Larian CEO Rails Against Game Subscription Models

[T0@st]

Swen Vincke, the co-founder and CEO of Larian Studios, has reacted to Ubisoft's recent declarations about customers becoming increasingly comfortable with games subscription models. The discussion revolved around the French publisher's "evolved" tiers of Ubisoft+ services, but Vincke took great issue with (Director of Subscription) Philippe Tremblay's musings on the topic. Larian's leader has made it abundantly clear in the past that Baldur's Gate 3 will not be released outside of his preferred traditional distribution systems; he doubled down on this viewpoint with a barrage of Tweets: "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."

Baldur's Gate 3 was a top seller in late 2023, and a critical darling in terms of reviews and awards—but Vincke is not prepared to compromise on his stance. It would be quite easy to reach a larger audience with BG3 getting an additional release on subscription platforms (e.g via Game Pass). He elaborated on this matter: "Getting a board to okay 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."




He continued via several posts: There is nothing wrong with that but it may not become a monopoly of subscription services. 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...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. 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 and his colleagues at Larian Studios will be swimming against the tide—the vast major of publishers are pushing subscription models, but it is encouraging to see Larian's independent operation produce and distribute a game as special as Baldur's Gate 3, to great success.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Vayra86]

This man gets it. Echoes what I've said for a looong time about these subscription gaming services.

Its cancer. By using them we hand over control to bean counters instead of creative minds.

 

[theouto]

There is a reason why he and larian have become so beloved, and it's a damn good reason.
Well spoken Vincke.

 

[Gucky]

He just jumps on the next best train to gain some popularity points.
He can talk a lot, since he has enough money now. Baldurs Gate 3 was a wager he won, he wouldn't talk like that if he lost the wager.
I don't mean it in a bad way, I just say how it is.

 

[phanbuey]

He just jumps on the next best train to gain some popularity points.
He can talk a lot, since he has enough money now. Baldurs Gate 3 was a wager he won, he wouldn't talk like that if he lost the wager.
I don't mean it in a bad way, I just say how it is.

he also won it with DOS 1 and DOS 2.

He hasn't lost a wager with this studio yet.

 

[sethmatrix7]

>director of subscription

I had to do a double take lmao

 

[theouto]

>director of subscription

I had to do a double take lmao

What the fuck, that's a title? You can actually be the director of subscription? What kind of background do you need to have in order to get the job?

 

[TheLostSwede]

What the fuck, that's a title? You can actually be the director of subscription? What kind of background do you need to have in order to get the job?

Ideally from a monthly magazine or a mail order catalogue company...

 

[sethmatrix7]

What the fuck, that's a title? You can actually be the director of subscription? What kind of background do you need to have in order to get the job?

I imagine such a person has a background in work a bit like this cable guy from south park

 

[maxfly]

Subscription services...the name itself makes me want to vomit.

 

[bonehead123]

Subscription services are like life...

You start with nuthin....
You send all your money to someone while you're here...
And in the end, you leave with nuthin...

 

[Paganstomp]

...looks at World of Warcraft and all the BS that has happened. Now we have 4 different versions of the same old s**t. I can't see how that is progress.

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

To be honest, I didn’t even read the article when I first saw the title because fuck the subscription model. Then I actually read it…1) Good Job Larian CEO, for not being a scumbag like Ubisoft and their CEO(the salty seas are rising…) 2) I need to get Baulders Gate 3 because that game looks so dope. 3) THERE’S a DIRECTOR OF SUBSCRIPTIONS?!?!!? Let me find a job like that…

 

[kondamin]

With the amount of money involved in creating a big aaa game there will always be only a couple of sources for that kind of money that have their agenda.

be it subscription based or not.

 

[Solaris17]

Trust me—you really don't want that...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.

good fuck em. I hope Larian keeps up the good work.

 

[Minus Infinity]

This man gets it. Echoes what I've said for a looong time about these subscription gaming services.

Its cancer. By using them we hand over control to bean counters instead of creative minds.

Adobe's profits have gone through the roof since going subscription only and so many have followed suit. I don't own anything on STEAM, I can never sell those games. We are already subscribers IMO.

 

[Crackong]

This man gets the point.

Had 400 hours in BG3 and there are still many more content in the game that I am eager to start new game again and again.

 

[nguyen]

Exactly my sentiment, never owned Game Pass nor Office 365

 

[Hammerman]

Adobe's profits have gone through the roof since going subscription only and so many have followed suit. I don't own anything on STEAM, I can never sell those games. We are already subscribers IMO.

Adobe's profits are only that high because they are a monopoly.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Adobe's profits are only that high because they are a monopoly.

Are you saying there are no alternatives to Adobe software? I can name many alternatives and plenty of them are very good options.

 

[PLAfiller]

Adobe's profits have gone through the roof since going subscription only and so many have followed suit. I don't own anything on STEAM, I can never sell those games. We are already subscribers IMO.

Whole SaaS thing is out of control IMO. Don't get me started where CAD and CAM are for small/micro enterprises....Solidworks don't even bother with those....and Freecad although amazing by all means, isn't the solution. Not yet. Needs to go "the Blender-way" to reach those heights.

 

[Vayra86]

Adobe's profits have gone through the roof since going subscription only and so many have followed suit. I don't own anything on STEAM, I can never sell those games. We are already subscribers IMO.

You do own things on Steam. You bought game licenses to access, with indefinite duration, with the expectation of lifetime ownership.

 

[Easo]

Voice against the wind, sadly.

...looks at World of Warcraft and all the BS that has happened. Now we have 4 different versions of the same old s**t. I can't see how that is progress.

Probably the worst example one can give. It's the same single subscription for all of them, you are not paying more nor are you paying separately for each of them.

 

[Pepamami]

He just jumps on the next best train to gain some popularity points.
He can talk a lot, since he has enough money now. Baldurs Gate 3 was a wager he won, he wouldn't talk like that if he lost the wager.
I don't mean it in a bad way, I just say how it is.

He did not, He just make games for fun, not for money, if you study his whole career. We see his opinion in the news coz he already have popularity points.

 

[Random_User]

This man gets it. Echoes what I've said for a looong time about these subscription gaming services.

Its cancer. By using them we hand over control to bean counters instead of creative minds.

Spot on! But sadly Larian and this man, are seems to be "Don Quixote" of game industry fighting collosal windmills of billion margins. The amount of bean counter is much bigger, and they are here to stay. GoG with it's DRM free model are also seems to be lonely fish in the ocean of greed.

Spoiler

What is even worse, theses greedy guys, really got their hands ankle deep, not only in some particular studio/company, but into the game engine itself, which is being used by countless amount of games, big and not. And for how long publishers/parent companies of studios will keep creating independent game engines? It's only matter of time, until Epic Games would pull the same trick, considering the dires state of things of them, and their Tenscent "investors". And then all of sudden all devs gotta pay for thin air out of their own pockets, just to run the game. That's really drives developers and publishers to the edge, and make them think about money more, than for the result itself.

EA, Ubisoft, and now Microsoft, which is a monster of subscribtion, since it gobbled so many huge game companies, which were already the hives of daughter studios. So many are yet to come to this tasty business model. They all sleep and see the wet dreams of putting entire industry on the cheapo assembly line, with minimal investments and maximum proffits. They all have forgotten that they are there to make games.
The entire game industry turned into upkeeping/maintaining the luxury bills of the game companies c suits. Subscription seems to fit this model very nicely. Not much different, from paying lazy landlord/housing company the bills for broken appartments with leaking roof and burning wiring.

The game is not my cup of tea though. But the amount of efforts, quality and the public CEO and company stance in this realm of lunacy, brings joy and deep respect. Too bad, there aren't much similar quality games of different genres and studios, that have balls to make them.
Sorry for a rant!