*tries to get outraged*

*fails*

Eh....should a game that depends on live play really be rated if it doesn't have it?

It makes sense though, it would be like trying to score a Halo game without playing MP. I dont have high hopes for the game, but I think his reasons are legit.

Bullshit

@Bigboi500 said:

OMG I nearly spit out my coffee

Sega didn't give out review copies of Sonic Boom, and look how that turned out. Ubisoft has been on a roll lately. No reason for them to stop.

But you don't refuse giving out review copies jsut because you don't want it reviewed...

I wonder why...

no early review copies always means the game is awful.

It's gonna suck, no doubt.

I have played the beta so know what to expect anyway.

I understand the skepticism here - Ubi has had a brutal year - but they make a valid point about the ability to review a social game without the community actually there. And they haven't exactly been terrified to show it, there was a widely played beta already, and another coming up.

It's not a game on my list, but if I were interested I'd be satisfied with the early exposure Ubi has made available.

Other games that feature a major online component can and are reviewed prior to release with the review being updated again a few days after release.