As the Prince of Persia Metroidvania team disbands, Baldur’s Gate 3 dev says if Ubisoft wants “subs over sales” then “developers must get used to not having jobs”

Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director Michael ‘Cromwelp’ Douse is calling out Ubisoft for its subscription-based approach to games following the company’s changes to the team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Following Ubisoft’s recent decision to disband the team behind Prince of Persia Metroidvania entry The Lost Crown in favor of transferring them on to games with better sales potential, Douse explains why he believes the company’s subscription-based strategy is “broken” in a lengthy post. “The last notable game on their platform was arguably Far Cry 6 in 2021,” writes the Larian lead, going on to address why there should’ve been a Steam release for The Lost Crown.

“The Crew, Mirage and Avatar came in 2023 and didn’t perform,” he continues, “so you can assume subscriptions were at a lull when PoP released by 2024. Which means people wouldn’t be launching their store all too much.” Had the game dropped on Valve’s platform, Douse thinks things might be different. “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.”

The director calls Ubisoft’s approach “such a broken strategy.” He continues: “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.” In a follow-up post, Douse also goes on to make a very good point – if a company wants to stand behind its subscription-based model, then it should come as no surprise when sales don’t work out the way that they could’ve if a game had launched normally.

“If the statement ‘gamers should get used to not owning their games’ is true because of a specific release strategy (sub above sales),” he says, “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.” While I’m not a dev myself, I am a frequent purchaser of games – and I certainly agree.

Baldur’s Gate 3 looks like a totally different RPG with a first-person camera mod, and it’s so cool that Larian lead Swen Vincke says “I want to play this”