Ubisoft is currently hoping to extend the life of its games by offering support for between five to ten years after they launch, and as a result, the company has now revealed that they'll no longer charge for DLC which isn't considered inherent to the core experience. What exactly does that mean though?
Well, Ubisoft VP of live operations Anne Blondel-Jouin told
GamesIndustry.biz the following in a recent interview:
"The key is if it's not adding something on-top of the actual experience of the game, then it is no good. Because you'll be asking for more money for the wrong reasons. Also, if the content is compulsory for the gamers, it's no good as well." She went on to liken that to how you pay to enter a theme park and get to go on all the rides, but have to then pay extra for food and merchandise.
Blondel-Jouin singled Rainbow Six Siege out as a good example of Ubisoft putting this approach into practice, ensuring every player has access to all of the game's modes and maps, but giving them the chance to customize characters. However, if that's not something people are interested in, "they will have the exact same experience of the other gamers. It is just an extra piece of revenue for us, which comes from gamers being happy. If gamers were not happy, we would not ask for that extra money."
So, what's led to this approach? Apparently, it all comes down to Ubisoft wanting to, "deliver gamers with the best quality possible," and it's hard to find fault with that. Still, it should be interesting to see how this approach pans out and whether or not other publishers end up following in their footsteps.