Ghost Recon Online’s Free-to-Play Nature Shouldn’t Put Off Fans, Ubisoft Says

Ubisoft has talked about its upcoming Ghost Recon Online free-to-play title, saying once again that its free business model doesn’t mean the quality delivered by it will pale in comparison to the likes of subscription-based online games.

Ubisoft is working on not one but two Ghost Recon games these days, in the form of the aforementioned Ghost Recon Online as well as on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, a full-fledged game that will arrive this May on consoles and later this year on the PC.

The free-to-play aspect of the online game, however, won’t mean its quality or marketing will differ from that of Future Soldier’s, at least according to Thomas Seris, senior brand manager at Ubisoft.

“As a player, it’s difficult for me to accept that business models are relevant criteria to judge the quality of a video game. Some MMOs switched from a subscription to a free-to-play model, so it’s purely a perception issue. Because of this, Free is sometimes synonymous with low quality products, games that publishers cannot charge for,” said Seris in an interview with the A List.

“The real question is to understand how the free-to-play model is impacting gameplay. The development philosophy behind Ghost Recon Online is to ensure payers are not given a specific advantage over players. This is great, because the game is all about competition, and it requires fairness. As a consequence, Ubisoft Singapore is focusing on providing players with a great AAA Ghost Recon game, regardless of the way it generates revenue.”

Series went on, saying that the free-to-play nature would be heavily promoted alongside the game and all possible players would be made aware of its various features and how they would be able to enjoy them, completely free of charge.

“We simply won’t hide from our free-to-play nature and this message will be prominent in our campaign. We’re also looking forward to leveraging a franchise history made of various memorable extremely well-reviewed games,” added Seris. “Ultimately, the promotional support behind the game, the quality of PR and advertising assets, or just simply the type of campaign behind Ghost Recon Online will definitely be on par with a AAA boxed product campaign.”

Ghost Recon Online still doesn’t have a concrete release date, as of yet, but expect Ubisoft to reveal more details about the multiplayer game later this year.