Ubisoft+ Premium arrives, costs more but includes PC, Xbox and cloud streaming

Ubisoft is making some big changes to its game subscription service, and that means there's good news for PC gamers: the firm is introducing a new, lower priced tier.

First of all, the firm is merging its two existing services, Ubisoft+ Multi-Access and PC Access, into one. That combined service will be called Ubisoft+ Premium and it'll cost $18 per month, which is $1 more expensive than Microsoft's Game Pass Ultimate. 

Your subscription will give you multiple benefits including access to premium game versions, all expansions and monthly rewards. But the big draw here is that you'll be able to play brand new Ubisoft games on the day they're released and sometimes, even before – so for example you can currently access Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown before its launch later this week.

The other big selling point here is that it's a multi-platform subscription: you can play on Xbox, on PC and on Amazon's Luna too.

What's the difference between Ubisoft+ Premium and Classics?

In addition to the new combined service, Ubisoft has also launched Ubisoft+ Classics. That one's PC-only for now, and in exchange for $8 per month you get access to a selection of back catalogue and live games. If you're a PS Plus Extra or PS Plus Premium subscriber you'll already have access to the same line-up, as Ubisoft Classics is part of your Sony subscription.

In terms of what's available, the line-up includes a lot of games we've seen on other subscription services such as the obligatory Far Cry 6. There's also Rainbow Six Extraction, Watch Dogs 2 abd Watch Dogs Legion, Assassin's Creed III remastered, The Division 2, Rainbow Six Siege and other big hitters.

Some of the most interesting games aren't in the line-up yet. Late last year, in order to get UK regulators off its back, Microsoft sold the cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft. At the time, Ubisoft said that it intended to make those games available to its subscribers, but it didn't offer a time frame; that's still the plan but for now Ubisoft isn't committing to a release date. "We'll have more to share later," subscriptions boss Phillippe Tremblay told Engadget.