Ubisoft+ is combining its two highest tiers – the ones where you get access to all its games (new + old) with or without Cloud Gaming access. That new tier explicitly does include the multi-device access that gives subscribers the ability to play Ubisoft+ games on Xbox systems as well as in the cloud with Amazon Luna. The price of the new tier also includes the $3 monthly fee that Ubisoft used to charge separately in order to get this benefit and reach the top tier. Whether you use it or not, you’re now going to be paying that fee as part of the $17.99 a month price tag for Ubisoft+ Premium (which was the previous price tag after the $3 fee).
This change does mean a lot more people will have access to Ubisoft+ in the cloud – via Amazon Luna or other cloud services Ubisoft might partner with. We think this new default does make a bit of sense because a big part of the Ubisoft+ library going forward (all the titles from Activision Blizzard) are set to only be playable in Ubisoft+ via the cloud. So, presumably, Ubisoft thinks most of its subscribers will want access to that benefit.
With this change, Cloud Gaming is clearly the future as far as Ubisoft+ is concerned. It’s the only way you’ll be able to play all of its collection – most of its collection, even. While we certainly love cloud gaming here at Cloud Dosage, the optics of this price change probably could have been better. Even Ubisoft+ subscribers who are cloud gamers may not like this change. If they prefer playing on NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW service, for example, they just got a $3 a month price hike (though they can now access the games on an Xbox console as well). It feels a little like they are being double charged for cloud-gaming access they already had.
The poor optics was also compounded a bit by an Ubisoft exec publicly stating that gamers will eventually get “comfortable with not owning (their) game.” We get it, and even generally support the subscription model here at Cloud Dosage. But, we also think people should continue to have ownership options, as well. The comments in question (see the link) could have been better stated, though the context of the statement certainly helps.
On the other hand, Ubisoft is beginning to offer an Ubisoft+ Classics subscription that is PC only for $7.99 a month – this gives you access to essentially all Ubisoft titles that are 1 year or more old. So, if you are not interested in cloud gaming, yourself, you’ve still got a decent PC option at an even cheaper price.
It’s a bit unclear at this point exactly when Activision titles will start arriving, and if there will be any additional price increase when they do. But, it is clear that Ubisoft+ is already going cloud-first to get ready.
