A Way Out Dev Josef Fares Is Unsure About Xbox Game Pass -- "How Do You Get Paid?"

You could give bonuses for amount of players played, people replaying. Really anything that boosts how good your library looks.

I agree with the guy here. Paying devs based on the amount of time players spend could really go down a stupid road quick. Basically, we'll see far more games like Destiny which are basically designed to keep players on a RNG leash, and not reward them for their time properly, especially as they actually reset progress and just force players to regrind again. It's a loop.

I don't get it, I played this game with my EA play subscription, so he obviously knows what it means to be a part of the "netflix system".

By the way, I wouldn't have paid full price for that game. Not that it was bad, I enjoyed it, but it's the kind of game you'll never play again once finished and it was just too short to justify any price over 10$/€. To me, subscription based systems are great for indie games : it brings a lot of visibility to your game, which is the toughest part with low development budget.

AAA games don't need subscription based system, at least at the beginning.

Netflix is funding a lot of its content, I guess it must be the same with Microsoft Game Pass, so it should allow indie developers to bring more features/content/quality to their games.

Phil has already answered this microsoft either pay a sum of money for the game to be on gamepass for a certain amount of time or they fund the game and launch it day 1 on gamepass which lets the developer make a profit from sales on other platforms.

Microtransactions is the answer.

If your game doesn’t have any, you shouldn’t put it on gamepass.

Umm, try picking up the phone and making a call numbnuts.

Pay for play is a bad solution. A system that pays out based on playtime encourages all the wrong things in game design. Plus it's a very well documented fact a large proportion of people don't finish games. The people running these subscriptions would know this, which is why devs would be shafted with this model.

I subbed to EA play for a couple of months because there were a few titles I wanted to play. During that time, I also checked out a couple of smaller games, like Unraveled, that had been on my watch list for a while but I'd never gotten around to buying.

I think sub services can make it more likely for gamers to take a chance on indie or shorter games. But yeah, devs should know how they're getting paid.

"But they make it up in volume!"

Game Pass has thrived for a reason and that reason is that it gives access to a wide variety of games for a low monthly price. It clearly works because otherwise, developers wouldn't be putting their content on it.

I imagine they get paid by Microsoft. I also imagine it is a gamble for some devs. Given it's one gamepass ultimate (EAplay is partially on gamepass but only ultimate?? I can see his confusion a bit) that should be a thing he should know. A Way Out was good for like 30 minutes though I will grant it a good once over co-op (I got half a day out of it not much else). I don't think a lot of people play that now or ever played it regularly.

I wonder if he means launching a game on gamepass? Because if the game has been out for a year or more, and sales have trickled down to nothing, going on gamepass could provide a major boost. Or if you’re working on a sequel? Put the original on gamepass to get awareness for it. There are tons of benefits to that model that could make sense for devs.

Also, Getting a larger install base to sell cosmetics and DLC, not having to worry so much about marketing budget. Anyways, I don’t think it would make sense for an in demand game to launch on gamepass unless you’re a Microsoft studio, but for everyone else? There’s probably something that’ll help sell your products somewhere down the line.

The same issue exists for movies, especially those from Independent filmmakers. The amount of money made from streaming is miniscule. Often, the only money made is from the initial sale to whoever is going to offer it.

That game has been streamed to death. Not even worth playing it for free on gamepass.

Is this the same guy who went on The Game Awards and said "**** the Oscars"? Because if it is, this guy has a drinking problem and also talks WAAAAAAAY too much. IMO he's always going against the grain just to get attention. Pretty sure Phil Spencer has already covered this. If there were devs out there literally getting scammed by Game Pass contracts, we would've heard about it by now. And if they sign the contract, they're agreeing to it. Regrets only come when you later realize risks you've taken didn't end in your favor. Don't like it? Don't take the risks.

Microsoft is doing it because they can afford to and Sony can't.

Honestly, whatever devs are being paid now is probably an almost out of pocket expense for Microsoft. Their goal is to get as many people as possible on the service then start hiking the price until it's profitable. We just saw one of their steps in this direction recently with their attempt to nearly double Gold's price and herd more people to Gamepass Ultimate.

It didn't work this time but they'll keep going. MS has made their intentions very clear for a long time. They worked with Bethesda to invent the microtransaction, they wanted to make physical discs have DRM with the XB1, now they're shifting to an increasingly expensive subscription system. It's not over, they have the money and patience to just wait out people's expectations, to boil the frog until it's paying $50 a month for Gamepass Supreme With Cheese.

The answer to his question always intrigued me. After all, I try to get the games that I tried there that did a great impression: Rage2 , Dead Cells, Ruiner. Devs of good games deserve money.

That's why MS have to make the Devs attractive offers to keep their games on Gamepass. There's a reason why games getting taking off, MS rely on as many people to sub so they can pay these devs. They trying to slowly faze out Gold subs so more people get Game pass

The more I hear from this guy the more I think he is full of hot air. He is a developer. Why doesn't he just contact Microsoft to find out how it works? It seems his opinion is based on his lack of understanding, which doesn't point to an informed opinion at all.

Simple answer for Devs. Sell their game normally through Steam or where ever. Then once sales dwindle put their game on Game Pass then to get a few more dollars out of people that would not normally buy their game or skipped their game.