SUMMARY
- Ubisoft is one of the giants of the gaming industry, known for their biggest series namely Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six Siege, The Crew etc.
- Ubisoft's subscription head Phillipe Tremblay made a statement about players needing to be comfortable with not owning their purchases.
The topic of subscriptions in video games continues to be debatable. As the subscription business model dominated TV, film, and music, the question if the model is suitable for video games or not lingers. Generally, games are much longer, and many of them are either free or feature some other form of monetization. However, several leading publishers have argued that the numbers just don’t add up.
Regardless, Ubisoft foresees immense growth in this sector. They recently rebranded their subscription offering, introducing a new service for PC players. Ubisoft’s main subscription service Ubisoft+ has been rebranded to Ubisoft+ Premium, which will include all new releases This will cost $17.99 and will be available for PC, Xbox, and Amazon Luna.
Additionally, they are also adding Ubisoft+ Classics on PC. Notably, this option was earlier available to PlayStation players. It features back catalog games.
Ubisoft’s Phillipe Tremblay on subscription
Recently, Ubisoft’s Director of Subscriptions, Phillipe Tremblay, discussed the platform’s subscription service with Gamesindustry.biz. He said, that they have been noticing how the player’s preferences are changing. he said, “One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That’s a transformation that’s been a bit slower to happen [in games].”
“Gamers are used to owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen”
No Ubisoft, that is NOT the shift that needs to happen pic.twitter.com/5HDCfp7s1K
— NikTek (@NikTekOfficial) January 16, 2024
He added, “As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That’s not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it’s about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.”
Expressing his faith in the subscription model he said, “I still have two boxes of DVDs. I definitely understand the gamers perspective with that. But as people embrace that model, they will see that these games will exist, the service will continue, and you’ll be able to access them when you feel like. That’s reassuring.”
Phillipe also mentioned that subscriptions have enabled Ubisoft to bring in new players to their games. He adds that one in every ten Ubisoft+ subscribers are those who have never engaged with the company’s games before.
Fans outrage at Phillipe Tremblay’s statement
Given he is the Director of subscriptions, Tremblay’s view on physical games is not particularly shocking. However, his views did not go well with the users and the player community. Players suggest he misses out on some of the most common concerns about subscription services.
Ubisoft exec needs to get comfortable with people not buying their games. This is anti-consumer propaganda and a way to milk gamers generation after generation. pic.twitter.com/Im5b5pXyZw
— Reid Southen (@Rahll) January 16, 2024
Games do come and go on these subscription services even now. For example, GTA 5 was recently removed from the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. However, if one plays games only via subscription services, they are likely to lose access to certain titles regularly.
Another common concern that users point out is that games that are pulled from online stores mean that they could be discontinued in an all-digital future. For example, the original Alan Wake as well as Ubisoft’s own The Crew, were both pulled because of licensing issues. Although Alan Wake made its way back through the remaster, The Crew is no longer purchasable and will cease to exist completely on March 31, 2024.