As Ubisoft continues to deal with an onslaught of negativity from fans, rumors are swirling of a second Ubisoft Forward event. The first event aired back in July, which featured the reveal of Far Cry 6.
Posting on Twitter yesterday, Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier began his Twitter thread with talks of Ubisoft’s recent “insensitive” video scandal. The journalist concluded his thread with the inside scoop that Ubisoft has been working on a second Forward event “for the very near future (next week, I believe.)” Schreier also commented on the developer's "impeccable" timing by releasing the event amidst another round of public embarrassment.
Schreier spoke of the French company's recent faux pas regarding a video for Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad, that shone a tainted light on the Black Lives Matter movement. The video featured the organization Umbra - the antagonist group within the iOS and Android game - that copied the black fist as its logo and is shown to be a “faceless organization” that provokes riots to gain a “new world order.” The controversial imagery used in-game brought about a storm on Twitter, as users responded to Ubisoft’s tasteless promotion on the back of the Wisconsin protests.
While Ubisoft has apologized for the video - and pledged to remove the logo from the game - the gaming community remained appalled that it even got released in the first place. Schreier also reported on the multiple comments posted by employees on Ubisoft’s internal message board, that conveyed their collective anger at Ubisoft’s lack of judgement. One employee wrote “ I am sincerely exhausted by everything related to Ubisoft,” with another staffer highlighting that “Ubisoft needs to do better.”
The inaugural Ubisoft Forward event failed to blow the socks off of gamers - mostly due to the leaks that escaped prior to the event - but carried on to showcase some big, upcoming titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion. Ubisoft announced prior to the show that it would not be addressing any of the allegations during the event, and instead posted a statement on Twitter.
It is likely that history will repeat itself during the rumored second event, where Ubisoft will continue to address these issues separately. If Schreier’s information is correct, then we can expect to hear an announcement very soon, unless the recent backlash delays Ubisoft's plans.
Source: Twitter