Baldur's Gate 3 will never make it to subscription services

Larian CEO Swen Vincke says in a thread on X that the studio's games will not appear on any of its game subscription services. This means that the hugely popular Baldur's Gate 3 won't be coming to Game Pass or any other subscription in the first place.

Swen Vincke wrote this post as part of a thread commenting on a controversial statement made by Ubisoft CEO Philippe Tremblay in… Interview with Gamesindustry.biz Among other things, it has been argued that gamers need to learn how to be comfortable with not owning their games.

The problem with subscription services, as Swen Finke sees it, is that they give service owners all the power to decide which games go from concept to finished games. He writes that while he understands developers taking a chance when a subscription service pays, he wants to make sure that the other ecosystem — that is, a studio developing a game and then selling it directly to individual players — doesn't get lost because it's valuable.

Obtaining board approval for a project driven by idealism is almost impossible and idealism needs space to exist, even if it leads to disaster. […] The subscription model will always be cost-benefit analyzes with the goal of maximizing profit. In such a world, the subscription service always determines which games get made. Trust me – you really don't want that.

Baldur's Gate 3 was released in August 2023 and has so far been on sale exactly once: during Christmas and New Year's when customers can choose multiple Game of the Year winners at a 10 percent discount.