Baldur's Gate 3 on PS Plus Is Probably Never Going to Happen

He's probably right. Just look at what Microsoft thought about Baldur's gate last year, there's no way they'd have made it.

Those double-speaking clowns at Microsoft probably view this as an open challenge.

They just keep winning.

Unlike most Ubisoft games BG3 actually is a game worth paying for

Gaming needs more guys like Swen. I've seen backlash to comments he made about not going on Gamepass and look sure its nice when games hit these services but it doesn't mean they should also. BG3 is worth full price and is free of BS so if any game is worth buying and not renting its that.

Someone get this man a cape asap.

@Balosi To be fair to MS no one saw BG3 blowing up like it did. I had no interest in BG3 this time last year and now a year later its one of my favourite games of all time, it pretty much came out of no where and took everyone by surprise.

That's great! It's a wonderful game and they deserve to be paid in full for their amazing effort.

@TheCollector316 No one double speaks at Sony either, right? Come on.

Good. They shouldn't depreciate it's value.

@DennisReynolds The amount of “I will never play this game unless it’s on gamepass” comments on Pure Xbox is exactly the reason they are going to see more and more games skipping the platform. They already have the smallest user base of any console and on top of that the players aren’t willing to actually buy games and support developers. But the moment a game skips Xbox everyone is up in arms…it’s genuinely infuriating to see.

Swen for president!!

@dschons I saw the Incredibles. No capes!

Well said. There is a place for subscription services but if the day ever comes where the only way to consume games is through subscription, I'm not saying I'll stop playing all together, but I see myself cutting back drastically.

I prefer to put my money towards the games I wish to play instead of depending solely on whatever a subscription offers. Even if it's technically more expensive.

I honestly wish more publishers were candid like this. Now I know that if I want to play their games I'll need to buy them rather than waiting and hoping to see if they'll get added to the subscriptions eventually.

Kudos to this guy and his feelings towards subscription services. I think we are doomed if games do indeed go all subscription based. But I don’t personally believe that will be the case. I think the reality will be a world where there is both.

Good, it's their decision to make but I don't feel like he they need to explain it. It's their product, they can do whatever they want with it.

Well wrote and completely on point!

Also games are best compared to books than to movies in terms of time commitment and I think a lot of people still prefer to buy books (physically and digitally) instead of renting them (even from libraries) on services. It’s something that stays with you for a significant while and that you can revisit from time to time if you feel like it

@TheEnygma Fair!

And that's okay. It's not a "One size fits all" offering.

@GeeEssEff yep! They're willing to pass up on some insanely memorable experiences because it's not part of the service.

I got 4 months of GPU when I got my series X and honestly, there's not much pulling me in. It's certainly not worth missing amazing games/experiences over.

@KundaliniRising333 just as i was beginning to think you were a communist 🤣

I appreciate him saying what we all fear, and I agree with him!

Although the movie industry seems to be more creative within the subscriptions vs the movie theaters where it's sequels and nostalgia remakes constantly.

Fair enough. I love when we get whatever “big” games we get on Plus, but also feel like most of the time that benefits only me, not the dev. And they deserve to profit from their hard work.

The problem with subscriptions is that the average gamer probably only plays a few different titles a year. They are not consuming numerous titles like they would be consuming numerous shows or songs. Subscriptions initially sound amazing because you have all of these games at your fingertips. But you soon realize that you're really only going to be able to tackle a handful. You realize that you could have owned two-three games for about the same price as the yearly subscription, especially if you buy older or on sale games, which, for subscriptions ends up mostly being the case anyway. And then you can sell them or have a physical collection. And you don't have to worry about the games you own leaving. Just because content subscriptions work really, really well for some content types it doesn't mean that people's behavior around all types of content are the same. This is why gaming subscriptions have been slower to dominate than television and music. Players only have so much time to play, and if it's a 50 hour game that's like 50 hours of television or in other words, 2-5 seasons of a show. Hence why the plethora of games on subscriptions is largely inconsequential to a gamer's ability to play even a fraction of them. Gaming subscriptions would probably dominate faster if games were shorter or more bite size, like shows, so that gamers could feel justified in being able to play a lot of titles. But, as with all games, there is a learning curve. There is the element of wanting a challenge. This creates a demand for replayability. We want to invest our time in titles so we grow as players in those worlds. So there is less mindless channel surfing. There's less just trying things out. Games are stickier, if you will. Shows and music are just fundamentally different, so the subscription model doesn't pan out quite the same for gaming. There's, of course a place for game subscriptions, and it may well completely take over, but I have a feeling that ownership will stick around.

You want it buy it I can understand why they want destroy the value of their games.

As it should be ,it's a fantastic game and oozes quality.

N.i.c.e. thats fine by me.i got bot divinity games physical disc on my ps4 pro.and Baldur's gate is definitely not coming to ps plus.word up son

Well this is gonna cause some screaming on pure xbox

Yeah, I agree with Swen. He's a good guy.

While I do use Spotify, I still have a sizeable physical music collection as there is stuff that you just can't find on the various music streaming services (someone go find QueenAdreena's cover of Jolene or The Feeding album by American Head Charge on a music streaming platform). If consumers are willing to get used to not owning their games, then they also have to be willing to accept that if the platform goes under or delists the game, they no longer have access to it... And no-one will be okay with that.

Microsoft: writes a check for 1 billion Say that again?

In re: Subscription service vs. owning games: Everyone here has talked about Microsoft and Sony, but I see it differently. Just watch what Nintendo does.

Whatever Nintendo does, the others will follow. Why? Because Nintendo captures the youth crowd. What someone grows up with is what one comes to expects later in life.

@MasterChiefWiggum Have you seen how much Microsoft and Epic are paying these developers to hand their game away? Epic is giving away almost $18 billion worth of free games. They paid Warner Bro $6 million just to give away Batman Arkham. Trust me, developers are benefiting from getting their game on game pass or plus.

This guy is just able to say this cause he works for a private company, so don’t have to hit the same performance targets to please shareholders like a public company.

@GeeEssEff As I write this there is 1 comment out 32 on Purexbox stating they won't play the game because it's not on GP, so you're somewhat exaggerating.

@cburg
Oh they do, just not nearly as much. No one loves to hear themselves doublespeak as much as Phil Spencer.

@Pat_trick I'm 100% sure they dont put games on gamepass for free. They pay the developers for access to the game.

@GeeEssEff You should see the user reviews on the Xbox store, whiny and entitled is an understatement.

@Mortal exactly..try and find anything by the KLF.

Good we need more developers and studios like this, that know subscription services can damage the industry and the quality of games in the long run.

Interestingly Matt Priscatella from Circana tweeted today - Subscription services have flattened. Subscription services across Console and PC only account for 10% of video game spending in the US. The idea that subscription will become dominant is unsupported by the data.

It's starting to make more sense why Xbox is going to make their games multiplat.
It seems GamePass just isn't growing.

@Stonecold730 I know that. But Baldur's Gate sold 20 milion copies for at least £40 each. I don't think Microsoft or Sony would pay £800 million for one game.

Glad more developers like this exist although I wish they would make a demo for BG3

@MrMagic It doesnt exactly help that Microsoft is spending millions of dollars to get a brand new game to be on their service at launch. Also imho any developer who just slaps a brand new game on a sub service on launch day is someone that has little faith their game will do well.

Lmao most of these comments about Xbox game pass , you do know sony does subs services too right ? But they don't do day one ...say that to stray that went to Xbox after , And ppl can buy the game too amazing hey ? Like I do I have a choice , and zero proof Microsoft exclusives are going mutil platform apart from ppl on twitter but let's face it anyone that gets thier news from a rumour really should take a long hard look at Thier life ....wait what do I hear the boss himself said ... Yes he did mentioned Nintendo as well ( cod one of Thier biggest game which the abk deal is still in court about ) fallout etc all still multiplatform and contracts signed for Nintendo/Sony cod he didn't say all exclusives are going To everyone

Oh and some Devs praise gamepass they just be wrong hey cause you lot said so lmfao

remember how cdpr was praised to the heavens after the witcher 3 released? not just for the accomplishment of witcher 3 itself, but for their stance against drm, providing free updates and putting the gamer first. they were the industry darling for a good while there, up until cyberpunk released that is... well, all that good faith is now gone and a new challenger has taken its place. larian studios is the new cdpr prior to cyberpunk. they are in the exact same position and have the gaming industry and community at large in their pocket. hopefully they have learned from history and will not repeat the same mistakes as cdpr.

Baldur's Gate 3 is an incredible achievement and is definitely worthy of its price tag. So much content and great patch support. Game of the decade possibly.

Ubisoft’s attitude is exactly why Assassin’s Creed games have been on the slide since Black Flag. Stop thinking it’s the industry that needs to change.

I can get behind this owning a game feels nice 😌

I remember Activision saying something similar a couple of years ago and we all know how that ended.

@GeeEssEff there's exactly one comment from 1 person saying that. Everyone else has no problem buying the game on Xbox either. Why lie?

@jedinite I’m not lying because I’m not talking solely about that article. I’m talking about the months of articles surrounding Baldurs Gate 3 where I have seen some form of that comment or very similar, many times. Same thing happens with plenty of other games particularly in the Indie and AA space the moment something is announced that’s not on GP. Can you honestly tell me you haven’t seen an increasing number of these comments over the last 2 years or am I going to have to ask you why you’re lying?

Well I won't play it then so win win situation

@AverageGamer
"Trust me, developers are benefiting from getting their game on game pass or plus.

This guy is just able to say this cause he works for a private company, so don’t have to hit the same performance targets to please shareholders like a public company."

Ah, no...
The point that you may be missing is that independent developers lead to innovation within the industry. When the suits decide what gets developed, you get generic product that serves profit for the company heads and not the gamer. There has to be a place in the industry for innovation and the folks that run game companies are not innovators, they are profit makers at all costs. Look, I don't mind a world where Call of Duty or Madden is made to create profit every year, I get that. But if Larian was part of a Microsoft, we would miss out on what makes them unique and corporations do not understand unique. They understand push something out now, cause we need our money.

@kcarnes9051 Exactly. And to make matters worse, gamers are usually a lot pickier about the titles they choose to play. So having the service curating your backlog is an issue for many.

Subscription services are great for a subset of gamers, but not for a big enough audience to sustain the day-one model.

@Pat_trick Its possible lol... Microsoft paid 3 billion for Activision to continue to make COD for PS... so the moneys there lol but do they want to please us, or line their pockets?