Yet Another Dev Claims Game Pass Hurt Sales

"I also think it hurts sales. Because a lot of people just go in and try it, and they don't invest. If they don't like the first 10 minutes? That's it. Also, if you don't make the first 10 minutes amazing, maybe it's also a problem. I think [Game Pass] is okay. It's not my favorite. My favorite is the old premium model, where I sell you on some video, on big images and earn your $30. And then after that, I have to deliver. I don't need to get money out of you later."

This aligns with what with what was previously said about Xbox Game Pass potentially hurting sales for certain games. But that still hasn't stopped developers from working with Microsoft. Mike Rose, the founder of No More Robots, has told GameSpot that they've had games sell better when they're on or just leaving Game Pass, but at the same time, it has also seen "zero change in the sales they were getting before or after." Rose said the biggest problem with Xbox Game Pass eating sales is that it's difficult to tell how many copies the game could sell on Xbox if it didn't launch on Game Pass.“

@ghostofgolden: Then, support devs and never get game pass, ok?

For ****'s sake, you are such a pathetic broken record. I like game pass, it's very pro consumer. Without game pass, I would have spent $70 on Redfall. With game pass, I'll get to play Starfield on my Xbox and smartphone.

I'm sorry Sony prefers an archaic business model that means your poor *** can only play a few new games a year, but that is your own fault for buying a Playstaion.

@ghostofgolden: You do know that devs have a choice to put their games on GP or not? Obviously they thought the money MS was giving them was good enough, so if it tanks their sales then they have no one to blame but themselves.

I say this as someone who doesn't have GP and likely never will, I buy my games, so I have no bias towards it.

Your obsession over everything Xbox is unhealthy, shouldn't you be playing Zelda atm?

Sour grapes, make better games plus the dev likely made mooaar money from putting the game on GP than if they relied on sales of a poorly made game.

But also, I'd be remised if I didn't add....

lol :P

^ notice it’s the Lems who are triggered 😉

So the developer says this....

"My favorite is the old premium model, where I sell you on some video, on big images and earn your $30. And then after that, I have to deliver. I don't need to get money out of you later."

So Gamepass then is pro consumer where the old model is anti consumer? Help me understand.... I game for me, who do you game for?

Side note.... He used the words,"earn your 30$" when talking about showing images and some video, but feels cheated about you playing the game and feeling like he hasn't earned your sale.... Wtf?

@TheEroica:

WTH, there's no place for pro consumer logic in SW for crying out loud. ;o

Sheeesh, this is war where anything goes including illogically shilling paying mooaar for less. Put your corp. logo hat on or go home. lolol :P

@SolidGame_basic:

Notice the cows who are obsessed with gamepass.

Bu bu bu we don't want first party games on day one on PlayStation because it will hurt the company we shill for's profits 🤣

F@#king saps

Apparently some people are video game designers who stand by their product and some people make images and "some video"

That really is such a cringe line.

no Cows here, just your wishful thinking 😎

@SolidGame_basic:

lol :P

@ghostofgolden: sounds like a marketing and content problem. Before I download something on gamepass I check reviews and watch the trailer. If it doesn't seem interesting then I won't even download it. This guy sounds butt hurt that his game isn't selling and he's not able to sucker people like he used to. Make good games, make good story lines, people will support you.

I would know, I ended up buying hades because of gamepass, I bought it on 2 devices. Then I bought subnautica on 3 devices because of gamepass, and streets of rage 4 on 2 devices. I bought nobody loves the world because of gamepass.

But there's also games I didn't buy but beat. Gunk is one example, and now chained echos is another game I think is good but I'm not going to buy it, since I didn't really enjoy it all that much.

Look, I love Game Pass. But in the end, it's a rental service. So yes, I end up buying games that WERE on the service (or in Halo MCC's sake, just because I had already bought the game and purchased the DLC add-on games).

Two examples:

Still, MS needs to work some stuff out with GP, clearly as it seems to be a slight more a benefit for them as a pub, rather than their own devs and more so, third parties.

Anyone remember the used games debate?

It’s also quite possible that the game would have done worse without being on Game Pass. 🤷‍♂️

I guess it's the same as if they offered a demo. If someone doesn't like the demo, they aren't gonna buy the game. I have noticed that if a game doesn't draw my attention quickly on gamepass or PS Plus, I just move on to the next one.

exactly, but before I even download and play the game I always watch the trailer and read reviews. That way I get a better idea of what the game is about on a larger scale and don't abandon it right away if it don't catch my attention.

So GP hurts dev sales, MS is losing the console race to competitors, and the Xbox brand is declining.

Tough times for lems.

dabear is instantly malding.😭After the 4/10 Redfall he waited years for, its understandable.

Yes Gamepass hurts sales, just look at the DvD and bluray sales almost nonexistent. It will be hard to have a successful franchise on streaming services. usually if you don’t like something in 20 minutes be it a game tv show or movies you move onto the thing and companies will lower quality and increase quantity

He said that the deal they got was nice ... so they are not entirely complaining nor regretting to be on GP.

So not only did it score way below expectations (was made by Limbo/Inside dev) I'm also reading about it having a ton of technical issues on forums.

Why yes, it sounds like it's Gamepass fault :O

doesn't seem like the dev understands how GP works.. its not a demo where people will try it on there and then go buy it as well.

I guess you can hope that it being on GP will cause more people to play it, and if its good (which this game evidently is not) there will be some buzz around it and it will get picked up by non-GP subscribers ala Rocket League when it launched for free on PS Plus or whatever.

but it seems like you go the GP route for some guaranteed income, knowing that it will likely result in reduced sales because why would people buy it if they can play it on their subscription service?

Are developers paid a flat fee for their title being on Game Pass or is revenue achieved through more and more people playing the title for a set amount of time or just playing it regardless?

Was looking forward to Somerville and gave it a fair shot.. The game just wasn't very interesting and i stopped playing after a couple hours..

I'm glad i was able to try the title via Game Pass rather than have spent $30 on a game i didn't enjoy..

And last time i checked, Somerville got a 6/10 on GameSpot and has a 68% Metacritic score.. The relatively low review scores likely hurt its sales more than anything else..

@Solaryellow: I believe they’ve said that they work out different deals for different games, so it varies.

So what? No one made them to sell themselves to Gamepass. Looking by how many game devs are on the Gamepass, I think their sales are ok.

I'm surprised they had greater expectations considering they originally wanted to launch it exclusively on Google Stadia.

I actually enjoyed it myself but it was pretty one and done kind of game. From the same studio founder that created Limbo and Inside, Somerville was the weakest of the three.

Funny they should think people lost interest early because I found the intro to be the better part, things were slower after that.

I don't think Game Pass hurt this as much as being on Xbox and not PlayStation, the world knows no fury like a PlayStation gamer scorn.

Game Pass has given a lot of attention to a lot of games that people might not have heard of.

I'm sure for every dev that uses it as a convenient excuse for why their game sold poorly, there's at least one that has probably gotten attention and more sales because of it.

I think developers and publishers might need to take it as a case-by-case sort of deal.

tee hee hee 🤗😋

Yeah seems like the market scope or ambition wasn't really large.

@mrbojangles25: doh, fixed it

yeah, there's been a number of developers who have said that Game Pass has increased sales for their titles..

Difficult to judge. The game had a lot of issues and ended up being a disappointment for fans of the genre like myself. That's probably the worst case scenario for any game on Gamepass.

Game Pass for smaller developers is essentially free advertising and hopefully word of mouth recommendations to play their game. If they wouldn't have their game on GP, absolutely no one would have played it and it wouldn't have sold either way.

This.

And there'd be games on Game Pass that a lot of people wouldn't usually play, but people try them because they're on Game Pass & end up really liking them & become fans. It works both ways.

I find this very dumb.

I disagree. Gamepass has nothing to do with how I invest in a game.

If your first half an hour is shit and/or boring, you are going to lose me, whether I've paid full price or not.

For me, it's also an over saturation of games being released and the internet giving easy access to that. When I physically went out and bought a game, I may have been more invested. Because of e-commerce there isn't even stores near me anymore to buy this stuff.

So for me, it's not the payment model. There's a downside to the internet too. Me "paying" for a game really doesn't have any more impact on me actually putting in more effort to play it.

Gamepass is killing the brand, and lems are perfectly OK with it. What a disaster.

While the Xbox is the worst deal in gaming, gamepass is fine. There are plenty of games i wouldn’t have even heard about that were enjoyable had game pass not existed. I’m so glad i got rid of my Xbox though. It’s a waste of money and provides little value.

Redfall is a good example to try out the game and not waste $70 if it turns out to be crap in the end. If MS had a better refund system, I'd still wouldn't lose sleep over paying full price if I were to get my money back and Steam has no problems refunding its consumers.

I also try out Ravenlok on Game Pass and the fact I actually like the game enough I decided to buy it on PC and add it to my collection as @nintendoboy16 pointed out, I still like to buy/own the game even though it's on Game Pass. Game Pass to me as always been a rental service Netflix style for gaming and rather it turns developers in terms of sales, lets the player try your game first and if it's really good, they will end up buying it cause there are gamers who in fact enjoy replaying games like me for example.

Game Pass is a hit or a miss for everyone, but I for one wouldn't let be my primary for playing games as I still don't mind buying them as I'm more of a game collector in the digital realm.

@davillain: speaking of Ravenlok, they love that their game is on Game Pass. Just announced their numbers.

Thank you Phil!

Thanks Phil!

^This is what happens when GamePass wanks off another 4/10 game versus a fully-fledged, AAA-quality, €60 Nintendo title. And I am not even bringing Sony into this to prove my point.

How dare you resort to grounded logic. I am offended.😂

@Pedro: Here in SW? No way😏😎

What these devs need to do is offer microtransactions in their games to offset the lower sales lol.

the devs are already compensated for putting their titles in Game Pass.. that said, some devs see increased sales due to exposure and some devs say that sales were negatively affected..

in either case, the dev already made a deal that they were comfortable with in the very beginning.. and since more and more 3rd party devs are putting their games in Game Pass on Day One, i'd say that the service is working out for just about everyone involved..

though a dev who released a 6/10 complaining about lack of sales seems like a strange hill to die on.. sounds more like them trying to place the blame elsewhere instead of maybe creating a more compelling game..

I think it boils down to IF a game is good and has replayability it will do well in sales even if it is on gamepass (Descenders is an example of this). If a game is mediocre and does not have replayability then people MAY try it on GP and decide they don't like it and not buy it. I miss the days when most games released demos so you could try something before you guy it..Gamepass kind of helps correct that

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/descenders-weekly-unit-sales-increased-five-times-since-being-on-xbox-game-pass

How exactly does a dev know whether gamepass hurt sales, rather than releasing the game the standard way? Or helped sales? Seems like you could possibly guess based on projected sales, or maybe people just don't like the game? Imagine arkane blaming gamepass for redfalls low sales lol

some games are multiplatform.. so i'd imagine they can work the maths and figure out how Game Pass affected sales..

@randy_lahey: Never did care about MC at the slightest as it doesn't tell me the whole story on the game unless I play it myself. Only Sony fans care for such a thing.

But hey, I'm just a simple PC gamer, so what do I know about MC?