Baldur’s Gate 3 Dev Has Bad News for PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Subscribers

Based on a recent series of tweets from Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke, it doesn’t sound like Baldur’s Gate 3 will be coming to any subscription service like PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass anytime soon. Vincke’s discussion comes shortly after discourse surrounding a Ubisoft CEO saying fans should get used to not owning their games was shared in many online circles; in short, it seems Vincke wholeheartedly disagrees.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 dev said, in a first tweet, that content will always be king in the future of games. However, subscriptions becoming the dominant model would make good content harder to produce and find, he claims. It sounds a lot like what happened with Netflix and other streaming services that require subscriptions, as the quality of all content is frequently questioned nowadays. He acknowledged that idealism can lead to disaster, but that it is needed to make a genuine project. The other end of the spectrum, pure subscription models, “always end up being cost/benefit analysis exercises intended to maximize profit.”

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Continuing, he also acknowledged that nothing is wrong with that exercise, but said that subscriptions becoming the dominant model would harm discoverability. This is already a major challenge given the small, select handful of digital distribution platforms developers have access to, and Vincke says those switching to subscriptions would become “savage.” Ultimately, he said that “in such a world by definition the preference of the subscription service will determine what games get made.” Of course, he also acknowledges that subscription services provide opportunities for many developers to make their games and obviously he doesn’t have an issue with that, but he wants to make sure that the standard ecosystem of games, those outside the subscription services, “doesn’t die because it’s valuable.”

As a result, no Larian Studios game will be available on a subscription service, according to Vincke. He had previously indicated that Baldur’s Gate 3 wouldn’t be coming to Xbox Game Pass, but the totality of his words suggests that possibilities like PS Plus are out the window too. Though, it is worth noting that a trial of Baldur’s Gate 3 is available on PS Plus Premium, but that’s only enough to get through the tutorial basically (and on the assumption that someone doesn’t spend an hour making a character).

While this will no doubt disappoint some subscribers who want BG3 on their service, it’s an understandable position and one with a silver lining. It’s not an uncommon refrain that someone will wait for a game to come to Xbox Game Pass or the like to play it, but since Larian has practically shot that position down, fans know they should just pick it up when they can and if they so wish.

Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a Dungeons and Dragons inspired RPG developed and published by Larian Studios. Featuring both a single player and cooperative element, players create their character by selecting a starting class, take on quests, level up, and engage in turn-based combat using the D&D 5th edition rule set.

Franchise

Baldur’s Gate

Released

August 3, 2023

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence

How Long To Beat

30 Hours

Metascore

96