Larian director of publishing Michael Douse, by no means one to be shy about talking his thoughts, has spoken his thoughts about Ubisoft’s determination to disband the Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown growth group, saying it is the results of a “damaged technique” that prioritizes subscriptions over gross sales.
Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown is kind of good. PC Gamer’s Mollie Taylor felt it was dragged down by a really gradual begin, calling it “a gradual burn to a fault” in an general optimistic assessment, and it holds an enviable 86 combination rating on Metacritic. Regardless of that, Ubisoft just lately confirmed that the event group has been scattered to the 4 winds to work on “different tasks that may profit from their experience.”
This, Douse feels, is not less than partially the result of Ubisoft’s concentrate on subscriptions over typical recreation gross sales—the entire “feeling comfy with not proudly owning your recreation” factor espoused by Ubisoft director of subscriptions Philippe Tremblay earlier this 12 months—and the choice to cease releasing video games on Steam, which is much and away the most important digital storefront for PC gaming.
“The final notable recreation on their platform was arguably Far Cry 6 in 2021,” Douse posted on X (by way of GamesRadar). “The Crew, Mirage and Avatar got here in 2023 and didn’t carry out, so you’ll be able to assume subscriptions have been at a lull when PoP launched by 2024. Which implies folks wouldn’t be launching their retailer all an excessive amount of.
“If it had launched on Steam not solely wouldn’t it have been a market success, however there would probably be a sequel as a result of the group are so robust. It’s such a damaged technique. The toughest factor is to make a 85+ recreation—it’s a lot, a lot simpler to launch one. It simply shouldn’t be finished because it was.”
Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown did finally come to Steam, however not till August 8, seven months after its preliminary launch. It has been as effectively acquired there as elsewhere, holding a really optimistic person score, however that far down the street the proverbial wind was out of its sails, and selections a couple of sequel (and the destiny of the dev group) have been presumably already locked in.
“If the assertion ‘avid gamers ought to get used to not proudly owning their video games’ is true due to a particular launch technique (sub above gross sales), then the assertion ‘builders should get used to not having jobs in the event that they make a critically acclaimed recreation’ (platform technique above title gross sales) can also be true, and that simply isn’t wise—even from a enterprise perspective,” Douse wrote.
Ubisoft has arguably seen the error of its methods to some extent. After years of maintaining PC releases to its personal storefront and the Epic Video games Retailer, Ubisoft’s video games started trickling again to Steam in 2022. It introduced a wholesale return to the storefront in September, saying that every one future releases, together with the delayed Murderer’s Creed Shadows, will launch on Steam on day one.
It is value remembering that even once you buy video games on Steam, you do not actually “personal” them within the conventional sense: You’re paying for a license to make use of them, and that may be taken away from you at any time, for any variety of causes. However, with all due respect to GOG, Steam is the place most PC avid gamers purchase their stuff, and within the digital market that now dominates PC gaming, that license settlement is de facto possession. Publishers keep away from the storefront at their peril.
Which is not to say a Steam launch would’ve ensured an extended, brilliant way forward for togetherness and sequels for The Misplaced Crown dev group: It is also out there on PlayStation 4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Sequence X/S, and Nintendo Change, which seemingly did not add as much as stellar gross sales. However Douse stated it was an perfect match for the Steam storefront and Steam Deck, and being there would’ve given it a greater likelihood at discovering an viewers than not being there: “It may well’t resonate with an viewers it doesn’t attain as a result of it isn’t on a platform on the proper second.”
“For premium video games Steam on PC is about 90%+ of your whole gross sales on that platform, most likely barely decrease when you personal your individual platform,” he wrote. “Should you take away the Steam platform at peak of relevance you’re eradicating 90% common of your potential viewers. Fairly substantial.”
Douse is not the one Larian stalwart to really feel this manner: In January, Larian founder Swen Vincke stated “it is going to be so much tougher to get good content material if subscription turns into the dominant mannequin” as a result of that may depart subscription service homeowners as the ultimate arbiter of which video games do and do not get made. That is perhaps a debatable level, however the backside line, Vincke stated, is that this: “You will not discover our video games on a subscription service.”
