You could previously play the upcoming open-world game Watch Dogs Legion as a pre-order customer of the premium editions 3 days earlier than the owner of the standard version. However, in a surprising action, Ubisoft is dropping this head start bonus. This practice could continue with upcoming Ubisoft titles.
What happened with Watch Dogs Legion? After new information about Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world game was revealed during the Ubisoft Forward show, a further announcement was made. The publisher stated the following:
Since the announcement of Watch Dogs: Legion last year, we have been working to refine the content of the premium editions of the game with additions and adjustments to enhance the player experience.
The season pass has been improved and will provide players with more story content. Additionally, there will be further premium characters and cosmetics from the original pass.
Moreover, all editions of Watch Dogs: Legion will be released simultaneously on October 29, 2020. As a result, the “3-day early access” has been removed from the Gold, Ultimate, and Collector’s Editions.
Head Start has always been unpopular
What is so special about it? Over the years, several controversial ideas have spread in game publishing. These include loot boxes, season passes, or the “early access” when you buy special editions. This is also referred to as “head start” or “early access” – you start as a “first-class player” with a time advantage over the “ordinary people.”
This means in practice that you can play the game a few days earlier if you pay more money.
Conversely, one could argue that as an additional paying customer, you simply play the game on the release day. All those who buy “only” the standard version are forced to wait a few more days. Many players felt disadvantaged in this regard, as the early access practice has always been unpopular and controversial. This is now evident from the reactions to Ubisoft’s action:
- Hein Smit: “3 days early always felt like a stupid bonus, especially when the games came out in the middle of the week. ‘Who has slow internet will anyway play on the later day of release. And those who have to work or have family would anyway only get in on the weekend.'”
- Patrick: “Yeah, I always felt like that was somehow strange. It seemed less like ‘Ooh great, I can play the game 3 days earlier’ and more like ‘The game comes out 3 days later unless you pay us more.'”
- Mitch: “It was never about early access, it was paying extra to get the game on its actual release date, while people who paid 60 dollars had to wait for the additional days. Hopefully, this practice dies out completely soon.”
- Grimstat: “Thank God, I have always hated this practice!”
Could be a reaction to the flops of 2019
Why is Ubisoft doing this? In the Twitter statement, Ubisoft vaguely speaks of “refined player experiences” that they have focused on since the first announcement. Apparently, there has also been enough criticism from fans regarding the early access routines that Ubisoft has been implementing as standard for years.
Presumably, Ubisoft decided to make fans happy by approaching the community with small gestures. And removing the unpopular early access feature was likely a comparatively small step that costs the publisher little effort and mostly makes fans happy. Watch Dogs Legion will now be released for all players on the same day: October 29, 2020.
In 2019, Ubisoft announced changes after The Division 2 and Ghost Recon Breakpoint fell short of expectations. It’s quite possible that the removal of the “head start” is one of those changes.
What about other Ubisoft games? Since the early access was publicly removed from Watch Dogs Legion, it could be a good sign that Ubisoft will also refrain from it in upcoming releases. This would first affect the following games:
- Far Cry 6: February 18, 2021
- Assassin’s Creed – Valhalla: November 17, 2020
It’s therefore quite possible that these games will release for all customers on the specified day. We will likely learn more about this later when Ubisoft comments again. By the way, if you found Watch Dogs Legion uninteresting because there were only killer grandmas: there’s now also professional killer John Wick in the latest trailer.
