Fandom Pulse is reporting (paywall), according to a “Ubisoft insider”, that the beleaguered video game company is pushing back on Steam to try and get certain data points removed from public view. This would include data points like peak and concurrent users. The insider continues by saying that Star Wars Outlaws has still failed to surpass the 2 million units sold point having been released for almost 3 months. That’s a far cry (get it?) from the 5 million in the first month some investors were hoping for at launch.
The report also alleges that Ubisoft isn’t alone. Other companies would also like Valve to stop reporting numbers that they’d rather paint their own way on investor calls, or just dodge entirely like Ubisoft has done on recent calls where the lackluster performance of Star Wars Outlaws has come up.
This is a consequence of intellectual property laws. What in 60s and 70s was possible to do with recent enough culturally significant things, now has been indefinitely postponed.
But more than that, a consequence of human vanity.
Making nuclear weapons by 50 years old technologies is good enough for those who need nukes.
But personal computers and operating systems of year 1999 kind, which are realistic to do in many places on the globe, are not good enough even for people who may not be able to afford healthy food.
Matrix the movie really was onto something.