Why people keep saying that Ubisoft is no longer a good video game company, like they were in the past?

Because they were in the past. They made rayman, beyond good and evil, a few good assassin's creed among the stuff. They made great games once.

Also Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, Rainbow 6, Far Cry, etc. Those may seem a bit 'played out' nowadays, but the titles they were putting out 15-20 years ago were really fun. Personally Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 might be my favorite game ever made.
- Splinter Cell was particularly good. If only Ubisoft would release all other Splinter Cell titles in GOG.
- GR:AW was wild to me at the time. So fun.
- Ignoring the predatory shit my gipe is how every game that's come out for the last few years has become paint by numbers.
  There's a reason the term ubisoft game has become shorthand for a certain type of game.
  I'm just over it in all honesty.
They paid for the only good South park games too

Prince of Persia, Sprinter Cell, earlier AC and Farcry games deifinetly have a cult following; and for good reason. Some of these were not only inventive, even genre defining games but also commercial successes, meaning many people got to enjoy them and have fond memories.

It feels like these days the focus is on extracting as much shareholder value out of gamers via microtransactions which means game design has changed, often for the worse: making longer, more drawn out games and progression which you can speed up by paying and also forcing the player to spend more time on the game hoping you will buy more microtransactions, loot boxes or tiered gear (pay for higher number - more damage, etc.)

It also doesn't help that writing has also generally suffered. Not that older games had perfect storylines but at least they had loveable characters. Try playing a modern ubisoft game and it is this designed by committee, appealing to the widest possible audience slop that even Giancarlo Esposito can't make interesting.

Overall, older games feel like they had some soul. Even if it was a huge corporate machine back then too, there were more passionate people involved in their creation. The modern games are technically better in many ways, but they lost some of what made them special.

My estimate is that after WatchDogs 1 and Far Cry 4 is when everything ubisoft became empty slop. Far Cry 5 and AC Origins every enemy became damage sponges.
I greatly enjoy the first watchdogs game; it feels unusually alive compared to many other games set in cities. Great atmosphere, the ability to play music in-game and just walk around is a fantastic feature.
I have yet to play a game that has single-player PvE combat as good as Far Cry 2.
Prince of Persia was published by Broderbund?
- The 3D Prince of Persia games were Ubisoft

I'd answer but I have to allow like 80 UAC prompts windows first

Once upon a time, they made Far Cry 3 and that was good. Then they made it again in 35 different flavors.

They did used to make really good games. It was just a very very very long time ago. Many of the gamers that associate Ubisoft with being shit weren't even born back when they used to make decent, innovative games.

If you weren't old enough to play thier good games, or not even born yet, then ...ok

Because we remember when they made good games and had several good IPs. Some are still classics. There also weren’t micro transactions or having to sign into their stupid portal or needing to be always online or the shambling corpses representing the sad remainder of their IPs trying to trigger our nostalgia. They made good shit. It was innovative at times. A respected studio. Now they are simply an example of chasing the dragon.

Far Cry 5 and Ghost Recon Wildlands are two of the most fun and atmospheric games I've ever played.

They made a Jaguar game once. That's about it.

I don't remember them being a good video game company. I never liked any of the games they made (but obviously that's subjective). I went through wikipedia for the list of their games, and only ones I found that I had ever bothered playing was Breath of Fire I/II, Myst. They've always kind of been a middling developer; I think the games I listed they were just the publisher. They release something, it's popular for a week, it gets mixed reviews, and then it falls to the wayside again.

I've never bought shit by EA or Ubisoft - not because I'm boycotting them or anything, just because their shit isn't that good. They just feel like they're lacking 'soul'. Watched plenty of friends play through Assassins Creed, and Far Cry, Rainbow 6, etc - just - never looked any good.