Ubisoft seeking to reach more PC players with expanded subscription service

Cities: Skylines II developer Colossal Order has a uniquely close relationship with its community. The original Cities: Skylines came out in 2015 and gobbled up the audience that was left behind by EA’s SimCity, which came out in 2013 and was a busted mess. Cities: Skylines scratched that urban-planning itch, plus it cost just $30. The game came first to PC, Mac and Linux with modest hardware requirements, and it hit consoles within two years. Critically, Cities: Skylines also supported mods through the Steam Workshop, allowing players to add their own tools to the game and share those features with others.

While Ubisoft Singapore’sSkull and Bones will launch with an end-game, it will also receive new free content with post-launch seasons. Each season introduces legendary Pirate Lords for players to battle, new World Events, and more.

It was revealed last year that Nintendo would finally be pulling the plug on both the 3DS and Wii U at some point this year, though it didn't specify a certain date. Unfortunately, it seems like we'll only have a few months left plying online with the 3DS and Wii U, as Nintendo has finally announced that all online play for both systems, as well as any functionality that uses online communication, will end on April 8 later this year.

Epic Game Store may soon be launching their own subscription service, if this leak is to be believed.

Sony has its own subscription service, PlayStation Plus, but it's a far cry from what Xbox Game Pass has on offer. While PlayStation Plus focusses on showing off the best of Sony's backlog, Xbox games often hit Game Pass on day one. Despite this difference, it doesn't seem that Sony plans on changing its strategy anytime soon.

The CEO of Larian Studios, Swen Vincke, has said that the developer has no intention to bring its titles to subscription services.

Earlier this week, Philippe Tremblay, Ubisoft’s director of subscriptions, made a comment in an interview stating how video game fans would need to get comfortable with not owning their games. Today, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios’ CEO responded, calmly explaining his opinion that “direct from developer” is best.

Sightings of an «unannounced Assassin's Creed project» on LinkedIn are adding more fuel to the Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake rumors. The Assassin's Creed 4 remake was reported to be in development last year; however, it was claimed that the game was still in the early stages. These reports also asserted that Ubisoft Singapore, the team behind the upcoming Skull and Bones, is taking part in development.

Over the last decade or so, the entertainment industry has seen many rises and falls across all brands. These changes have affected music, TV, movies, and even video games. Things “for sure never going to fail” started to fail. Then, things that “could never work” have done well and made many wonder if things could go further down that path. One such path is that of the “game subscription service,” which was punctuated by the Xbox Game Pass, which has done wonders for Microsoft. However, Larian Studios isn’t on board with this notion, nor with notions of such services made by fellow game developers.

Larian Studios' games won't be made available on subscription services, according to founder and CEO Swen Vincke.

The director of Baldur's Gate 3 has discussed the possibility of their games heading to subscription services, sharing: "Direct from developer to players is the way."

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has said the company won’t be putting any of its games on subscription services.