As the company embarks on a major overhaul around Ubisoft+, the director of subscriptions says gamers need to start “getting comfortable” with not owning the games they play…

Ubisoft has shaken up its subscription service. They went with a premium offering, adding a back catalogue-focused option. Designed to coincide with the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft+, Ubisoft+ Multi-Access, and PC Access became Ubisoft+ Premium, which costs $17.99 per month. But according to one company director, this is just the beginning.

This subscription is designed to offer first-day releases and early access as appropriate, as well as premium editions and monthly rewards: the early release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, for example, is part of Ubisoft+ Premium.

In parallel with this change, Ubisoft released Ubisoft+ Classics on PC. The latter is described as “a curated selection of popular back-catalogue and live games”. Ubisoft+ Classics include Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Siege and Watch Dogs: Legion. According to Ubisoft, the catalogue will be expanded over time and will be included for PlayStation+ Extra and PlayStation+ Premium members. Ubisoft+ Classics is also available standalone on PC through the Ubisoft Store for $7.99 per month. Existing PC subscribers will keep their package unchanged, with the same monthly price as now.

As Ubisoft’s deal sees the Xbox maker take over Activision’s cloud gaming rights from Microsoft as part of its $69 billion acquisition of the Call of Duty maker, Activision Blizzard’s catalogue will finally become available.

In a blog post, the company’s director of subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, said that Ubisoft+ is “above projection in terms of subscribers joining the program,” with Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six being the most popular games.

Let’s forget that a game is ours – Ubisoft director says

Philippe Tremblay also recently stated that players need to get used to the feeling of not being able to own their games. He recently spoke to Gamesindustry.biz about the digital future, specifically Ubisoft Plus. According to Tremblay, people have finally “become comfortable” with not owning their CD or DVD collections, and a similar change of attitude “needs to occur” among gamers.

“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.”

He goes on to explain that not owning a game doesn’t mean you lose your progress. Also, the time you invested and the game you built will be preserved even if you don’t have a physical copy to put on your shelf. Tremblay also says he “understands the players’ perspective” when it comes to owning games. But it says services like Ubisoft Plus allow you to access your games “whenever you feel like it.”

Digital sales accounted for 90 per cent of the games industry’s total revenue in the UK last year, where physical game sales also saw another decline.

Tremblay’s take on physical games isn’t all that shocking, considering he’s director of subscriptions. But it misses some of the concerns many people share about subscription services. Let’s start by saying that games still come and go on these services. Grand Theft Auto V is the most recent example, which left Xbox Game Pass. If you only play games through subscription services, it’s very easy to lose access to specific titles regularly.

Second, games removed from online stores for whatever reason would mean they would cease to exist in an all-digital future. Two well-known examples of this are the original Alan Wake and Ubisoft’s own The Crew. Both were withdrawn due to licensing issues.

While the former has finally returned to digital store shelves thanks to a recent remaster, The Crew is no longer available for purchase and will disappear into the abyss on March 31, 2024.

Despite the concerns, it seems inevitable that publishers will try to drive more and more players towards subscription services for the foreseeable future. They’ve seen how much money they bring to streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+. They want a slice of the pie. Last year, subscription revenues accounted for 89 per cent of the “video-based content” market in the UK. It is not yet known whether the transition will be as smooth in the game industry as well…

Source: Ubisoft, Gamesindustry.biz