this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Ubisoft Exec Says Gamers Need to Get 'Comfortable' Not Owning Their Games for Subscriptions to Take Off::An executive at Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft has said gamers will need to get “comfortable” not owning their games before video game subscriptions truly take off.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago

I really don't need a subscription service to give me access to even more games that I'll just launch and play for about 20 minutes before I go back to playing battlefield 4

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Not really, Ubisoft.

Much like music, movies and TV, you just need to make sure your content is both available for purchase for people who don't want a subscription and consistently available on a subscription service for those that do.

It's when you start fucking around and taking them off again because somebody else is offering you more for exclusivity that we get pissed off and just pirate things. You can't expect Assassin's Creed Black Flag to still be making you a noticeable amount of money, but a subscriber can rightfully expect it to be on your service.

I'm of the opinion that if a game is on a subscription service, be it PSN or Game Pass, then it should stay there except in very extreme circumstances. A game can take weeks to play through, and it's only going to take one large game going AWOL at 90% completion for me to sour on the whole idea.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

I’m already confident with having 0 Ubisoft games in my library.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Imagine playing a Ubisoft game

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Snarky comments and people joking about Ubisoft's practices but in reality many if not most will simply accept that, spread their butt-cheeks and prepare for all the shoddy practices to be rammed up their ass. Once they get one foot in the door it's just incremental steps from there, be it visual downgrades, selling experience boosters for games they made slower on purpose, day one DLCs, pre-orders, special editions, accounts for "offline" game, etc. Anything goes if they can squeeze another dollar from their customers. There's a message stronger than words when Ubisoft is constantly voted most hated company and yet remains one of the biggest.

Not sure what to tell you masochistic fans but Eves said spread the cheeks some more, there's nothing else for you to do obviously. Bend over.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

What a fucking piece of shit. Yuck.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

Ubisoft needs to get used to me never buying their repetative lazy games every again.

What a shame. FC3, 4 and primal are some of my favorite games..

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I love hearing these stories of big gaming companies being shitty as usual, knowing I only play indie games and I'm not giving theme a dime

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (7 children)

Subscriptions are taking off, just not Ubisoft subscriptions because most of their games are derivative shit.

And personally I don't have an objection with the concept of subscription as an option. It's no worse than streaming music or videos, or renting a DVD / VHS back when. But whatever the service is will have to have a LOT of content, not just back catalogue but new stuff too with fair & reasonable terms for people to want to subscribe. If Ubisoft wants to ever see its stuff streamed it will have to be as part of some other, better service than the one they offer that's for sure.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ubisoft and EA are the only games I pirate. Fuck those shitty cancer companies.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Pretty easy to not own a Ubisoft game. Assassin's Creed and Far Cry series are pretty boring IMO.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

Ubisoft doing God's work.

And by that I mean not having their games available on steam so I cannot purchase them.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

oh, i forgot that it's 2024 and video games haven't really "taken off" yet

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's hard to not be cynical about this pattern. To me, it's starting to look like a lot of companies are setting up long-term plans to weather a recession, and patiently wait for baselines to shift in order to normalize stuff like this.

Another way to frame it is, given enough time, a business will ultimately engage in rent seeking behavior if they see no alternative to adding value. Which kind of makes sense, as Ubisoft now builds absolutely monster sized games (e.g. Assassin's Creed 22 - Find all the Things Edition), with all the DLC, online content, and cosmetic bolt-ons imaginable; they've saturated that market. There's literally nowhere else for them to go, unless they take on much bigger risks like building a whole new franchise or two.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

That's okay, you just need to get comfortable with me pirating your games... Then again that's Ubisoft, I don't think I even want to pirate their stuff.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

This is one positive about the Switch, cartridges are still a thing and I hope this trend continues with future Nintendo releases. Other than that fuck this, if that's their stance I will be comfortable to sail the high seas.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

I am comfortable, it is called piracy. Just try me.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

UbiSoft needs to get comfortable with execs not making sales targets.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

These guys need to remember they are selling a novelty...a toy. It's not an essential good. Their consumer can just "stop" seeking new games

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

MMO without the MM

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

Just downloaded the original Assassin's Creed from JC141 and I'm having a blast.

It's crazy how much ubisoft games have fallen.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

But I don't want subscriptions to take off...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (5 children)

What's funny to me is the streaming model for media already has shown this won't work out well for gaming companies. When a new game drops people will sign up for a month, binge it, then cancel their subscription. They could try and trickle out DLC to get people to stay subscribed, but unless the DLC is significant people will probably just wait a while until a bunch of DLC is available then binge it again.

Personally I can only focus on one or maybe two major games at a time so I'd be happy to only pay a small monthly fee to one major game company at a time over paying for several $80 AAA titles a month.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Makes one want to sail the high seas out of principle.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

I’m not necessarily against one subscription service having a ton of games from a lot of developers. The problem is that a ubisoft service isn’t gonna have games from everyone and that playing a full game takes me 2-3 months with the time I have. Just buying the game is probably cheaper for me and gives me more guarantees.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

I dont want to pay a subscription for a bunch of games I'm not interested in. I want to buy and own the specific games I want to play. Fuck off ubisoft

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

I think he said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet....

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