Game developers are speaking up in defense of Xbox Game Pass in the wake of the subscription service’s most recent price hikes, specifically on its importance for indie discoverability.
“I can attest personally that people on Game Pass actually do try out small indie games, to the tune of staggering numbers,” Bulwark solodev Tomas Sala writes on Twitter, responding to an argument that price increases could reflect Microsoft‘s commitment to making Game Pass work [via GamesIndustry.biz]. “On top of that, more platforms, with more diverse business models, with more diverse deal types, actually makes for more opportunities for indie devs. Not less.”
It makes sense that many Xbox fans have not taken the news lightly. It feels like just yesterday that the Game Pass prices went up again right before Starfield launched – to absolutely no one’s surprise. But Sala offers a different perspective to assertions that “Game Pass has irreversibly damaged the industry”, as Twitter user Ryan T. Brown says.
Sala isn’t the only indie developer clapping back at those declaring the death of Game Pass and Xbox as we knew it. Citizen Sleeper designer Gareth Damian Martin was quick to challenge Ryan’s viewpoint in a reply Tweet: “Game Pass has been an important part of Citizen Sleeper’s success and has led to more players buying the game, not less. Without Game Pass there would have been no opportunity to do the sequel. I know many indies whose projects have massively benefited.”
Martin goes on to explain the rare breadth of mass circulation afforded to indie devs from being a part of Xbox Game Pass, and it’s not all about the bottom line. “Thinking of the value of games as purely financially driven is wrong,” Martin says. “People give incredible value to games they love, and they find those games on Game Pass when they never would have encountered them [before]. This raises the devs’ profile, gains fans, and GP financially rewards indies.”
While Martin is right that games shouldn’t be all about the money, and that Game Pass offers near priceless outreach potential for indie studios and their games, this does feel like a best case scenario. After all, success on the subscription service hasn’t always meant such great things for smaller Microsoft-owned studios. RIP Tango Gameworks, creators of Game Pass breakout hit Hi-Fi Rush, as just one example.
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