Baldur's Gate 3 publishing chief calls out Ubisoft's 'broken strategy': If gamers need to get used to not owning games, 'developers must get used to not having jobs'

Gaming IndustryPrince of Persia: The Lost CrownBaldur’s Gate 3 publishing chief calls out Ubisoft’s ‘broken strategy’: If gamers need to get used to not owning games, ‘developers must get used to not having jobs’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Larian director of publishing Michael Douse, never one to be shy about speaking his mind, has spoken his mind aboutUbisoft’s decision to disband the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown development team, saying it’s the result of a “broken strategy” that prioritizes subscriptions over sales.

“If it had released on Steam not only would it have been a market success, but there would likely be a sequel because the team are so strong. It’s such a broken strategy. The hardest thing is to make a 85+ game—it is much, much easier to release one. It just shouldn’t be done as it was.”

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown did eventually come toSteam, but not until August 8, seven months after its initial release. It’s been as well received there as elsewhere, holding a very positive user rating, but that far down the road the proverbial wind was out of its sails, and decisions about a sequel (and the fate of the dev team) were presumably already locked in.

“If the statement ‘gamers should get used to not owning their games’ is true because of a specific release strategy (sub above sales), then the statement ‘developers must get used to not having jobs if they make a critically acclaimed game’ (platform strategy above title sales) is also true, and that just isn’t sensible—even from a business perspective,” Douse wrote.

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(Image credit: Michael Douse (Twitter))

Ubisoft has arguably seen the error of its ways to some extent. After years of keeping PC releases to its own storefront and the Epic Games Store, Ubisoft’s games begantrickling backto Steam in 2022. It announced awholesale return to the storefrontin September, saying that all future releases, including the delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows, will launch on Steam on day one.

It’s worth remembering that even when you purchase games on Steam, youdon’t really “own” themin the traditional sense: You are paying for a license to use them, and that can be taken away from you at any time, for any number of reasons. But, with all due respect to GOG, Steam is where most PC gamers buy their stuff, and in the digital marketplace that now dominates PC gaming, that license agreement is de facto ownership. Publishers avoid the storefront at their peril.

Which isn’t to say a Steam release would’ve ensured a long, bright future of togetherness and sequels for The Lost Crown dev team: It’s also available on PlayStation 4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, which seemingly didn’t add up to stellar sales. But Douse said it was anideal fitfor the Steam storefront and Steam Deck, and being there would’ve given it a better chance at finding an audience than not being there: “It can’t resonate with an audience it doesn’t reach because it isn’t on a platform at the right moment.”

“For premium games Steam on PC is about 90%+ of your total sales on that platform, probably slightly lower if you own your own platform,” hewrote. “If you remove the Steam platform at peak of relevance you’re removing 90% average of your potential audience. Quite substantial.”

(Image credit: Michael Douse (Twitter))

It’s exactly the audience. Older IP, skews older, which the Steam platform does. Benefits from democratic positioning + a likely headline banner. Steam Deck compatibility, so extra visibility (for free). Same as any other quality platformer. 👀

Douse isn’t the only Larian stalwart to feel this way:In January, Larian founder Swen Vincke said “it’s going to be a lot harder to get good content if subscription becomes the dominant model” because that will leave subscription service owners as the final arbiter of which games do and don’t get made. That’s maybe a debatable point, but the bottom line, Vincke said, is this: “You won’t find our games on a subscription service.”

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