This week, Ubisoft’s director of subscriptions Philippe Tremblay made a comment that caused some minor agitation. “Pirate everything from Ubisoft,” one response demanded. However, the negative response may have been sparked more by general concerns about the future of game ownership than by Tremblay’s actual point, which didn’t seem particularly shocking or incorrect. Tremblay stated in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that in order for subscription videogame services like Ubisoft+ and Game Pass to grow, players will need to become used to not owning games, and he made it seem plausible that this would happen.
“Consumers got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection,” Tremblay stated. In games, that change has happened a little more slowly. Gamers do not lose their progress when they become accustomed to that characteristic. Your progress file remains intact even if you pick up where you left off in the game. It hasn’t been removed. Your progress and level of involvement in the game remain intact. Therefore, it’s about being at ease with not being the owner of your game.”
What did Ubisoft’s head of subscription said?
In an interview with GI.biz, Philippe Tremblay, head of subscriptions at Ubisoft, made a number of very benign remarks before stating something that could be especially disturbing for gamers who have long been duped by a mostly anti-consumer video game business. According to Tremblay, gamers are accustomed to owning the games they play, but they have grown accustomed to not having ownership of their music or film library. His fundamental argument is this: rather than accepting the streaming model in its entirety, shouldn’t players get “comfortable” with not owning the thing they paid for?
Change in subscription plan
The former Multi-Access and PC Access price categories of Ubisoft+ have been replaced with a single $US18 monthly subscription for Ubisoft+ Premium. Players may access previous games, some titles that were released early, and other monthly goodies thanks to this. A PC version called Ubisoft+ Classics costs an extra $US8 a month and is meant to provide fans with access to some of the company’s earlier games. Though the Ubisoft executive appears to believe that players are worried about losing their progress or that their games could be removed, all those titles are also accessible on PlayStation+.
Tremblay said that a subscription is a “great way to introduce our games to brand-new players” and that “it really speaks to the model as a means to expand their horizons” in an interview that was posted on the Ubisoft site, which also detailed the new subscription levels.
Ubisoft wants to add value in order to stop subscribers from leaving the service. “We’ve made the commitment to bring more games to our subscribers,” Tremblay stated. “So, in terms of the future, we have an amazing lineup that they can play on day one or in early access, and we’ll also eventually have the Activision Blizzard library.” In addition to the benefits and our extensive, varied library, we think we’re providing a strong incentive for our gamers to stay.”
