Ubisoft’s The Division

Ubisoft has recently been the subject of some controversy due to accusations that “Assassin’s Creed: Unity” would have its graphics settings downgraded on all systems to keep it on par with the experience on the Xbox One.

Unity’s World Level Design Director, Nicolas Guérin, made a now infamous gaffe by telling TechRadar that 60 Frames Per Second (FPS) was not any better than 30 FPS. Guérin said:

At Ubisoft for a long time we wanted to push 60 fps. I don’t think it was a good idea because you don’t gain that much from 60 fps and it doesn’t look like the real thing. […] 30 was our goal, it feels more cinematic. 60 is really good for a shooter, action adventure not so much. It actually feels better for people when it’s at that 30fps.

The claim that 30 FPS is somehow “more cinematic” has become a running gag on PC gaming forums and internet communities such as Reddit.

By contrast, Martin Hultberg, head of communications at Massive Entertainment, was adamant that Ubisoft’s “The Division” would not suffer from graphical limitations placed by less powerful systems. In a video interview, Hultberg told Open World games:

We try to stay away from the thing where you go for the least common denominator and everyone suffers for it. We want to make a good experience on all respective formats.

Comments on the video were enthusiastic about Hultberg’s statements, but many also expressed skepticism of his claims, saying that Ubisoft had previously made similar statements about Unity.