Ubisoft Revamps Subscription Service, Wants To Get Players Comfortable Not Owning Games
Ubisoft is renaming and retooling its Ubisoft+ game subscription plans, with one of the highlights being access to a vast catalog of classic games like Far Cry 6 and Rainbow Six Siege on PC for a relatively low monthly price. And that's great, but there's an uncomfortable undertone for old school gamers who, like myself, are not fully at ease with an industry shift away from owning games in the traditional sense. More on that in a moment, but first let's discuss the revamped subscription plans.
Alongside the launch of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (for which you can play a free demo), Ubisoft is combining its Ubisoft+ Multi-Access and PC Access into a single Ubisoft+ Premium plan. This includes day-one access to new titles, as well as early access to games where applicable. As the name suggests, it also serves up access to premium editions, plus monthly rewards and other perks, such as various discounts and deals (including 10% off virtual currency packs).
Ubisoft+ Premium runs $17.99 per month with a catalog of over 100 games on PC via Ubisoft Connect. Some of these include Skull and Bones (coming soon), Assassin's Creed Mirage, The Crew Motorfest, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and the aforementioned Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, to name a few.
The Premium tier works across PC, Amazon Luna, and Xbox. For the time being, current PC Access subscribers will see no changes to their plan or pricing.
Meanwhile, the new Ubisoft+ Classics plan runs $7.99 per month and includes access to over 50 games (standard editions) on PC via Ubisoft Connect. This is the value play for gamers who want to revisit older titles or play games for the first time that they may have missed when they first came out, such as Watch Dogs Legion, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Far Cry New Dawn, Tom Clancy's The Division, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and dozens more. Additionally, PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra subscribers can access the same titles without paying an additional fee.
So, what about that undertone I mentioned? Philippe Tremblay, director of subscriptions at Ubisoft, spoke with Gamingindustry.biz and offered a candid view of the gaming landscape. Similar to how streaming has transformed how consumers at large shifted from owning physical media to essentially renting access, he sees the same thing happening with games, albeit the shift is taking a bit more time.
"[Consumers] got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That's a transformation that's been a bit slower to happen [in games]. 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," Tremblay stated.
I've bolded that last line because it's the sound byte that will strike the biggest cord with gamers and consumers, especially if taken out of context. To be clear, he doesn't mean this in a sinister way. There are certainly benefits to subscription services for games, such as the cloud save feature he mentions, though things like that can exist with physical media to some extent.
The bigger benefit is another one he points out, which is that "streaming works really well with subscriptions. So you pay when you need it, as opposed to paying all the time."
In the context of Ubisoft's revamped plans, you could, for example, play several Assassin's Creed games without buying each individual title. The trade off is that you lose access the moment your subscription runs out, but stretched out over a year, that $7.99/month plan runs just under $96—less than the typical cost of two AAA games—for ongoing access to a bevy of games.
"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," Tremblay added.
What are you thoughts on Tremblay's perspective, as well as Ubisoft's revamped plans? Let us know in the comments section!
