GeForce Now, xCloud, Google Stadia and Playstation Now. Gaming has been trying to establish itself via streaming services for a few years now. But every service introduces the developers own challenges. In an internal interview, Chris Early, Senior Vice President of Partnerships at Ubisoft, explains how the studio is approaching relevant ports.
xCloud and GeForce Now are not a problem
Since xCloud is based on the architecture of the Xbox, it is easy for Ubisoft to port the Xbox versions of its titles for th is service. GeForce Now is even simpler: Because here the standard PC versions simply run. However, according to Ubisoft, it does not run so smoothly on all streaming services.
Stadia is like your own console: However, developing games for Stadia or comparable services is more difficult. Early explains that you have to develop a "completely separate version" of the title. Before you start the relevant work, you have to consider carefully "whether the effort is worth it at all".
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»Our games stay with GeForce Now«
The studio also addresses concerns that streaming would “invalidate games”. Here one emphasizes that one distinguish between streaming and a subscription. For Ubisoft, streaming is only a “type of access”, while a subscription is a “method of ownership”.
In this context, the question also arose whether Ubisoft intends to remove its titles from GeForce Now, such as Activision, Bethesda or 2k Games. Early gives the all-clear: anyone who purchases the PC version of a Ubisoft title will become one can use wherever you want. So the publisher’s games will stay with GeForce Now.
Nvidia's streaming service already has a large selection of Ubisoft titles, but there are not all represented yet. You can play Anno 1800, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Ghost Recon Breakpoint, among others. More should follow in the future.