Ubisoft: players should get used to not owning games
The French gaming colossus has spoken provocatively against the background of the rebranding of its subscription service.
How did it all start?
On Monday, January 15, Ubisoft announced a number of changes regarding its subscriptions.
Firstly, Ubisoft+ Multi-Access and PC Access subscriptions have become one subscription, which is called Ubisoft+ Premium.
Secondly, there is a subscription for PC users called Ubisoft + Classics.
What kind of subscriptions?
Ubisoft+ Premium opens access to the entire library of the company, including new products, projects in early access and even DLC for blockbusters.
For example, the deluxe edition of the newly released Prince of Persia game is available to current Ubisoft+ Premium subscribers: The Lost Crown, whose retail value is $59.99.
Subscription is available on Xbox, PC, Amazon Luna platforms, costs $17.99
Ubisoft + Classics is three times cheaper — $7.99. For this amount, the user gets access to a replenished limited selection of old Ubisoft games.
Currently, games such as Far Cry 6, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Rainbow Six Siege and Watch Dogs: Legion are available in it.
What is the provocation?
It is not included in the subscriptions themselves. However, in connection with them, Ubisoft subscription director Philippe Tremblay gave a number of interviews. One of them is to our colleagues from GamesIndustry, where the topic of game ownership was raised
"One of the things gamers are used to is having games. This is the shift in [consumer behavior] that needs to happen. They are used to not owning a CD or DVD collection. This transformation should have started a little more slowly [with regard to the games]," Tremblay said.
"I understand how the players look at it. However, as soon as people accept this model, they will see that the games will continue to exist, that the service will continue to develop, that you will have access to projects whenever you want," said the top manager.
And that's where the problem lies.
Ubisoft is a company that in recent years;
- actively closes the servers of its old games, and along with the servers, the owners of these games lose access to the purchased DLC;
- breaks the executables of his old projects, which were closely integrated with the Uplay service.
Against this background, it is difficult to take words that in the future players will have the opportunity to launch their favorite product at any time without skepticism. So it's not surprising that many media outlets (including us) clung to Tremblay's words.
Physical copies of games allow you to save games, really return to them after years. As for the digital versions, in the event of the closure of the company or a change in its policy, the game risks disappearing forever.
Is there something else?
Tremblay also gave an interview to his own company. It follows that:
- despite four years of subscriptions, the company is not ready to disclose the number of subscribers, it only reports that the service was "used by millions of players" who spent 600 million hours in total in Ubisoft games;
- The year 2023 turned out to be the most successful in the history of Ubisoft subscription services;
- October 2023 turned out to be a record for MAU subscription services;
- every tenth Ubisoft subscriber has never played the company's projects before;
- The Ubisoft subscription will include a catalog of Activision Blizzard games.
