Ubisoft blasts critics for lacklustre Rocksmith launch

By Tom Phillips Published 1 November, 2011

"They claim they want innovation, they don't."

Ubisoft exec Laurent Detoc has hit out at the less-than-stellar review scores for Rocksmith, the company's attempt at cracking the music genre, and blasted critics for ignoring "innovation".

The critical response to Rocksmith was indicative of their "lack of enthusiasm for something that is new", Detoc told Gamasutra.

"As much as they claim they want innovation, they don't," Detoc, Ubisoft's North American executive director, explained.

The game currently sits on a Metacritic score of 77.

"We, as human beings, tend to like what we know. But more importantly, we call ourselves gamers. Are we gamers - or players?"

Detoc explained that games such as Rocksmith should be judged differently.

"As our industry evolves, we need to be more mature and find a way to look at content and judge it as if we were real consumers instead of as gamers.

"We need to judge the products for what they are. You can't compare, say, a Just Dance to an Assassin's Creed. We can't expect critics to be experts at everything."

Rocksmith is a music game designed to help players learn to play guitar. There's even a $200 (£124) version available, bundled with a real Epiphone Les Paul Junior model.

It released for PS3 and Xbox 360 last month in the US, with a PC version due there next month. There's no word of a wider release date though - its European launch is currently being held up by Rocksmith trademark issues.

Rocksmith.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 7 months ago

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  • roz123 #1 7 months ago

    I couldnt give a shit what a game journalist thinks about this I want the view of a guitar tutor.

  • wizlon #2 7 months ago

    I do agree a bit with what they are saying, but if you don't add in a difficulty selector for advanced players then reviewers are going to hold it against you. Can't wait to give it a go myself though.

  • 00.00.01 #3 7 months ago

    Have not played this but, apart from his criticism on the critics, it's a bit of a joke if a "global" title is not released (yet) in Europe due to some minor issue. No wonder your game rates an average of 77 if the title is "all of a sudden" not available to an entire continent.
    And yes, 'we' are used to getting titles, DLC and so later in Europe, always has been that way but this is such an anticipated title that they fail epically with "no release date set" for Europe.

  • woodnotes #4 7 months ago

    I agree that consoles can now be offering more than just "games". There's no reason why for example (as the DS has already proven), the 360 couldn't be home to a French or Maths tutor. And there's no reason why it can't be home to something like Rocksmith either. But games journalists primarily joined the profession because they enjoy playing games, so they're unlikely to give something like that a strong score.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #5 7 months ago

    I think the industry needs to move to a 5 star rating system like movies, what's the point of scoring out of 10 when anything below 8 is considered unplayable.

    Every gaming site out there that uses a 10 or 100 rating system claims till there blue in the face that they use the full range, but they truly dont.

    I think it would also help of metacritic grouped sites with similar scoring systems only, converting a C or 3 star rated game to a 50% score does not feel like the same thing.

  • Flipper79 #6 7 months ago

    Problem with Rocksmith is it's not really a game. People who are already decent at playing aren't gonna be that interested whereas they might in something that's more fun like guitar hero/rock band. So you're mostly relying on a market of beginner guitar players, some of whom won't have heard of it and some who would likely prefer to start through the more traditional route of lessons, and I guess a fair few who would be relying on their parents to make that decision. The market is way too small for this kind of thing.

    As for the reviews...how are gaming sites and mags supposed to review something like this when it's not really a game. Personally, I think given what it is, it's actually reviewed very well.

  • Whitster #7 7 months ago

    Once again I still fail to understand how people, industry and consumers, see a rating such as 77% as negative? Especially for the first game in a series that will probably be refined and tweeked across subsequent sequels.

    I mean if I got some 77% pure cocaine or 77% proof rum I'd be in for a good night.

  • lolercopter #8 7 months ago

    77 on Metacritic? It's a matter of perspective.
    I agree with him on the innovation point, reviewers seem to be the last "race" to embrace innovative (or different) games. Most seem to spend the whole year craving for the holiday season's blockbusters.
    Edited by lolercopter at 01/11/11 @ 11:04

  • drjitz #9 7 months ago

    This new trend of publishers lashing out on critics when they think they're being hard done by, is getting out of hand. Every review of the game I've read has said that as a guitar learning tool it is great, as a videogame it is low on the fun factor. If Ubisoft are looking for 9/10 scores for this guitar learning tool, they should send out review copies to guitar magazines and websites.

  • toa_boa #10 7 months ago

    "judge it as if we were real consumers instead of as gamers"
    What, what?? When did gamers become non-real consumers?

    That aside, the man might have a point that Rocksmith should be reviwed as a learning-tool and not as a game.

    Then again, looking at e.g. the Joystiq 50/100 review score, their main caveat was that Rocksmith was lacking in exactly that area -> as a learning tool for getting to play the guitar.

    Currently the X360 version sits at a metascore of 78/100 and the PS3 ditto is rated at 82/100 ... hardly "lack of enthusiasm"!
    Edited by toa_boa at 01/11/11 @ 11:10

  • jaguarwong #11 7 months ago

    Wow, corporate nerd-rage.

    If they want to start throwing their (overpriced) toys out of the pram they should aim then at Joystiq - without their 5/10 the game would have a respectable 83 on MC.

  • Whitster #12 7 months ago

    @drjitz Maybe we need the same kind of rules as the FA has about managers and referees.

  • neems #13 7 months ago

    @lolercopter - even in the 80s review scores were skewed, for the simple reason that people would say "I won't buy any game that scores below 80" or whichever number. So a really good game that scored, say, 77, would be regarded as mediocre.

    You also get the problem where if you try to be a bit more rational with your scoring, virtually every decent game ends up scoring 8, and then people start moaning about your website.

    Anyways, I am interested in Rocksmith, but just as with the last Rock Band, I worry about how much precision it requires. Can the game interpret what you are playing? Or does it simply tell you you are wrong if you don't play note for note what it tells you?

  • Freek #14 7 months ago

    Just becuase you innovated doesn't automaticly mean that the end result is any good.
    You need to be both new AND high quality to get good reviews.

  • Machetazo #15 7 months ago

    Dear oh dear. This must be what happens when you forget to include a review guide, I guess, huh, Ubi? They just don't get it, do they, I mean, really, these critics...:rolleyes:

    "the company's attempt at cracking the music genre"
    Yeah, because that worked so well for Konami.

    "As our industry evolves, we need to be more mature and find a way to look at content and judge it as if we were real consumers instead of as gamers.

    "We need to judge the products for what they are. You can't compare, say, a Just Dance to an Assassin's Creed. We can't expect critics to be experts at everything."

    HAHAHA! The consumer, whose shoes you couldn't hope to fit in looking at things as you are, is seeing two games. They're not going to likely be looking at it from the perspective of "here's two games, look at how different they are".

    But be probably considering it more from the value for money pov, by considering the best use of their budget at hand...THAT is what the critics that you're trolling are being mindful of. They, unlike Ubisoft is demonstrating here, DO have a good knowledge of their audience, and they are looking at things from the perspective of their viewers and readership.

    It also doesn't bode well that they've so misjudged the state of rhythm action games, to be launching right at the tail end, where boxes were left taking up shop floor space. Then, there's haphazard rights consideration. Even if the theory was sound, the implementation has been at the least, deeply flawed and ill-timed imo.

  • patchbox360 #16 7 months ago

    when ur making a game that's about learning to play an actual guitar and ur expecting success, given the success of guitar hero and rockband, u've failed to acknowledge the mindset of console gamers.

  • secombe #17 7 months ago

    Does anyone have any idea why gaming sites etc tend to stick with /10 (or /100) when most other forms of entertainment quite happily use a 5 star rating system? It doesn't lend a great deal of maturity to the medium, especially with the amount of bickering over scores (useful for website traffic, though...)

    It's especially annoying given that the 10/100 scales used in video game reviews aren't really that at all, most of the action falls around the 6-10 area, making the ststem fairly redundant anyhow.

  • skunkfish #18 7 months ago

    Is Joystiq's review the one that lambasts the game due to the fact it doesn't teach you to read or write sheet music?! They clearly haven't got the idea...

  • brazzauk #19 7 months ago

    Just got back from Canada and I picked this up for PS3. So far I am really impressed. Never really learnt much from the Rock Band Pro Guitar but since getting this I see a real improvement. I wouldn't call it a guitar tutor but its much closer to that that Rock Band. Still prefer Rock Band as a game but for guitar I will be playing this much more. The Software works really well allowing hammer ons, pull offs, mutes and slides to be done and its really sensitive.

    It even starts out by teaching you how to tune your guitar and you make sure its in tune before every track. Not perfect but a really good tool for playing guitar.

  • Jolly_Armadillo #20 7 months ago

    If your game sucks don't blame it on people not wanting innovation, because we want good well implemented innovation.

  • Toothball #21 7 months ago

    Why is it so surprising to them that game reviewers reviewed Rocksmith as a game? Reviews generally reflect the opinions of their readers, the majority of whom in this case are gamers rather than would-be musicians with any semblance of ambition. By releasing it as a game, it was was inevitable that there would be a lot of focus on this aspect. That's how most gamers tend to think though.

    It's an encouraging thought that by effectively playing a game, real guitar skills could emerge. But if this learning tool as they're selling it isn't very much fun as a game, then it can still suffer the same fate as any other mediocre game. If they want it reviewed as a guitar teaching tool, they should send it out to guitar-based publications and sites rather than gamer ones. Although I'd expect it wouldn't fare all that much better in their hands.

    I don't think the problem is with any particular scoring system. The problem is that people tend to assume that any scale using numbers is universal. They're not though, scales differ wildly between sources as they need to reflect what their readership expects. The classic "Eurogamer 8/10" is a great example. From what I gather, it most recently caused a great deal of ire from Neogaf when Uncharted 3 received this prestigious award. Anyone who has been visiting Eurogamer for years likely knows that this is still the mark of a solid game and very much worthy of a purchase, and leaves room for two more levels of praise. By the scale of another site (IGN maybe, it's not important), an 8.0 out of 10.0 might be given to a particularly average game, but since their readers expect that no one is alarmed. And they shouldn't be.

    It's rare that you can find something that appeals to everyone universally. I don't particularly rely on Metacritc scores, but from what I recall 77 still puts it in the Green category. As green traditionally means good, what's wrong with that? Were they expecting to shatter expectations and cause every gamer to start learning the guitar? I think they may have set their own expectations a little high this time.

  • Gecks #22 7 months ago

    well, i want it! just release it in the UK, please.

  • Arwin #23 7 months ago

    I'm interested, playing guitar, but I'm worried about the dynamic difficulty. I don't think that's a good idea, or should at least be optional. And the other big problem is that, yes, I'm in Europe so, no, I can't get this game, basically (could import, but I don't like doing that for games that you can buy additional DLC for).

    Also, 77 is actually fine. I reckon that if you want a higher score, then the tech alone isn't enough - it needs to be a good game too. ;)

  • [TR] #24 7 months ago

    "We, as human beings, tend to like what we know."

    See, if you know that, why go against the grain? No one to blame but yourself.

  • 32768Colours #25 7 months ago

    "We need to judge the products for what they are. You can't compare, say, a Just Dance to an Assassin's Creed. We can't expect critics to be experts at everything."

    True, games journalists are supposed to be "experts" in the realm of gaming. But let's just say a guitar magazine/website reviewed it instead. If their review came back as luke warm, would you condemn that review too because the reviewer wasn't an expert in games?

    Anyway, if this really is some genre-defying work of genius, then it shouldn't need to take an expert in gaming OR guitars to see it; it should be appreciated by anyone who plays it.

    The concept is sound but if people don't get it, might it in fact just be because, y'know, its not that well implemented?

  • Machiavellian #26 7 months ago

    "We, as human beings, tend to like what we know. But more importantly, we call ourselves gamers. Are we gamers - or players?"

    I haven't looked at RockSmith but I have to say that this statement is right on the nose. Gamers cry for innovation but when it's time to put their money where their mouth is, they are more willing to purchase what they know instead.

  • smelly #27 7 months ago

    WOHOOO!

    I wanted this, now i can wait for the price cut!

  • dennett316 #28 7 months ago

    When you create a hybrid product you run the risk of not quite getting any part of it right. As a game it is most likely a chore, as a teaching tool it may be quite basic or flawed in it's approach.
    I applaud them for trying it, but getting pissy when game journos don't immediately hail the game as the second coming just because it tries something new is very unprofessional and more than a little naive. Different doesn't automatically equal good just because, and as others have said, a 77% average is hardly the stuff of nightmares. If some gaming websites are too spineless to rate games honestly, no tweaks of the rating system are going to do a damn thing to change it. Mags like Edge and sites like Game Central use the whole scale and mark honestly, it's up to the IGN's and Gamespots of the world to grow a spine and stop cow-towing to publisher pressure...if they all stopped giving in the publishers couldn't do a thing about it.

  • Crazy_Colt #29 7 months ago

    The market is kind of small for a 100 € ish guitar tutor,
    .

    I imagine even the guitar beginner-player crowd is split on buying such a thing let alone the gaming community as a whole.
    .

  • cak #30 7 months ago

    Just had a look at vgchartz.
    Apparently, Rocksmith sold 110k copies in its first two weeks.
    By comparison, Rock Band 3 sold 154k in the same timeframe (took the x360 version as a reference).
    Not bad, considering you need a real guitar to play this, and the price tag is higher due to the bundled cable. Oh, and RB3 only sold 136k copies in the Americas, the only market where RS is out, so the gap is even narrower.

    Considering that RS has actually had some very positive reviews, and the average score is only let down by a couple of bashers, I really don't get the point of this complaint.

  • Dave #31 7 months ago

    @EddieMink: So you slag of the suit for not knowing anything about gaming, by assuming you know anything about him. Right.

    @GamesProgrammer: "to a 5 star rating like the movies." Except for IMDB, possibly the biggest movie site available.

    I agree with the people who don't understand the fuss about the 77 score. I read the article, thinking the game had to have scored around the 50 score or something. So I was surprised to see the 77. Are these scores really so bad? I mean, if I was searching for a guitar selfhelp tool (which I think it is) and I found one with a score of 77, I'd buy it.

  • jimr9999us #32 7 months ago

    I actually agree with him. We scream for innovation but CoD will be the best selling game this year.

    We're freakin' hypocrites.

  • smelly #33 7 months ago

    >The market is kind of small for a 100 € ish guitar tutor,

    (dunno what the Euro conversion rate is) but I probably pay that monthly to my guitar teacher. If this encourages me to practice more than the 1 hr a week that i spend with him - i'd say that's money well spent.

  • dagger_merchant #34 7 months ago

    Well one good thing for consumers, it will drive the price right down ;)

  • dagger_merchant #35 7 months ago

    @jimr9999us Damn straight. Cant stop the CoD machine. It's ruining gaming as the twitch gaming masses can't see innovation because all they see is CoD.

  • brod #36 7 months ago

    77? Boo hoo.