The major western publication Dualshockers has released an article in which the author joined Sven Wink and criticized Ubisoft for their recent statement that “subscription services are the future, and gamers should start getting used to not owning games.”
The author writes that Ubisoft’s Philippe Tramble has shown complete incompetence by telling the majority of gamers that they should change their ownership habits for the benefit of large companies.
“Tramble’s statement seems to completely overlook one of the things that the gaming community values most. He doesn’t understand the value of ownership at all. If someone buys a game like Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, they get access to over a hundred hours of content. If you’re not a hardcore gamer, that amount of content could last you for several months, making the idea of owning the game much more appealing than a monthly subscription.
Although Tramble mentions that you can subscribe once for a game instead of a recurring subscription, this creates an additional barrier for replaying games. People (like me) who love to replay their games don’t have to do anything to load up their old favorite game. I don’t have to think twice about starting up my copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 on any given day. In a world dominated by streaming and subscriptions, I would have to think about which service has my old favorite game and how much it will cost me to play it again. It’s not a very attractive idea.
Tramble also fails to recognize the role of developers in this process. Larian Studios, the creators of the incredible game Baldur’s Gate 3, recently stated that they will not place their game in Game Pass, believing that their game fully justifies its price. I not only agree with this, but I also believe that it would be detrimental for developers to feel that they can achieve success by striking a deal with a subscription service, which is often done by less wealthy studios than Larian. Consumers should always have the option to directly invest their money into the pockets of the developers they want to support, and I don’t see that changing in the near future.” – said the author of the article
One can only hope that publishers will listen to criticism from players and journalists regarding subscription services, streaming, and online DRM, leaving players the opportunity to enjoy their favorite game at any time and many years later.
Original from www.playground.ru