Oh, Ubisoft (October 2024 Edition)

Ubisoft today announced its "Ubisoft+ Classic" program. To quote their
announcement: "Ubisoft+ Classics is a curated library of classic games
from Ubisoft's vast catalog that includes Assassin's Creed Valhalla,
Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Siege, and Watch Dogs Legion, among many
others".
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/tQwBn5FiD1qSj7gFYSGCN/ubisoft-classics-upcoming-releases-and-old-favorites

Which just makes you wonder: is the plan to get people to buy games,
then cancel the online services those games depend on, then get them
to buy (well, rent, since Ubisoft+ is a subscription service) the
games again as part of their "Classics" line?

It's not quite what they're doing right now (as far as I can tell,
"Classics" is just a selection of games included in the base Ubisoft+
subscription... but I wouldn't put such deviousness above them.

It just seems bad timing for a company already mired in controversy
about making its older games inaccessible to paying customers. "Oh,
but they're still here if you pay more for our streaming service"
isn't good optics when literal laws are being crafted because of your
greediness.

Then again, the Guilletmot family is desperate to make it look like
their company is bringing in new revenue, so I guess from their point
of view it's perfect timing. "Look, investors, at all this new money
we're bringing in. Please don't kick us out of our majority position!"
;-)


Side note: there's an amusing bug on Ubisoft Classic's web page. I
forgot how I got there, but at one point there's a page and all it
says is:

"Ubisoft Store advantages"
     and then
"Null"

https://store.ubisoft.com/us/ubisoftplus-classics/5ebe5e920d253c3638a9521b.html?lang=default
(don't know how long it will last before they fix it, so if you wanna
see it, visit sooner rather than later. Or gaze upon the screenshot I
made at https://imgur.com/a/0R3LCvA )

(Pedant corner: And yes, I know that null is usually a sign the
database query was badly crafted and whatever was supposed to fill out
that page didn't make it over. But the way the two bits of text line
up is still funny)