Ubisoft's New Subscription Service Launched With Some Technical Issues

Ubisoft's Uplay+ subscription service has launched today on PC, offering players unlimited access to over 100 Ubisoft games for a monthly fee. The launch is not without its teething problems, however, as many are having trouble accessing the service or are being billed early, and the city building game Anno 1800 is completely absent due to technical issues.

Links to Uplay+ on official Ubisoft channels are mostly dead, redirecting to a 404 error page. The company says this is due to increased load, but an additional side effect of this is also causing subscription attempts to fail, with some even being charged the full amount for the first month despite the fact it's supposed to be free if you sign up before September 30.

When the service was first announced, Ubisoft invited players to register for free ahead of the September 3 launch. Those that did are being charged now instead of in October when the charge should occur, assuming the subscription isn't cancelled before then. Receiving a sudden fee of $14.99 / £12.99 isn't ideal, particularly when the site isn't working as intended and information is sparse. Ubisoft support teams are currently investigating.

Once it does work, Uplay+ sets up Ubisoft to compete with Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass and EA's Origin Access as an alternative way to pay for a wide range of PC games. In most cases, subscribers will be getting access to premium editions of Ubisoft games, with all of the DLC and season pass content included. The service also provides early access to upcoming Ubisoft titles such as Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Watch Dogs Legion, and will be extending to Google Stadia at some point in 2020.

Ubisoft recently spoke to GameSpot about why it doesn't release its games on Steam, and we also have all the details on this weekend's Ghost Recon Breakpoint closed beta.