Disgruntled 'For Honor' Gamers Plan April 3rd Boycott To Stick It To Ubisoft
Gamers have grown frustrated with Ubisoft over currency issues and matchmaking problems in For Honor, the hack-and-slash fighting game that released to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles and Windows PCs last month. In an attempt to get the company's attention, a Reddit forum user has organized a mass boycott where For Honor players will refrain from playing the title for 24 hours.
"The goal is to receive a response from Ubisoft, something that tells us to maintain our faith in the game. Below is a list of reasonable requests and suggestions made by the community that I have noticed. I hope together we can make a difference in the game we love," Reddit user jbaayoun stated in his online manifesto.
One of the complaints is that gamers feel compelled to pay real money for steel, which is For Honor's in-game currency. Steel can be earned by playing the game, though as was pointed out by another Reddit user a week ago, it would take a casual gamer 2.5 years to earn enough steel to unlock all of For Honor's in-game items. Alternatively, players can buy steel packs using real cash. Going that route, it would cost $732 to unlock everything in the game, and that's before accounting for any planned DLC.
Gamers have also been complaining of server issues related to matchmaking, though by far the biggest beef they have with Ubisoft is the lack of communication and status updates. In short, For Honor players feel as though their complaints are being ignored.
It appears the planned boycott is working, or at least has gotten the attention of Ubisoft.
"As a Producer, I assure you that our devoted team is going full force to address the situation, and we will continue to be here for the long term. Our top priority right now is stabilizing the game experience. Our top engineers have been working to address connectivity and matchmaking issues since launch. On top of that, we are working on balancing our Heroes, making sure our upcoming content is easily accessible, and bringing back the maps we removed," Ubisoft producer Stéphane Cardin said.
Ubisoft has also taken some steps to appease disgruntled gamers by changing up its steel system. The new steel rates are as follows:
- All matches Steel income are increased by 25 percent
- Daily Orders Steel income are increased by 33 percent
- Side Orders income are increased by 50 percent
- Community Orders Steel rewards are increased from 500-1000 to 2000 Steel