Beating a dead horse here but one more plop on the pile can't hurt.

Gamers weren't always mainstream but now that we are and the time we spend consuming content is extremely valuable. If we estimated only 1% of the global population plays computer games roughly the 8.6 hour per week average, this is roughly 80 million people sitting down for almost 3/4 of a billion hours PER WEEK.

The gaming industry is highly competitive and eager to shake all the money out of our pockets to sustain growth to what the google machine tells me will reach roughly 225 billion dollars in 2023. And we're usually more than happy to oblige them but it comes with a few very basic conditions: We want the game you promise, we want it to work, we want to feel as if our opinion matters and we want our progress to be preserved.

Are any of these things impractical or unfair? I don't think so... I want to take a walk down memory lane with a few of you who have been around for awhile in hopes that maybe these reflections will put a spotlight on exactly how catastrophically Ubisoft missed the mark on ALL of them. I'll keep it basic since this is opinion based only but feel free to expand on the things that matter to you.

We want the game you promise:
Breakpoint is really the only experience I have here and even then most of what was promised was more through the association with Tom Clancy and Ghost Recon. With that comes a certain expectation of a "gritty technomilitary shooter." Breakpoint would have been fine if they'd just dumped the Tom Clancy / Ghost Recon association. So much of what made it a colossal failure was a complete disregard for that brand and the man behind it- they might as well have gone ahead and just called their recent boondoggle "Tom Clancy Ghost Recon: Skull and Bones."

With the promises come claims of innovation and of course this comes with an element of risk- there was nothing innovative about Breakpoint... except that we "were able to blouse our boots." Feel free to blouse your hip waders Mr. CEO man as you wade through this ocean of [censored] you and your company have found yourself in.

We want it to work:
In what I can only assume was a cost cutting measure, technical / customer support is among the worst in the industry. Ubi-Drones, for the most part, patrol the forums and social media hungry for opportunities to copy and paste often irrelevant instructions to deflect away from known but hidden issues. The debacle with Wildlands servers comes to mind... and to add insult to injury instead of acknowledging this they made it worse by expanding the reach of Wildlands to Gamepass- making the game almost unplayable for anyone. Ongoing promises to "get the information to the team and get back if there are any developments" are completely empty and a months long challenge for ANY drone to give a SINGLE example of where "the team" came up with a solution or relevant feedback on ANY Ghost Recon title over the last couple years has remained unfulfilled. Wildlands players were only able to keep playing since so many got frustrated by not being able to play they moved on to other titles... This left room for the rest of us to keep playing the game we continue to love.

We want to feel as if our opinion matters:
Not everyone cares enough about what they play to "put it out there" but when folks weigh in on any number of platforms / forums / social media et al, it's with an enthusiasm that warrants some consideration. Of course it's not practical to expect a personal response all the time, but SOME sort of acknowledgement to the broader community messaging would go a long way. Ubisoft dumped years of passionate discourse when it converted over to this absolutely atrocious forum... This is- bar none- the worst forum I've ever been on and as a guy in this generation of gamers, gaming forums were pretty much a staple. You can keep your facebook and twitter trash... I come to the "official forum" with some expectations and the clunky, nonsensical layout and functionality of whatever you call this at the expense of all the conversations we've had specifically on the topic of trying to get Breakpoint off the rocks... it's just inexcusable.

We want our progress to matter:
Maybe even worst of all- back in about May when (almost?) everyone had all their stats wiped in Wildlands and the answer was "It's a legacy title so we can't do anything about it" was maybe the biggest slap in the face for gamers- many of whom give themselves little challenges as part of the distracting element the game provides. The sense of accomplishment is palpable- especially to get through emotionally trying times like... oh I don't know- pandemics? So to have all of that progress thrown in the trash with no explanation or recourse is disgusting. Gamers will no longer trust that their progress matters and as a result will be less likely to invest time OR money into future Ubisoft titles until there is a high level commitment... lol nevermind. Even a high level commitment from the CEO is empty and meaningless. Not even sure why I'm wasting my time writing this- this entire mess can rest squarely on his shoulders. That management team sat on this problem and filled their pockets with our money while their little community cheerleaders ran around helping to cover it all up with fake promises or outright lies is disgusting- and THAT'S the taste we have in our mouths in consideration of "Ubisoft."

And it's not just us- clearly this reputation... all of the complaining from all the gamers about all the titles speaks through record low sales and a company in financial crisis. You don't need to be a financial expert to recognize that Ubsioft- starting at the VERY top- got greedy and tried coasting to easy money on the backs of the passionate gaming community. Regaining that trust after such widespread disrespect for what gamers care about may -literally- be impossible given Ubisoft's immaculate track record for failing to deliver... On anything.

This is about the only way I can think of to get management to actually FIX the current problems instead of releasing NEW PROBLEMS.