Outriders, the sci-fi shooter title from People Can Fly and Square Enix, failed to turn a profit in 2021, it has been revealed. As discussed in Kotaku and first reported in TweakTown, People Can Fly has shared its director’s report on the business’ operations.
The findings shed some interesting light on the state of financial affairs for the studio as a result of Outriders‘ poor performance. However, the studio is committed to continuing to support the title through post-launch DLC, in accordance with the deal struck with Square Enix in the first place.
The report explains that since Outriders went on sale on April 1st 2021, the game simply hasn’t proved profitable enough for People Can Fly to see a return on their efforts.
The Group received no royalties from the publisher for the period to December 31st 2021, which means that as at the reporting date net proceeds from the sale of Outriders were insufficient to recover the costs and expenses incurred by the publisher to develop, distribute and promote the title. This was confirmed by the royalty statement for the fourth quarter of 2021, received by
People Can Fly
the Group from the publisher.
One of the main statements of interest revolves around the fact that as of the end of 2021, the developers had received no royalties from the game’s publisher, Square Enix. This is put down to the fact that the game didn’t sell sufficient units to generate royalties for People Can Fly.
In addition, the report also doesn’t shed much positive light on the future profitability of the IP, stating that “there can be no assurance that net proceeds from the sale of Outriders in future periods will be sufficient for the publisher to recover the costs incurred and to pay royalties to the Group.”
Whether or not Outriders can claw back some financial success for the developers remains to be seen. The game is currently available on Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC and Stadia.
