Ubisoft Exec Suggests Gamers Need To Get Comfortable With Not Owning Their Games

A senior Ubisoft official suggested that gamers need to get comfortable not owning their games. The executive's perspective on the subject of game ownership, or lack thereof, arrived amid his company's latest digital push that saw Ubisoft make big changes to its subscription service.

Ubisoft has been one of the earliest proponents of subscription-based gaming offerings, with its first foray into the segment dating back to September 2019 when it launched its 115-strong Uplay+ library. The platform was rebranded to Ubisoft+ in October of the following year. Another rebranding occurred on Monday, January 15, when the $17.99-a-month service was renamed to Ubisoft+ Premium. The move also saw the company introduce Ubisoft+ Classics, a more affordable offering granting access to a smaller catalog of popular titles for $7.99 per month.

Philippe Tremblay, Ubisoft's director of subscription, labeled the latest changes as the company's attempt to «evolve.» In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the executive explained that splitting the subscription offering into two will allow the publisher to better cater to its ever-diversifying customer base, which now includes a substantial number of people who are primarily interested in older releases. And while it might seem intuitive to assume that this particular demographic is price-conscious and hence uninterested in subscription products, Tremblay appears to be of the opinion that's not necessarily the case, or at least won't be true forever.

On the contrary, the executive talked up subscription-based services as having «tremendous» growth potential, which is a big part of the reason why Ubisoft is doubling down on such offerings in the first place. Although Tremblay acknowledged that he cannot see the future, he suggested that gamers could get used to not owning their games, much like consumers all over the world accepted platforms such as Netflix as a replacement for outright buying movies and TV shows on physical media like