Popular gaming developer Ubisoft is launching a rebranded subscription for their games for PC users, but the head of subscriptions at the company recently admitted in an interview that this is part of a broader transition, to get gamers more used to the idea of not tangibly and truly owning the game.
Gamers were not happy to hear this news, as more and more things continue to shift to a subscription, streaming, and digital license economy; many gaming enthusiasts still prefer to purchase the full digital download that grants them full access to the game, while many others still prefer owning the disc.
Many popular gaming services such as Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation have been gravitating towards more subscription-based services, where players simply just pay a monthly fee and they can get access to a wide selection of different games via streaming or digital downloads, but once the subscription expires players cannot access the games until they reup the subscription.
In a recent article by Game Industry titled, “The new Ubisoft+ and getting gamers comfortable with not owning their games,” Philippe Tremblay, director of subscriptions at Ubisoft revealed that the company’s move to subscription gaming is designed to ginger customers into the concept of never really owning their game.
Tremblay stated in an interview:
I don’t have a crystal ball, but when you look at the different subscription services that are out there, we’ve had a rapid expansion over the last couple of years, but it’s still relatively small compared to the other models,” he begins. “We’re seeing expansion on console as the likes of PlayStation and Xbox bring new people in. On PC, from a Ubisoft standpoint, it’s already been great, but we are looking to reach out more on PC, so we see opportunity there.
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]. 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.
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.
Streaming is also a thing that works really well with subscription. So you pay when you need it, as opposed to paying all the time.
[…] For me, whenever we publish a game, the first thing I do is stream it and play a couple of minutes. I don’t have to download it, I can jump right in. Streaming enables fast discovery. That’s the first thing we are seeing from a consumer perspective. [Subscription fatigue] is part of the consumer reality. And I’m a dad with teenagers… it’s difficult to keep up with what you’re subscribing to and where. That’s part of the challenge we have as a subscription service, and we’re embracing that.Despite this, we see that in terms of consumer behaviour there is a lot of growth for us. But also… the subscription business is a monthly business for us. We’re asking for a low commitment from gamers. We welcome them whether they want to stay a month or multiple months.
Popular YouTuber Louis Rossman, a right-to-repair advocate and professional tech repairman, was among those who blasted this move; highlighting that it is part of this growing trend across a number of sectors where companies are quietly or not-so subtly stripping away the right to truly own whatever it is the customer purchased.
In some cases, as Rossman noted in a video, there have been cases where companies are now stripping away key features and functions from products that were already fully-purchased, but are abruptly taken away and hidden behind a paywall and then forces people to pay for it as an add-on, even though the customer already owned it.
A top comment hearted by Rossman, and received over 8,600 thousands likes over the past two days, said, “If buying is no longer owning, then piracy is not stealing.”
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
And yet let us not forget that the World Economic Forum has long prophesized of this future, saying, “You’ll own nothing and be happy” by 2030. In their essay about this future, living in a condensed smart city, the WEF wrote:
Welcome to the year 2030. Welcome to my city – or should I say, “our city”. I don’t own anything. I don’t own a car. I don’t own a house. I don’t own any appliances or any clothes.
It might seem odd to you, but it makes perfect sense for us in this city. Everything you considered a product, has now become a service. We have access to transportation, accommodation, food and all the things we need in our daily lives. One by one all these things became free, so it ended up not making sense for us to own much.
First communication became digitized and free to everyone. […]
In our city we don’t pay any rent, because someone else is using our free space whenever we do not need it. My living room is used for business meetings when I am not there.
Once in awhile, I will choose to cook for myself. It is easy – the necessary kitchen equipment is delivered at my door within minutes. Since transport became free, we stopped having all those things stuffed into our home. Why keep a pasta-maker and a crepe cooker crammed into our cupboards? We can just order them when we need them.
This also made the breakthrough of the circular economy easier. When products are turned into services, no one has an interest in things with a short life span.
This is why I bothered reporting on this Ubisoft thing. I could care less about gaming, but what this head at Ubisoft said is very revealing and said the quiet part out loud as to what is going on. And while there are some complaints, they are drowned out by the people who love and have passively accepted this neo-fascist-communist reality.
[22] But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. [23] Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? [24] Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Isaiah 42:22-24
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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This better not apply to pets.