Ubisoft, Let’s Have a Talk About This Owning Games Thing Because You’re Going About It the Wrong Way

I have long had a general disdain for online-only games as a concept. Partly because I’ve felt that companies would eventually use these games as an excuse to pull the kind of bullshit that Ubisoft did with shutting down the servers for The Crew in 2024. This argument of licensing vs. owning doesn’t fly when you can buy a physical version of a game and still have this happen. And why should a digital purchase of something mean you don’t own it anyway?

As reported by Polygon, Ubisoft is standing ten toes down in their belief that you don’t own your games. Which is an absolutely ridiculous notion. Games are a product, not a service, even though companies have been trying their hardest to make it that way. It sounds like some “back in my day” crap, but the fact is: if I buy a game, it should be mine. I shouldn’t have to worry about a company pressing a button and, all of a sudden, the game no longer exists.

UBISOFT’S STANCE IS ARROGANT AT BEST

On top of all that, Ubisoft, come on. Yeah, the former Nintendo employee’s “This isn’t Ubisoft” joke might have hit y’all in the chest a bit, but also, yeah? Because you can’t move like that. And to be clear, absolutely no one should, but at least build up a certain level of goodwill. The level of arrogance to be the ones saying this is wild. You want people to buy your games? You want them to stop looking at your games as an icon-fest? Treat the damn games and the gamers with the respect they deserve.

It doesn’t hurt you or any other company in the slightest to stop this online-only, live-service crap and just get back to making games people can buy and own. And to be clear, the fault isn’t strictly yours. GameStop has their ridiculously predatory pre-owned setup. And to stop the monster, a lot of companies started throwing whatever spear at it they could. But come up with something better. Come up with something that doesn’t take away what people paid their hard-earned money for.

And as far as the gamers? Starve out GameStop. That’s how we get this shit back. Go to the mom-and-pop retro game spots — the ones that actually care about game preservation and not marking games up to ridiculous prices. GameStop shouldn’t even be in the position to have this effect on the gaming industry as a whole. (Thanks to Gunzilla Games for bringing Game Informer back, by the way.) There is a path for this to go back to the way it should be. But it requires a level of understanding that the games are what matters and the stories behind owning them and the feeling of owning a collection are what make this something we all love.