The CEO and founder of Larian Studios, the developer of Baldur's Gate 3, weighed in on a recent prediction by the director of Ubisoft, Swen Vincke, adding to the discussion in a Twitter thread this morning:

"If subscriptions become the dominant model, it will be much harder to get good content. Direct sales from developers to players is the way to go."

According to Vincke's perspective, the subscription model will further drive a "cost/analysis" driven game "aimed at profit maximization." He argues that "it is almost impossible to get boards to O.K. a project fueled by idealism, and idealism needs room to exist, even if it can be a recipe for disaster. 'We are already dependent on some digital distribution platforms. If all these platforms switched to subscriptions, it would be savage.

While not wrong in theory, it is important to point out that in a sense we already are. It is incredibly difficult, especially for developers with vision, to fully profit from the game. Larian is not only independent, but it is also the studio that nearly went bankrupt while developing the first "Divinity" game: Divinity: Original Sin. As Senior Editor Wes Fernon wrote in 2015:

"To make the RPG of his dreams with Divinity: Divinity: Original Sin, Larian went independent, borrowed money from banks, and attracted outside investors, He raised nearly $1 million on Kickstarter, sacrificed "Divinity: Dragon Commander" and still nearly ran out of money. If 'Original Sin' had not been a huge success, Larian might have been done with it."

While it is somewhat disingenuous to compare apples and oranges, a look at the state of television on-demand distribution services reveals a rather bleak landscape: it is common for critically acclaimed shows, such as Netflix's "Inside Job," to be suddenly canceled It's a common occurrence. I'm still not sure if anyone is actually watching "Big Mouth," though.

Swen continues: "In such a world, by definition, the preferences of the subscription service will determine which games get made. But he admits that subscriptions themselves are not a bad thing. I respect that for many developers [subscription services] give them the opportunity to make games." I have no problem with that. I just don't want to see other ecosystems die.

Interesting discussion indeed. In particular, the trend toward subscription-based services is more made than natural. Subscription services provided a way to watch what you wanted to watch, when you wanted to watch it. If you buy a game, you can play it whenever you want, and there are no ads.