Just last month, Electronic Arts announced a subscription-based service called EA Access, which allows gamers to enjoy a library of select titles from the publisher's catalog so long as they shell out $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year to be a member.
Naturally, other major publishers are keeping a watch full eye on how gamers take to the service, and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is unsurprisingly one of them.
"I think it makes the publisher more important in the player’s mind," he told GameInformer when asked about his thoughts on EA's new service. "Often, people are only interested in one brand from a publisher, so they don’t look for other brands. When you buy into something like Access, you can try other things for free and discover other things you like. It’s a way to make sure gamers can get more info on what we do and the diversity of our portfolio."
So does that mean can we expect Ubi to release a similar service down the line? It sure sounds like a real possibility, as Mr. Guillemot went on to add:
When you look on your console, you have many channels and you want that diversity. Instead of saying everything’s in one place, we can say ‘Okay, try these channels: EA, Ubi, Activision.’
We are still in the process of studying what it can do. We are open to any way that can give players access to our games. It has to work well and be a smooth experience.
Would you like to see other major publishers release services of their own that are similar to EA Access? I'm sure Sony wouldn't be too happy.
