The gaming world is changing, and just like music and TV, it’s moving towards an all-digital future.

Some big gaming companies, like Ubisoft, are saying that gamers should get used to not owning their games anymore. Philippe Tremblay,
who works at Ubisoft, recently talked about this shift in an interview.

He compared it to how people got comfortable not owning CDs or DVDs anymore. Tremblay believes that gamers need to go through a similar change in attitude. He explained that not owning a game doesn’t mean losing your progress. Even if you don’t have a physical copy, you still keep the time and effort you put into the game. According to Tremblay, services like Ubisoft Plus allow gamers to access their games whenever they want.

While Tremblay’s perspective might not be surprising, especially since he’s in charge of subscriptions at Ubisoft, there are some concerns.
One concern is that games can come and go on subscription services.
For example, Grand Theft Auto 5 recently left Xbox Game Pass. If you only play games through subscription services, you might lose access to certain games regularly.

Another worry is that games can disappear if they are removed from online stores due to licensing issues. Two well-known examples are the original Alan Wake and Ubisoft’s The Crew. Although Alan Wake came back with a remaster, The Crew will vanish on March 31, 2024, as it can no longer be bought.

Despite these concerns, it looks like gaming companies will keep pushing players towards subscription services. They’ve seen how successful these services are for streaming movies and TV shows, like Netflix and Disney+. In the UK, subscription revenue made up a big part (89 percent) of the “video-based content” market last year. Whether the gaming world will smoothly transition to this new way of playing remains to be seen.