Shutting down every single application in order to allocate a maximum of resources to games that are not necessarily well optimized?
The issue of video game optimization on the PC is clearly not new, and while it affects all publishers and developers, some are more often than others under fire. The French company Ubisoft is obviously not the only one, but its big productions are often criticized because of performance problems on powerful configurations and several users have criticized Ubisoft's tendency to implement resource-hungry digital locks like Denuvo.
If you are experiencing performance issues or crashing while playing on PC, third-party software may be the underlying cause. For a list of programs and how to disable them, check out our FAQ.? https://t.co/pjHfO8OkL1 pic.twitter.com/fxINIkkrBj
- Ubisoft Support (@UbisoftSupport) October 24, 2021
Rather than come back to this point, which is undoubtedly a bit embarrassing for Ubisoft, the company prefers to formulate a response that we will modestly describe as awkward. It all started with a tweet signed by the publisher, which you can see above. In principle, this tweet is not stupid: it states that " if you experience performance issues or crashes while playing on a PC, third-party software may be the underlying cause ". Indeed, running multiple applications in the background is never a good idea when large video game productions are already quite resource intensive.
On the other hand, where things are less to Ubisoft's advantage is when you click on the link that the publisher offers to obtain additional information. A short video actually distilled some tips on how to avoid overloading your PC and Ubisoft advised, for example, to close all applications that " interfere with Ubisoft games ". It then gave an impressive list including, of course, demanding download software such as BitTorrent or uTorrent. More surprisingly, Ubisoft recommended closing down communication software such as Discord, TeamSpeak or Skype, which are widely used by gaming communities. Even more strongly, Ubisoft suggested closing down software such as OBS or Xplit Gamecaster, which are essential if you want to stream content. It also suggested closing down useful utilities such as MSI Afterburner or Riva Tuner and companion software from major peripheral brands such as Razer Synapse. The peak was reached when it came to closing the calculator or notepad, programs known for their hardware requirements.
Perhaps someone at Ubisoft realized how silly these recommendations were? Or maybe the publisher simply reacted very quickly to the first mockery of the users? In any case, the video has now been removed and on the page dedicated to these optimization tips, there is not much left. The editor only recommends " disabling background applications on the PC ". We obviously didn't wait for Ubisoft to think of this, but thanks anyway!
