The video game market is constantly evolving, for several years, subscription services have been popular. As long as the user is subscribed to the PlayStation Plus Extra/PremiumAt Xbox Game Pass or even to Ubisoft+, he has access to hundreds, even thousands of video games. But if the subscription comes to an end, they obviously lose access to these titles.
Ubisoft wants to move completely towards this commercial logicinspired by the success of music streaming platforms and SVoD which have increased in recent years. Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Disney+, there are many of them and, in the end, you have to pay a lot of money to have access to them. In the video game world, it is still limited, but the trend continues to evolve.
In a long interview with GamesIndustry.bizsubscription manager Philippe Tremblay returned in detail to the current state of the market, Ubisoft+ is a success for the French publisher and developer. Users rediscover old titles, have fun with recent games, some even make a purchase after trying it on the subscription service and Ubisoft+ even attracts new players. Philippe Tremblay reminds us, currently, Ubisoft offers the choice of buying a game or subscribing but, according to him, it is the latter option that will continueas for music and films/series:
One of the things we’ve found is that gamers are accustomed, much like DVD, to owning their games. This is a change on the consumer side that needs to happen. They felt comfortable not owning their CD or DVD collection. It’s a transformation that’s been a little slower to happen (in games). As players become more familiar with this aspect… you don’t lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. This has not been deleted. You don’t lose what you’ve built in the game or your engagement in the game. So it’s about being comfortable not owning your game.
I still have two boxes of DVDs. I really understand the players’ point of view on this point. But as people adopt this model, they will see that these games will exist, the service will continue, and you will be able to access them whenever you want. It’s reassuring. Streaming is also something that works very well with a subscription. So you pay when you need to, instead of paying all the time.
“Feeling comfortable not owning your game” is what made many players prefer to buy boxed video games, for a whole bunch of reasons. It must be said that this is already the case today: buy a game Ubisoft in digital version does not make you the owner of the title, we saw this very recently with the announcement of the closure of the servers of The Crew which will make the racing game completely unplayable, 10 years after its release. Only players with the physical disc will therefore be able to enjoy a solo experience, but truncated from online modes.
Last year, the Video Game History Foundation claimed that 87% of video games were in danger from a conservation point of view, either because they are old and run on consoles that are rarely in working order, or because they are only available in dematerialized version. A few months before, it was Google Stadia which closed: the service cloud gaming was a failure, several exclusive games have completely disappeared from the market, despite a few ports to other platforms since. Even today it is World of Demons of PlatinumGames which disappears fromApple Arcade and the market in general. If Ubisoft decides to take the step of releasing all its games in the form of a subscription, but thatUbisoft+ one day closes its doors (orUbisoft decides to cut servers that are too expensive depending on each title, as it already does), it’s a whole part of its catalog, and therefore of its history, which could disappear.
The debate has already raged in the world of cinema for several years with the platforms of SVoDseveral directors are trying to boycott Netflix and others to release their films on the big screen, but especially on Blu-ray afterwards, ensuring the preservation of their works. At a time when video games are still trying to be recognized as the tenth art in their own right, diving headlong into a simple consumer service without ensuring the heritage behind it would be totally counterproductive.
The market trend, however, gives reason to Ubisoft : in 2023, nine out of ten video games purchased in the UK were in digital format. The physical box market is losing momentum, GAME will stop selling second-hand games to focus on new ones, players concerned about video game heritage will therefore find other ways to preserve their video games, even illegal. However, the trend is changing in the music market: if streaming platforms have more and more subscribers, vinyl sales have been climbing for around ten years, especially among a young audience who prefer to own a record, in immortal theory, that listening to a song about Spotify Or Deezer which can disappear from the platform overnight.
At the end of last year, the case ofAlan Wake 2 had made a lot of talk about him: a AAA quality, awarded several times Game Awardsbut only available on theEpic Games StoreTHE PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store, not in a box. Enough to worry players who remember that the first part had temporarily disappeared from digital stores due to expressed musical licenses.
For the moment, most video games are still released in physical format, you can also find the excellent Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown from €49.89 on Amazon, Cdiscount And there Fnac.
| Clint008 Editor – Tester |
