A surprising source has shed some light on Microsoft’s Game Pass program, from the perspective of the developers.
As reported by Windows Central, a former Microsoft Senior Business Development Manager named Iain MacIntyre has shared this in his LinkedIn profile:
Negotiated 500+ deals ranging from $50k to over $50m, securing both indie hits and AAA titles for Game Pass.
Iain was in this position for nearly seven years, and spent nearly 12 years in the company. Windows Central’s Jez Corden links this to live service titles like League of Legends, Valorant, and Fortnite. But we can think of a few single player titles and studios that owe a lot to this program.
One rumor has it that Leenzee Games made so much money from their Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Game Pass deal that they were already able to start development of their next game from it. This means, regardless of how well Wuchang: Fallen Feathers will perform in the market, the deal has already made it worth it for the studio.
And then, there’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. This game literally came at risk of cancellation after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Studio GSC Game World revealed their struggles to rebuild and complete development in a documentary produced by Microsoft. It’s clear that Microsoft Gaming, and its head Phil Spencer, personally stepping in as their publisher rescued the game, so that we could play it today.
Of course, this all feels awkward to talk about as we have seen the latest round of Microsoft layoffs play out. The negative online sentiment around Microsoft in this time has led to the discourse around Game Pass itself resurfacing. No less than Raphaël Colantonio, founder of Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios, called Game Pass unsustainable.
However, even if Colantonio and other developers are active in the industry, and they’re free to share their opinion, they didn’t really know how factually correct this claim is. Christopher Dring of The Game Business recently had to declare that Game Pass is profitable, after verifying Microsoft’s accounting and their figures from some sources in the company. Dring had been told that Microsoft doesn’t factor in the costs of sales to their first party games in accounting Game Pass’ profits and liabilities. But as it turns out, the subscription business still makes more than enough money to cover those costs anyway.
While these numbers may seem big, one may remember that Microsoft plans to spend $ 80 billion on their AI investment. The arguments on whether subscription services, live service games, or single player games are sustainable may not really matter when weighed against this.
In any case, Microsoft Gaming’s future is certainly unclear, given how little we anticipated their parent company’s cuts, and the scale they were willing to do them. We hope that Microsoft can still fund special projects like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and not just be forced to only work with indies. But that’s something that we can only hope for the best as we see it play out.
