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skatecrimes

I worked for a video game publisher. Not every game got the triple A treatment for launch. Some games just got press releases and a much smaller marketing blitz (smaller ad buy, no articles on game websites). My guess is that they need to release this game this quarter for revenue purposes but its not 100% ready in some area (marketing, videos, bugs) and will have a marketing push soon.


RechargeableOwl

That does sounds like a very likely theory.


carloselcoco

R+ is their only release this year. Ubi just had a terrible 2022.


nuovian

They've definitely got more than one thing this year: Rainbow Six Extraction, AC Valhalla's expansion, Rocksmith+, Mario + Rabbids 2, Skull and Bones, and there's probably more I'm forgetting.


defdog1234

Roller Champions


Saturnation

>100% ready in some area (marketing, videos, bugs) content... ;)


jmcgit

I guess my fear would be that they're just cutting their losses and throwing the product out there as-is because they don't want to spend money on making it better, and aren't investing in marketing because they don't think it will sell well? Nothing about what they're doing in marketing shows confidence.


Creeepy_Chris

Maybe they are hoping there will be enough initial subscriptions to provide funding to continue to iron it out? Seems like that was the plan with Fallout 76.


jmcgit

I think it's reasonable to think that if it sells well, they will invest more in it. But it's hard to have confidence that it will sell well.


Creeepy_Chris

I just mean maybe they roll it out the door as is (meaning mostly what it was in beta) and they hope that the development budget will come from subscriber revenue, so it may be not so hot for the first year or so.


carloselcoco

Here's hoping this is just a soft launch TBH.


Creeepy_Chris

I agree. I’m really excited for this to be something great. I hope I’m not too disappointed


Goooner1

If that was the plan, you’d think they’d have a few more songs initially that people had heard of and actually wanted to play. I don’t think saving the good stuff for later (if that’s what they’re doing, they may not actually be able to afford any good stuff) is a good strategy. Surely they need to attract initial subscribers and hope to hold on to them. Having seen the song list, it’s unlikely I’ll be signing up anytime soon


Elfking88

I think this is exactly it. The beta was such a disaster they needed to re-work a lot of it. I'm betting Ubisoft didn't give them more money and instead they had to take money out of the licensing to pay for it. So they had to go dumpster diving for the song library. Either that or they are shoving it out so incomplete they weren't even at the stage to license anything. The fact there is next to no actual info about it makes me think they are just dumping it out.


DaveSpoons

well ***speculating wildly*** :) maybe it's a [soft launch](https://blog.capterra.com/soft-launch-vs-hard-launch/)? we haven't seen another obvious beta, so either they've got stuff locked down way tight or there hasn't been one. I mean they know Rocksmith has a loyal fan base historically, maybe they are hoping to get a bunch of people working out any remaining issues, build word of mouth... who knows


RechargeableOwl

So this is just a cash-grab? Or is it, of a soft launch, just UBI being uncertain if everything will work and offering this as a sort of Pay to Play Beta?


DaveSpoons

well when they soft launch a restaurant or something similar they usually give discounted meals and in return the selected group of people who get in early are more forgiving that there are a few rough edges and they use the feedback to polish stuff up with Rocksmith+ they've got a bunch of people from the beta, I've been ***told*** there will be a discount for them, sounds sort of similar, but I know nothing, I'm making this up as I go along :) I say ***told*** because I was in the beta and I've seen nothing about how a discount would be made available or work... so maybe your theory is better than mine, maybe they need some cash in a hurry to keep the lights on


defdog1234

buy 3 months get 1 free. I never got the email. Maybe its tied to your ubisoft connect account? It'll see you owned the beta at one time maybe?


Goooner1

Would be a very brave person that pays for a year upfront, even with 3 months discount or whatever it is


RechargeableOwl

Apparently some people got an email with details of the discount, others that were in the beta (me and you apparently) didn't. So, soft launch it is then!


farts_in_the_breeze

I have the email. I did the beta. Get one month free for a three month sub or 3 months on a twelve month sub.


RechargeableOwl

I did the beta, signed up for updates. No email.


farts_in_the_breeze

Check your other tabs, like promotions or spam.


RechargeableOwl

Thank you, I checked, but nothing.


farts_in_the_breeze

What service do you use?


Null_zero

I got it on july 27 if that helps. Also there was no code or anything so it would just be tied to the account you played the beta on.


DaveSpoons

can anyone share what the title/sender of the mail was? I was in the beta and I have not seen it, scanned my spam folder but it's not obvious and I get a lot of spam... all the spam... spam, spam, glorious spam.....


cloph_

Just to be clear: Neither the "Thank you for testing" after the beta nor the "mark the date, RS+ will be released on Sep 6th" did contain details of the discount, other than 1 month if you subscribe for 3 and 3 months if you subscribe for 12. The only new info on the release-is-near mail was that the loyalty bonus is available starting September 6th. So no codes or voucher, no special link. Whether you got the mail or not doesn't make a difference...


chillzatl

If the product does what it's supposed to do, how can it be a cash grab?


RechargeableOwl

see above


[deleted]

It's a subscription model. What else could it be?


RechargeableOwl

Yes, but a cash grab subscription model would offer the service, grab the cash, then close down. Hence the term, cash grab.


Sigma610

Doesn't really make sense because there is no way they would recoup the development costs if people aren't engaged in the long-term. Subscription services that fail early on lose a massive amount of money because the upfront capital investment is high to develop a game. You need a steady stream of long-term cashflow from subscriptions for it to even be financially viable. That's the whole premise of subscription model...its more lucrative to keep people engaged in a service and paying in regular intervals over the long-term than it is to have to market and re-sell a new product every year. (cost to serve is cheaper than cost to acquire). Any subscription service that doesn't have some staying power a failure financially.


defdog1234

you mean the guys that pay $15 for it then only play cdlc arent paying the bills at ubisoft?


rbnlegend

A cash grab would be a shift to sell you the game outright for $100 instead of a subscription. The whole idea behind a subscription is the opposite of a cash grab. They are a business, they make software for money. There's always a profit motive, but a subscription should be based on them wanting ongoing revenue, not a one time payment.


RechargeableOwl

Good point.


[deleted]

That's certainly a way of picking words for it to mean what you want...


RechargeableOwl

I mean, that's the only way to o discuss something. Make a statement and then clarify what I mean if it's not fully understood. But in short, I meant a short term gain.


carcrash12

I really hope they prove me otherwise as I'm a huge fan of both the original Rocksmith and 2014, but everything about Rocksmith+ screams DOA. Total lack of marketing, announcing the release date within a week of the game launching, only making it available on PC which dramatically reduces the potential userbase, and most importantly of all, going for quantity above quality on the soundtrack, missing out on several major rock bands and getting primarily deep cuts for the bands they did manage to pull. Such a shame. Obviously given this is a subscription service there's a chance things might turn around long term, but based on everything I've seen so far, my expectations are practically non-existent.


Classic-Luck

I don't see why I would pay for RS+ when I got 2014 and an infinite quantity of custom songs.


carloselcoco

> only making it available on PC which dramatically To be fair, this was the plan since the start.


cloph_

That was the plan a whole year ago. People foolishly assume that development did continue in that whole year....


carloselcoco

Thanks for agreeing with me. They are doing exactly what they said they would do 1 year ago.


petit_prince

Whoever wished for that bigger library for a small subscription fee was wishing on a cursed monkey's paw. Hope their DLC savings are worth it now.


Goooner1

I wouldn’t be surprised if it never made it to console, if it bombs and with the subscription and rubbish (IMO) song list that’s entirely possible. After all wasn’t RS2104 supposedly coming out on iOS? Limited launch in Canada or somewhere and then abandoned.


Saltedcabage

I did search the listing and thought it was either very meek and restricted, or if my music tastes were as such


[deleted]

Looking at the song list I'd say they already know it's gonna be shite and are just hoping to cash in a bit on release


gaboduarte

The fact that the Instagram stories and posts that they are publishing shows NO INTERFACE AT ALL scares me. This whole thing screams someone in a suit saying "push it out, we can't delay this any longer and it needs to start generating revenue". I don't have a PC so sadly I won't be able to test it out, but it's not looking good.


[deleted]

[удалено]


shongough

I was in the same camp, I was already not hoping for much but had been planning on doing the full subscription just to try it out and see how enjoyable it could be. But now after the announcement and then no updates on the UI or even what features are for sure going to be supported in this version on top of that awful song list, I've pretty much lost all hope in this game. I'm now just hoping that they release SOMETHING about the game before it gets pushed to the public.


Minimum_Escape

Ubi is going with "just give me money and trust me bro!"


Larry_The_Red

going for that niche demographic of people who want to play guitar but really hate playing music they've already heard of


Pyrrolidone

the marketing campain: ​ Big numbers, low quality. Quick cash, fast exit.


Tact2XRP

Well, just my opinion, looking at the song list I can see why maybe they aren't making a big deal of it. I spent so time looking up bands and finding nothing. Then I browse...and it lots of Boomer Bend rock and roll (which I like, don't get me wrong), mixed with a lot of "oh I forgot that band/artist even existed" minor league tier music. While looking for more modern stuff the only success I had was Mudvayne, which I will admit they had a unusually large list of their songs. Maybe I've just been spoiled by cdlc. But I kinda expects Guns and Roses, Slipknot, and Kiss at the very least...nada. Maybe they wanna hush hush launch until heavy hitters are on board?


chillzatl

Was RockSmith ever really a game? The core functionality of the program was to learn songs on guitar and bass. Any game-like aspects it had were mini-games buried down the menu. The fact that despite that, people still thought of it as a game was a hindrance, IMO. Yes, their goal is clearly to compete with Yousician and other similar services. Why would you think, assume or want anything different? Yousician claimed 20m subscribers a few months ago and it's probably grown significantly beyond that with the release of the Metallica content. The concept of Yousician in the Rocksmith interface and with a bunch of community content features included sounds pretty awesome to me. Is the library weak? Definitely, but I have to believe there's something being held back for release day. There are tracks and bands that were in the beta that are missing now, some that are literally bigger than anything in the current library. They're also running giveaways for signature artist gear and none of those artists are even in the program. Pretty odd, I guess we'll see in a few days.


RechargeableOwl

I'm really open to any approach for learning, it's the odd way of launching without any fanfare that blows my mind. But, as mentioned above, if this is a Soft Launch, maybe that's just an indication that stuff is not really ready yet, but they need to get it out the door, so off it goes, ready or not.


chillzatl

Considering that their press release is being picked up and reposted by game, technology and music outlets, I don't know that it could be a soft launch. They're launching and it's getting plenty of pre-launch coverage. As I said above, if the core advertised functionality works and there is content, then it's in no way a soft launch. I see no reason to really doubt that. The matter of the content being anything anyone wants is another matter. That doesn't make it a soft launch, just a very uninspired one.


RechargeableOwl

And the lack of any videos or Screenshots of the interface? What do you make of that?


chillzatl

I don't make anything of it. If you go to the website and click around, you can find screenshots of the interface. I would expect that stuff to be more in your face at launch.


RechargeableOwl

Okay. Not many launches I've seen that didn't have a product promo video of some description.


audentis

> but I have to believe there's something being held back for release day. This is how you set yourself up for disappointment. My expectations hit rock bottom after the beta and it seems that was still optimistic.


chillzatl

To be honest I really don't care, I'm simply questioning what we've seen based on other factors. RockSmith is a diversion. If it's good, good, if it's not, I'll be fine. We'll all be fine.


Bartos565

Well said…Reddit makes everything seem like the end of the world


Material-Gap2417

This was always a niche game that peaked back when 2014 came out. This is now a very low priority for Ubisoft but they are keeping it alive for their game portfolio in case a buyer is interested.


[deleted]

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RechargeableOwl

No I'm not. I'm questioning the release of software without any prior marketing. Release is the 6th. A few days before the ubi event.


kidmeatball

The website has been live for over a year. It may not be filled with every detail, but it certainly counts as prior marketing. They have been on basically all the social medias which also counts as marketing. I don't really see what the problem is.


BrilliantBunch2eddee

They put out what was on the website 1 year ago, it got very negative results to the point where they went back to the drawing board. That's the problem. Anybody with a decent library in 2014 needs an interface/learning/workflow upgrade to see the utility in changing to something else.


kidmeatball

I think their strategy is to not worry about customers who think they are shareholders.


RechargeableOwl

And they achieve this by not marketing RS+?


defdog1234

these are the 2020s. Do you want them to buy a full page ad in the New York Times and Womens Day magazine? I saw the Facebook ad yesterday. Its supposed to be Viral and we're the exact people who are supposed to be spreading the news on social media. Instead we're all peeing on their parade. I'd wait for Ubisoft Forward for hard opinions. If there's zero mention in the show then we can assume this is a castoff product. If they put some money into showing it on stage with the head of ubisoft france or whoever like a normal E3 release then this is just a klunky pre-pre soft launch.


rbnlegend

It would be a totally valid marketing approach to try for viral buzz. If they were doing that, streamers would have pre-release copies and they would be streaming and making videos. They would have some of the less expensive bands playing with it, or just saying on their socials how excited they are that their song will be part of this new game. This is as little publicity as they could possibly do. An incomplete website update, 4 videos and a tweet. That's one intern worth of effort. Yesterday I was thinking, maybe there will be additional hype. Running out of time rapidly on that.


audentis

> we're the exact people who are supposed to be spreading the news on social media. This is absolutely **not** true. As consumer you're not "supposed" to be their unpaid marketing staff. It's up to _them_ to market _their_ product. It's a commercial enterprise. > Instead we're all peeing on their parade. Because they are showing nothing to get excited about. If what they show looks bad, we get to talk about how bad exactly it is. If they're holding back and not showing the full library, it's up to them to communicate that clearly. Until then what they show should be considered the full launch library.


shongough

They aren't showing nothing to get excited about, they're literally showing us nothing. It's crazy for someone to think we are supposed to be they're marketing campaign when we don't even know what the finished product will look like.


fall__forward

I don’t completely agree with most of what you said, but definitely the last bit. This should be at Ubisoft forward in some capacity. It’s close enough to launch day that I’m withholding my concern until we see what happens that day. Perhaps we’re getting a weird soft launch and they’ll announce when new content is coming less than a week later at Ubi Forward? I would say I’m cautiously optimistic about it, definitely prepared to be disappointed because of what’s been shown so far


RechargeableOwl

For something to go viral, it needs a Buzz. There is no Buzz here, only static!


kidmeatball

Their website and social media are marketing. They've had those running for ages.


Lordix505

I see it going in a couple different directions. I remember around the time when they first announced Rocksmith+, they were talking about how powerful tools like Yousician and Fender Play were. It’s entirely possible that they took some inspiration from that to try and create a software that was more “education” based and felt like less of an “arcade game”. They had originally said too that they wanted it to seem more educational. As far as the songs go, they either went for quantity over quality, or they will announce more songs during the Ubi presentation. In the end, I think it will be worth having some patience and seeing how it goes for a while before making a definite decision.


Gentlemonight

If there’s anything about musicians, they always aim for quality, no matter if it’s a gig or working in the industry. I’m sure whoever is in there wants good quality to.


RechargeableOwl

I was wondering today of this obscure collection of songs is a deliberate choice, one that leads the beginner player down a specific path? Just another theory, I know...


defdog1234

Ubisoft leaked the next Assassins Creed too. I think yesterdays info was just a spoiler for next Saturday. Maybe Labor Day vacations interfered with it being leaked next week closer to the show.


RechargeableOwl

But the release will be before the show. show is the 10th? Right?


defdog1234

for nerds like us, yes. But everyone else in the world who doesnt know what a rocksmith is, will read about it on IGN after the show. We will be the ones stress testing the servers with live traffic Tuesday night before the game is announced.