As triple-A publishers and developers push for a digital future that is driven by live-service/subscription-based mechanics, Ubisoft is joining in on the greedy fun by pushing the envelope with the remake of Trackmania Nations. The “free-to-play” racing game will allow players to access certain in-game features like the build mode by dropping cold hard cash every so often.
In case you’re out of the loop, Trackmania Nations is a reboot or remake of the 2006 racing game. The new iteration of the title in question faced a delay back when it was supposed to release on May 5th of this year. However, the game will now release for PC via Uplay and the Epic Games Store on July 1st, 2020.
The very thing that angered gamers and fans alike sits below courtesy of trackmania.com:
Starter Access: Free for players to race solo or multiplayer on quarterly renewed official campaigns, including 25 tracks, allowing players to earn medals and record scores in the regional rankings. Players will be able to enjoy other player’s creations on the Arcade Channel, try various editors (tracks, replays and skins) and map review servers. The weekly Nations League is also available for casual competitions.
The second part follows suit:
Standard Access: In addition to the free content, Standard Access expands the content available with player creations, including the “Track of the Day” selection, and full access to replay, track editors and map review servers. Additionally, players can participate in daily competitions and keep every “Track of the Day” and “Official” campaign track. One year of standard access is available for $9.99.
And the third offender isn’t too far behind the other two systems:
Club Access: Including the above, Club Access allows players to join their favorite clubs to access exclusive content and activities such as skin customization, special campaigns, online rooms, training tracks and competitions. They can also create their own club to share their creations and organize events. Players can participate in the Open Grand League, organized by Ubisoft Nadeo, and try to qualify for the Trackmania Grand League. One year of the Club Access is available for $29.99 or three years for $59.99.
In summary, when Ubisoft announced that the upcoming remake of Trackmania would be free but full access to the track editor will cost money, fan backlash followed as expected.
In addition to the above, website PC Gamer (archive) received a response from Ubisoft regarding the complaints, which sits below:
“Actually it’s not a subscription model but an access to the game for a limited time. You pay for having access to the game for one period and that’s it. When the time is over, you have to buy the game again for the time that you want to access it again.”
Behold, this is just the beginning, and more games in the foreseeable future will continue this method of forcing people to re-pay for segments of a game even though said individual “owns” the game in question.
Anyway, and as mentioned above, the remake of Trackmania Nations will release for PC via Uplay and the Epic Games Store on July 1st, 2020.
(Thanks for the news tip ThyBonesConsumed)
