In a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Ubisoft expressed its views on player ownership of games. Philippe Tremblay, director of Ubisoft+ subscription services, said players should get used to not owning games, just as they have grown to accept not owning CD or DVD collections. Tremblay believes that although this transition is happening slowly in the gaming world, as players accept this model, they will find that the games will still exist, the services will continue, and they will be able to access these games when they want to play. It’s a kind of peace of mind.
Late last year, a report stated that PlayStation players would lose all access rights to Discovery video content purchased on the PlayStation Store, even though they had already purchased the content. This can also happen with video games that we purchase digitally, as publishers have the right to remove these games. And we’ve already seen the closure of digital stores, making it impossible to download games we’ve paid for.
This raises a debate about digital ownership (as opposed to physical ownership), which means you have to be prepared to lose some content, or in the worst case scenario, lose everything, and not be able to do anything to change it. Tremblay emphasized that even if players no longer own the game, their progress will not be lost and when they resume the game at another time, the progress files will still be there and have not been deleted.
Ultimately, Discovery and Sony resolved their licensing issues and delayed the removal of all Discovery film content from the PlayStation Store by another 30 months, which could mean the problem will resurface in two and a half years.
Ubisoft’s remarks sparked widespread discussion. Some people think this is a progressive direction, while others think it is a sad fact because a new generation of players is growing up and they have no games to keep as memories of growing up. And we all risk losing everything if online support for older formats or online stores is shut down.
source:gamereactor
