Ubisoft has recently apologized for confusing fans with a post that included an image of Rayman.
Teasing games with concept art is not new to the gaming industry. Often, these are the first images that we see of a game that is in the very early stages of development. However, this was not the case in a recent Facebook post from Ubisoft, which lead to a lot of confusion. Instead of creating engagement with a project, the studio was forced to apologize for misleading fans with its use of Rayman concept art.
Recently, Rayman’s creator Michael Ancel left Ubisoft — and the gaming industry overall — to open an animal sanctuary in Montpellier, France. Ancel had spent 30 years in the video game industry before calling it quits. His departure didn’t necessarily mean that games like Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil wouldn’t be made again, but it did raise questions about their future.
Strangely enough, just a few days later, Ubisoft’s Montpellier studio decided to post a message to Facebook that used an image of Rayman and asked followers to guess what the studio was working on. Understandably, that’s as far as most people got before excitement kicked in, so they either didn’t see, didn’t read, or wrote off the studio’s warning — which it called a clue — that there wouldn’t be a new game.
The original post, which featured images of Rayman, read, “Something is coming in Montpellier’s studio …What could happen in your opinion? Clue: No, this is not a new game.” Many fans began speculating about a new Rayman game and Ubisoft eventually deleted the post. The studio then apologized for the confusion and assured followers that it was still working on other great projects and asked fans to stay connected.
The whole incident didn’t sit well with many fans, for obvious reasons. One would assume that the image that is chosen for a company post would have something to do with the content of the post. It may still be that Ubisoft is working on something for Rayman, but the way they set it up, you were being led to the conclusion that there would be a new game. There is a time and a place to play coy—and that’s when you’re teasing something big. Other times, it’s better to just come out and say what you’re working on, as in this case. Hopefully, Ubisoft learns from this mistake, and the fans aren’t misled again.
