In a recent statement to GamesIndustry, Philippe Tremblay, Ubisoft’s director of subscriptions, said that gamers should be “comfortable with not owning” their games. This interview has reignited the eternal debate between physical and digital formats. A debate that is more alive than ever with news such as that by 2023, 95% of video game revenue will come from digital titles.
Philippe Tremblay (Ubisoft): “Gamers are used to owning their games. That’s the consumer shift that needs to happen”
Tremblay’s controversial statements come in a context in which the media GamesIndustry asked the Ubisoft executive about Ubisoft+ Premium, its subscription service available on PC, Xbox and Amazon Luna. Philippe Tremblay is the director of subscriptions for the French company, and has given this site quite illustrative answers about the company’s position regarding the non-ownership of its games by its customers.
“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],” said Tremblay. “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.”
In GamesIndustry’s summary of the state of the industry in 2023, one particular figure stood out. 95% of the video game market will be digital purchases. This includes purchases of titles via digital download, payments to subscription services, downloadable content such as DLC, and micropayments in the form of virtual currencies such as Fortnite V-Bucks.
This infographic also provides interesting data, such as the fact that the mobile video game market is the largest of all (almost equal to console and PC games combined) and, given the specifics of the devices, is a 100% digital market. Many companies such as Ubisoft are aware of the gradual change in market trends, with more and more subscriptions offering digital-only benefits such as PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass or Nintendo Switch Online.
Sometimes digital game licenses are subject to the whims and desires of the companies that offer them. While you can give a physical video game to a friend or sell it when you get bored or finish it, digital titles require a constant connection to the Internet and the corresponding servers and subscription services to remain active.
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On the other hand, the “convenience” mentioned by Tremblay refers to subscription services, where a monthly or annual payment gives access to a selection of titles. The advantages here are clear: in exchange for a relatively small amount of money, immediate access (via the Internet) is given to a selection of titles. But, as mentioned above, this never implies ownership of the video games on the service. It is, in fact, a subscription for digital rentals, since once you stop paying for the subscription, you no longer have access to the downloaded titles, even if they are still on the hard drive of your console or PC.
The data is there, and all indications are that the future will be increasingly digital, and at its core is a battle between physical ownership and convenience.
