Ubisoft Wants You To Become More Comfortable With Not Owning Your Games
Ubisoft envisions a consumer shift happen in gaming, similar to how streaming changed how people listen to music and watch movies.
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Ubisoft has described its vision for the future of its rebranded subscription service Ubisoft+ and how it expects to grow it if it can convince consumers to change their mindset toward playing video games. Like movies and music available on streaming services, Ubisoft wants its subscribers to become more comfortable with not owning their games outright.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.Biz, director of subscriptions at Ubisoft Philippe Tremblay explained that getting users to become more comfortable with not owning games was just one of the business paths Ubisoft was pursuing, in addition to more traditional models of ownership.
"The point is not to force users to go down one route or another,” Tremblay said. "We offer purchase, we offer subscription, and it's the gamer's preference that is important here. We are seeing some people who choosing to subscribe now, but it all works. 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]."
Tremblay added that one of the side-benefits to this approach is that players will never lose progress, as their save-games won't be 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," he said.
Ubisoft still expects physical game sales to be a major part of the industry for the foreseeable future, and Ubisoft's overall goal is to allow its users to have instant access to any of their games, similarly to how streaming subscriptions like Netflix or Max work...when those services aren't dumping their original TV series or movies, that is.
Ubisoft+ is now available on PC, Xbox, and Luna, and its big selling points include day-one access to new games, early access for select titles like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and a library of dozens of Ubisoft's biggest hits. Those features will be available as part of the Premium subscription package--$18 per month--while Ubisoft+ Classics on PC offers access to a curated selection of the company's back-catalog and live games.
