Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has said that the studio's games won't ever be found on a subscription service because he wants "to make sure the other ecosystem doesn’t die."
The Baldur's Gate 3 director was responding to recent comments made by Ubisoft’s director of subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, who said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that players need to start getting "comfortable" with not owning their games as the subscription service business grows.
In a discussion on Twitter / X, Vincke shared his stance on the paid service model and explained why he thinks this isn't what gamers want.
"Whatever the future of games looks like, content will always be king," Vincke said. "But it’s going to be a lot harder to get good content if subscription becomes the dominant model and a select group gets to decide what goes to market and what not. Direct from developer to players is the way.
"Getting a board to ok a project fueled by idealism is almost impossible and idealism needs room to exist, even if it can lead to disaster. Subscription models will always end up being cost/benefit analysis exercises intended to maximize profit.
Whatever the future of games looks like, content will always be king. But it’s going to be a lot harder to get good content if subscription becomes the dominant model and a select group gets to decide what goes to market and what not. Direct from developer to players is the way. https://t.co/wEUvd5adt0January 17, 2024
"There is nothing wrong with that but it may not become a monopoly of subscription services," Vincke continued. "We are already all dependent on a select group of digital distribution platforms and discoverability is brutal. Should those platforms all switch to subscription, it’ll become savage.
“In such a world by definition the preference of the subscription service will determine what games get made. Trust me - you really don’t want that,” he adds, referring to gamers.
As Ubisoft gears up to launch two brand-new tiers for its Ubisoft+ subscription service, called Premium and Classics, Tremblay said in the GI.biz interview: "Gamers are used to owning their games. That's the consumer shift that needs to happen."
Vincke doesn't agree with this sentiment, and added that he has no issue with other developers using the model as an opportunity to make their games, but Larian Studios won't ever make that move.
"TLDR; you won’t find our games on a subscription service even if I respect that for many developers it presents an opportunity to make their game," he said. "I don’t have an issue with that. I just want to make sure the other ecosystem doesn’t die because it’s valuable."
Vincke previously revealed that despite Baldur's Gate 3's release on Xbox Series X|S, it was never planned to be made available via Xbox Game Pass. At the time, he elaborated: "We are in the business of making a game that has a beginning, middle, and an end. We made a big game, so I think there's a fair price to be paid for that, and I think that that is okay."
Check out our list of the best RPGs you can play right now if you're looking for something new to play, as well as our list of the best Xbox Game Pass games.