I have always been a big proponent of owning physical media. Yes, I totally understand the benefits of the entire streaming service idea since broadband makes it so easy just to watch your movies off the Internet or the cloud or whatever it uses. It can also be a bother to have something ancient as something that plays physical media in your home when you can have something much more compact instead. There’s also the problem of keeping and storing the stuff as well as keeping them in good condition.

However, I just feel the need to having an actual thing I can hold in my hand. Something tangible that I can point to on my shelf. I like having the ability to pick a movie from my shelf without having to think which streaming service I have to subscribe to in order to watch any particular one. Basically, while I understand the convenience of a totally digital world, I can’t help but lean towards physical media even today.

Well, I guess more people, especially gamers, are going to start feeling the same way as I do because of what a Ubisoft executive recently said. He said that there should be a consumer shift in the gaming industry where gamers just have to be “comfortable with not owning your game.” Sure, this is a snippet of the actual quote but, yeah, he’s basically saying gaming should do away with physical media and just rely on subscription services to get their games.

Now, to play devil’s advocate, the person who gave the quote was Philippe Tremblay and it’s actually in his job description to say something like this. This is because Philippe Tremblay is Ubisoft’s Director of Subscriptions. Meaning, he has the unenviable role of trying to get people to not buy games but just subscribe to Ubisoft‘s version of Xbox Game Pass and Sony’s PlayStation Plus.

He said this during an interview with Gaming Industry and he also said a lot of other stuff, like how getting this service would make it oh so easy to get the latest Ubisoft release on the first day and how you will get access to every Ubisoft game, past, present and future, for just paying a small, teeny tiny fee of around $18 each month. His biggest argument as to why gamers should let go of the idea of owning your games is because it’s already happened to other entertainment industries already and how, in Philippe Tremblay’s view at least, it’s the future of the industry.

And, in a way, he’s kind of right. Just think of how people consume most other forms of media today and how that’s changed just in this past decade. I mean, when was the last time you walked into something like a Tower Records to get the latest music CD. Heck, when was the last time you even saw something like a Tower Records? I know I haven’t and, if you put a gun to my head, I would still not be able to tell you where one was!

The same thing can be said for the movie and television industry in a way. While Blu-Ray is still the way most collectors watch their movies at home, most common folk just hop on something like Netflix or the other dozen of streaming services out there. As long as the movie is available on a subscription service they have, they can always watch whatever movie or series at the touch of a button. In a sense, most people have kind of given up on owning an actual copy of their favorite movie, TV show or song nowadays.

In fact, this kind of thinking has already started to pervade through the video gaming community. I’ve already mentioned other subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and Sony’s PlayStation Plus and they offer something akin to what Ubisoft is trying to peddle. Imagine having access to hundreds and hundreds of games and all you need to do is pay a monthly fee and have a relatively good Internet connection. Well, that’s exactly what Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus is all about! Heck, with Xbox Game Pass, you don’t even need an Xbox if you have a good enough gaming PC.

So, yeah. Even though it is Philippe Tremblay’s role to promote the idea of gamers getting more “comfortable with not owning their games,” he’s not exactly lying when he says it’s probably going to be the future of gaming. That’s because some of us have accepted that this is way to go.

However, I am not one of these people. I don’t believe that subscription services is the way to go. Although I do agree you should get more bang for your buck by just getting something like a Ubisoft subscription, Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus service, I still like to, you know, own the games I like to play.

I am more than willing to pay the premium price of a game that I know I like than risk having that game being taken out of the subscription service’s rotation for one reason or another. Oh, Ubisoft can say gamers will always have access to Ubisoft’s games on their Ubisoft online service… but that’s not exactly a perfect guarantee. Weird things can happen, like franchise licenses can get lost, forcing Ubisoft to remove whatever game from their service. I mean, it’s happened before. It’s happen a lot of times, actually.

I don’t think I will ever get comfortable with the idea of not owning my games, Ubisoft. Yes, they’re going to be more expensive and I and a good contingent of gamers will bemoan how expensive gaming is getting. But the alternative of that even little risk of not being able to play a game that I should own because you decide to delist it for one reason or another is still going to be too much for me and other.

I do think you’ll be heavily pushing the Ubisoft+ service so I only ask that you still give us gamers the option to either buy the game and then keep the disc or download it on our systems forever. Because, like I said, I’m comfortable with owning my games and that’s the way I like it.

What are your thoughts on Ubisoft’s statement of gamers getting “comfortable with not owning your game”? Let me know in the comments section below!