There’s little doubt that Microsoft has been trying to “figure itself out” among gamers to try and woo them over to their side. After all, even with their “big purchases,” they still don’t have the “established names” that can carry them from year to year. In fact, that’s why they made purchases like Activision Blizzard, so they could expand their roster immensely. However, one way that they’ve tried to “fight back” is through the Xbox Game Pass. They’ve used its low price to bring in developers and gamers alike. With Lies of P, the team behind it believed that it was a huge part of their success.
The game’s director, Jiwon Choi, talked with GameRant about this and noted that it was: “one of the best options for us to get the game into the hands of a large community of players.”
By that, he referred to how if you have a “day one” entry on Xbox Game Pass, there is already a community of players that are likely willing to try the game out a bit as they only have to download the title and then play it. That matters because titles like Lies of P didn’t have waves of “hype” going into it or had an established franchise name outside of using the Pinocchio character. Even then, that’s not exactly a “game seller,” if you will. But through Xbox Game Pass, gamers could test it out without having to pay more, which made them not feel any “buyer’s remorse.”
That instant community helped spread the word of how fun the game is, and that led to its overall success and the greenlighting of a sequel. Choi confirmed that fact in the interview:
“I cannot reveal the exact number here, but a huge number of gamers have played our game through Xbox Game Pass. I believe both parties earned a very good result from this collaboration.”
While this may be the case, many aren’t as willing to drop their title on Xbox Game Pass. For example, Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t be there as Larian Studios stated they made a “large game,” and it’s worth the price. It also should be noted that Xbox didn’t have high hopes for that title and didn’t WANT to pursue it going onto Xbox Game Pass. Oops.
Whether the Xbox Game Pass is “good for the industry” is still up for debate, but in this case, it did help this gaming team, and that’s to be praised.
