Ubisoft share price in free fall: Gamers "no longer need to own games"

What is already standard for movie and series fans may well also become the norm for gamers in the future, at least if Ubisoft has its way. As Philippe Tremblay, head of subscriptions at Ubisoft, recently stated in an interview with GamesIndustry, gamers should get used to no longer owning their games themselves:

One of the things we saw is that gamers are used to, a little bit like DVD, having and owning their games. That's the consumer shift that needs to happen. They got comfortable not owning their CD collection or DVD collection. That's a transformation that's been a bit slower to happen [in games]. As gamers grow comfortable in that aspect… you don't lose your progress. If you resume your game at another time, your progress file is still there. That's not been deleted. You don't lose what you've built in the game or your engagement with the game. So it's about feeling comfortable with not owning your game.

In view of the reactions on social media, the gaming community does not appear to be so enthusiastic about this statement. Gamers not only worry about their saves, but also about the collection aspect that often plays a role when buying physical games. On social media, users have made comments along the lines of "Ubisoft needs to get used to the fact that fewer people want to own their stock": a not entirely irrelevant statement.

Ubistoft shares fall by 12 percent

With Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Ubisoft was able to reap successful sales right at the start of the year. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Notebookcheck benchmark tests here) also seems to be going down well with gamers. Despite these successes, Ubisoft's share price has fallen sharply: by around 8% on January 16. One day later, the Ubisoft share lost a further 5%, bringing the total drop to around 12%.

The reasons for the share price drop remain unclear. After all, there has been no bad news about Ubisoft recently. It is conceivable that Philippe Tremblay's controversial statements may well have contributed to the share price drop. On the other hand, it could just as well be that announced changes to Ubisoft+ have raised doubts among investors.