Ubisoft interested in EA Access like program, thinks it's good for publisher brands

[steverhcp02]

LudicrousSpeed said:

steverhcp02 said:
What if I told you you could purchase seasons of shows on you favorite channels without having to pay over a hundred dollars a month for 1300 channels and channels you only watch once a week?

Do you people like having 15 cooking channels when you watch maybe 4-6 channels regularly across all 1300?

Like a full season of 8 episodes or 8 hours of programming for $10. Or if it were HBO/Showtime/Starz you could buy just those channels for $10 a month and have access to all the on demand movies, documentaries, catalog of shows? Sound good? Well thats what we have now with videogames. We buy in with the hardware and we can pick and choose our "shows" (games) from any publisher (channel) as we please.

People that praise this fall into two categories to me: Those who need to convince themselves this is good in light of console wars and EA Access on Xbox One, and those who can't see passed the bridge of their nose anything further than a month down the line. You will be sold a product as a bonus that slowly turns to an essential product and then the price will increase as more "value" is added that wont even pertain to you. The same as cable TV providers offer 3 packages full of shit you never use.

If other publishers follow suit and the market falls for it expect to be subsidizing terrible games just to access the few you play from these publishers.

@ the bolded, that's exactly what EA Access is. We have the ability with cable television to only buy certain channels like HBO or Showtime. Or even if we aren't subscribers, we can digitally buy seasons of shows we want.

Is HBO Go bad for consumers? Has it killed the industry? Your post reads like you prefer customers having more choice and freedom on how they buy content. EA Access doesn't affect any of that. It's actually the exact opposite of what you're implying is wrong with cable.

 

You have to subscribe to either mid or high tiered cable packages before premium channels are available to be bought. You dont just "get" HBO Go or Showtime Anywhere or Watch ESPN. You must already have an active subscription via a cable provider. I cant just buy a la cart channels. Do you know how cable television works? You must initially buy a package to even have access to premium channels. You cant just download HBO Go without logging into your uverse or comcast account. Again it is value masked behind subscription. This is what is going to happen if publishers create these access points. This is why sony not allowing EA Access is good. Its complete bullshit as to why they said they didnt want it, it had nothing to do with protecting value or consumers it was to maintain their PS+ value but nontheless what it is preventing is in gamers best interest regardless of their motive. 

Yeah, you can digitally buy seasons, after they air. Thats like saying you can buy games only 8 months after they release.

The problem is youre viewing EA Access in a vacuum as if it will and could only exist as it stands. The patriot act was supposed to make us safer and was necessary to collect intel and when people raised their voices about privacy rights it was brushed off and oopsie all the "tin foil hat wearers" were right. You need to step back and realize none of these companies care about you, me or anyone besides their bottom line and stop giving them the benefit of the doubt.

If you create a system of publisher driven access you will eliminate consumer choice. The same way as cable companies subsidize the 1200 channels no one watches to mask value for the 8-10 channels people want. The reason we pay $80-$100 a month for cable subscription is because the content providers know if we could only pay for ESPN, AMC, HBO or the few channels each consumer wants they wouldnt make money, the same as publishers are struggling now. So what they do is introduce a subscription service to eventually lock out games in the future unless you subscribe.....sure youll get access to dozens of games but youre not going to be able to simply buy the one or two games a year and be done with it. Youll need to subscribe to have access to buy those one or two games the same as we have to subscribe to 1400 channels to earn the right to pay $15 a month for HBO.

Honestly if you cant see whats coming with this I dont know what else I can say.