Ubisoft Strategy To Blame For Prince Of Persia's Poor Sales? Baldur's Gate 3 Exec Thinks So
Ubisoft Strategy To Blame For Prince Of Persia's Poor Sales? Baldur's Gate 3 Exec Thinks So
According to Douse, releasing The Lost Crown everywhere but Steam at first severely impacted its performance. The game only arrived on Steam seven months after its initial release, which he argues was a mistake.Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was a fresh addition to Ubisoft Entertainment SA's (OTC:UBSFF) lineup, breaking from the company's usual focus on sequels.
波斯王子：失落的王冠是育碧娛樂（OTC:UBSFF）陣容的新鮮補充，打破了公司通常專注於續集的傳統。
Players and critics alike praised the game. But despite its positive reviews, it struggled financially, prompting Ubisoft to disband its development team.
玩家和評論家都讚揚這款遊戲。但儘管它收到了好評，但在財務上卻陷入困境，促使育碧解散了其開發團隊。
Michael Douse, Director of Publishing at Larian Studios—the studio behind Baldur's Gate 3—has been vocal about his thoughts on Ubisoft's approach, as reported by 80 Level.
邁克爾·道斯，Larian Studios出版董事——該工作室負責《博德之門3》背後，對育碧的做法發表了批評，據80 Level報道。
According to Douse, releasing The Lost Crown everywhere but Steam at first severely impacted its performance. The game only arrived on Steam seven months after its initial release, which he argues was a mistake.
根據道斯的說法，最初在Steam以外的所有地方發佈失落的王冠嚴重影響了其表現。該遊戲僅在初始發佈後七個月後才登陸Steam，他認爲這是一個錯誤。
"The last notable game on their platform was arguably Far Cry 6 in 2021. The Crew, Mirage, and Avatar came in 2023 and didn't perform, 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," Douse said, suggesting the game lost visibility because it wasn't on Steam from day one.
「他們平台上最後一個值得注意的遊戲可以說是2021年的《孤島驚魂6》。《賽車時代》、《幻影》和《阿凡達》是在2023年發佈的，但表現不佳，因此可以推斷，到2024年波斯王子發佈時，訂閱可能已經減少。這意味着人們在當天不會頻繁打開他們的商店，」 道斯表示，暗示該遊戲由於一開始就不在Steam上而失去了可見度。
Douse further stated that if Ubisoft had launched the game on Steam, it would have been a "market success" and likely spawned a sequel. "The hardest thing is to make an 85+ game—it is much, much easier to release one. It just shouldn't be done as it was."
道斯進一步表示，如果育碧在Steam上推出了這款遊戲，它將被視爲一個"市場成功"，並可能會衍生出續集。"最難的事情是製作一個85+的遊戲——發佈一個要容易得多。這樣做只是不應該被採納。"
Ubisoft's Stance on Game Ownership Sparks Criticism
育碧關於遊戲所有權的立場引發批評
Ubisoft's approach to game releases isn't the only point of contention. The company recently faced backlash for shutting down servers for The Crew, making it unplayable despite players having paid for it.
育碧在遊戲發佈方式上的做法並非唯一的爭議點。該公司最近因關閉《賽車時代》的服務器而備受批評，導致儘管玩家已經付費，但遊戲無法進行。
Douse weighed in: "If the statement 'gamers should get used to not owning their games' is true because of a specific release strategy (sub above sales), 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."
Douse表示：「如果因爲特定的發佈策略（銷售數量高於訂閱）而真實的說法是'玩家應該習慣於不擁有他們的遊戲'，那麼'如果開發者製作一款備受好評的遊戲而失業的話，他們必須適應沒有工作（平台策略高於標題銷售）'的說法也是正確的，從商業角度來看，這並不明智。」
Amid these issues, Ubisoft appears to be moving back toward releasing games on Steam after an extended period of exclusivity on its own platform and the Epic Games Store. The gradual return suggests Ubisoft may be reconsidering its strategy in light of recent missteps.
在這些問題出現的情況下，育碧似乎正逐漸回歸到在其自有平台和Epic Games商店長期獨佔後重新在Steam上發佈遊戲。這種漸進式回歸表明育碧可能正在考慮其策略，以反思最近的失誤。
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Image courtesy: Ubisoft.
圖片提供：育碧。
