A fairly throwaway quote from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has somehow gotten stuck in my head. At a recent investor presentation, Guillemot pointed to "a highly competitive environment where players are very sensitive to the quality and content of games," with "bashing" singled out as a risk factor for games. It's a very corporate quote, seemingly deflecting some of the middling to poor reception of some of Ubisoft's recent releases. Players having standards and a voice is not at all a new phenomenon, and it's very much a good thing. But there is something to be said for how games are criticized on the internet today, and how that can affect a game's sales or reputation.
Monster Hunter Wilds comes to mind. Research firm Circana's latest games report notes that Wilds is still the top-selling game in the US for the year, and Capcom previously said it's the fastest-selling game it has ever released. Yet Capcom's latest financial report showed Monster Hunter Wilds sales have gone "soft," plummeting to 500k in three months after shifting 10 million in its launch month, sending stock prices tumbling.
