This headline is... well, not great. Here's the entire quote from Larian Studios' publishing director:
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.
If it had released on Steam not only would it have been a market success, but there would likely be a sequel because the team are so strong. It’s such a broken strategy. The hardest thing is to make a 85+ game — it is much, much easier to release one. It just shouldn’t be done as it was. 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.
I dunno. That's hopefully less misleading and confusing? The article really doesn't bring much to the table imo.
Anyways, fuck Ubisoft.