Ubisoft looks to follow EA's Project $10 plans
System already in place to monetise second hand sales says Guillemot; publisher "looking very carefully" at EA's success
French publisher Ubisoft has admitted that it is keeping a sharp eye on Electronic Arts' Project $10 plans, as it looks to monetise boxed games beyond the initial purchase.
EA's plans have so far included offering extra content for consumers that buy their games brand new, with codes available in the package to access downloadable content, and in the case of EA Sports titles, access to play online.
Consumers buying their games second hand have to pay around $10 for the extra content and additional features, providing the publisher with additional revenue in a second hand market where retailers have traditionally enjoyed 100 per cent profit.
Speaking in a call to investors following its full-year financial results, Ubisoft's CFO Alain Martinez said it will likely follow EA's lead to ensure it continues to see returns from the lucrative second hand business.
"Most of the games that we release next year will have from the start downloadable content available," said Martinez. "And we are looking very carefully at what is being done by EA regarding what we call the 'ten dollar solution' and we would probably follow that line at some time in the future."
Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, added that a system was already in place, and pointed out that titles released in the last year, including the 9 million-selling Assassin's Creed II, already include codes for bonus content.
"Actually, we have been using keys starting last year on our products, so those keys were allowing some consumers to have the content if they were buying in specific stores.
"So we have the system in place to actually generate more revenue on the second hand market, so we are building now the content to make sure that it can be beneficial for both groups, he added.
Electronic Arts said last week that over 70 per cent of consumers had redeemed bonus codes for games including Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, while second hand users who had purchased the codes were in the "low single digit percentage".
Perhaps they enjoy being unpopular?
Seriously, the negative feelings that fly around about certain publishers on hardcore gaming forums have no visible impact on sales. People claim they are boycotting MW2 then it goes onto sell more than ever.
While it's important to listen to all of your customers you cannot base business decisions on the opinion of those who shout the loudest. I think the mass market will be perfectly okay with schemes like this. As do EA and now Ubisoft it seems...
But there are many different ways to approach a fall in profits.
Some admirable. Some less so.
EA and Ubisoft seem determined to take the low road.
Now, if publishers were simply to say that online services cost X, and a game costs Y, and if you want the online portion you must pay X + Y, I'd be fine with that.
There would also be the opportunity for people who want to pay less, and not play online, to take that option. So you can see why they don't like that option.
What they are doing now is taking a fee upfront for online services for the life of the game, and then charging *again* for that directly to the second hand purchaser. It's opportunistic, and disingenuous.
My point is, if a shop can sell a pre-owned Tomb Raider Legend for 40 euros (not a joke), then _maybe_ they can include the 7 euros fare and "only" get 20+ euros from that same game, assuming they payed 10 euros to get it. Of course, like that you can forget those great occasions, like Deus Ex for 3 euros...