Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 has been a massive hit since it released in 2023, even earning the coveted Game of the Year 2023 award. Of course, with its massive popularity, many players and fans have wondered if Baldur’s Gate 3 will ever come to subscription services like Game Pass. CEO Swen Vincke of Larian Studios said that none of its games will ever appear on subscription services.
In a thread over on X, Vincke shared his views on subscription services for video games after Ubisoft announced it would be evolving its current Ubisoft+ service. Ubisoft director of subscription Philippe Tremblay said players would have to get “comfortable” not owning games in the future.
Vincke responded to that, saying “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.”
Vincke added that he believes that subscription models “will always end up being cost/benefit analysis exercises intended to maximize profit.
“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.”
Vincke believes that the subscription models will begin to determine what games are going to get made and what games aren’t, a concern that many have voiced as well.
“You won’t ever find [Larian Studios’] 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.”
Josh Fairhust, CEO of Limited Run Games, responded saying: “I absolutely hate this, but I think the unfortunate reality is that within the next ten to fifteen years, cloud streaming and subscription services will be the primary distribution method for games. We’ll continue releasing games physically until the bitter end, though.”
I personally grew up in the generation where DVDs were still prominent and where Blockbuster was still around. Of course, I remember when Netflix opened up as well and when it started to offer a completely different service to Blockbuster by delivering DVDs to your house, eventually becoming an online streaming platform. At the time, it was a revolutionary change but most people didn’t see it becoming the norm anytime soon.
Today though, everything entertainment seems to be a subscription now. It is difficult for many of us who enjoy video games to think about this future, but pretty soon, the next generation and the one being raised today will probably not even think about it. It’s likely that we will see many services similar to Game Pass pop up in the future, and as Fairhust said, the next ten to fifteen years will most likely see this being the norm.
Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
