Solo developer Davionne Gooden has been talking about his surreal adventure RPG She Dreams Elsewhere in a talk at GDC Summer, highlighting the impact of his game being selected for Xbox Game Pass (via GamesIndustry.biz).
She Dreams Elsewhere will be coming to Xbox One and PC when it releases with Xbox Game Pass later in 2020, and Gooden revealed that the game was selected for the service following an ID@Xbox open house event last year, resulting in "the biggest financial deal I've ever gotten":
"After the ID@Xbox open house, I got a few little hints that I was going to get a Game Pass deal, but I didn't really know what that meant or what it involved.
"It was formally offered in October 2019, and it was pretty huge. It's still the biggest financial deal I've ever gotten, to the point where I had to ask them to repeat the numbers on the phone call."
While Gooden was unable to talk about specifics aside from "upfront support" as well as "a bonus system of sorts, too," he noted that the Game Pass deal has ultimately proven essential for the project:
"Until that point I'd been bootstrapping. The game was funded out of pocket, through videography gigs and other one-off hustles. I was also doing publisher negotiations at the time, too, and the Game Pass deal allowed me to fund the rest of the game, make it profitable, and still do everything I wanted to do with a publisher, without having to get a publisher."
Pleased to see indies getting financial support through Xbox Game Pass? Let us know your thoughts below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 20
This is the right move. For both parties.
There is so much indie games avalaibles right now, on every store possible...
How can someone make it profitable ? Even make its game noticed by the players ?
Enters the gamepass. I can only imagine that there is some kind of quality requirements, like... if your game is good, it can be noticed by Microsoft. And they'll push it on the gamepass.
And for the player, since you have paid for the subscription anyway, this is a great way to discover these titles that you would have not even known, without this system.
Nice to hear of a small company getting a big payday.
@Bobobiwan It’s great to see small indie developers/creators can now get their projects completed after getting funded generously for services like gamepass.
This clears up the doubts about what Game Pass entails for small developers. They get a generous amount of money upfront and then there is an incentive depending on the game's success. It's just fair and this is not the first indie developer to say it. I just hope that Microsoft checks the quality of every game before offering a Game Pass deal so that Game Pass doesn't become an Android/Switch store.
@BlueOcean - I imagine they do check every game right now, if they will when the volume grows significantly further remains to be seen.
I like what MS is doing for the indie developers.
And the game sounds like something that would h d been hidden; now it’s out there. Sounds like something up my alley to.
@BlueOcean @Jaxx420 I don't think that will be a problem since Microsoft looks to be keeping the amount of games available "small" (if you can count 100+ games small).
It's not as if Microsoft plans to expand the entire store to Game Pass. It's a carefully curated list of games that some team at Microsoft is closely monitoring to ensure it doesn't become a shovelware monster.
@GamingFan4Lyf Right now yep, but as Xcloud expands, those who do not have a console will be wanting access to a similar amount of content.
That will be the critical point then - what do they do at that stage - but I agree and hope they will stick to the current model.
This is great! I love to hear that Microsoft is making it easy for developers to get their games on Game Pass.
I was skeptical about gamepass for a long time, since I like physical copies of games... but now that I have it, I can truly see it’s value. Being able to play halo with my friends on pc (GP Ultimate)without having to buy it again is great, plus trying out all these indies has been a blast. (Shoutout to the Touryst)
It won’t replace me getting physical games on other systems, but Xbox changed everything here.
@Jaxx420 xCloud doesn't have to have the same game library as Game Pass, though.
@GamingFan4Lyf I agree and I hope so. I want Game Pass to be a collection of first-party game, AAA third-party games and carefully selected indie games like it currently is 😊. I played Yoku's Island Express last night for the first time because it's leaving Game Pass and it's a good game.
Great news! I am looking forward to trying his game!
@flummerfelt It's great value indeed and will be even better when Xbox Game Studios start releasing new games 🥳.
Nice story to read
Love this. Kind of squashes the “game pass is bad for developers” sentiment. Kind of! Just like how Netflix means more cool content creation, consumption and overall funding for the industry, it does change the dynamics for those who don’t get a deal.
@flummerfelt Exactly how I felt, I was quite sceptical... However, I got 3 months of Gamepass Ultimate included when I got my console so I sort oh well let's try it out and it's been great since...
A few Xbox One games I really like I have continued to buy physically and I still get Switch games physically where possible, it less it's E-shop only and due to the very real storage limitations...
It's a strong circle: Dev gets money upfront so they don't have to worry about sales projections, a bonus for each download and it in turn adds value to Game Pass for Microsoft and gamers.
I don't mind the merry-go-round of games either. First party games won't ever disappear from the service and if you really want to keep playing the game when it's gone there is an incentive to buy it, adding value for developers.
I try out so many more games that I otherwise would never buy. I really like having Game Pass so far.
I honestly don't get how game pass and playstation now benefit big developers, for example let's say the new halo is on game pass, how much money do they recieve?
Vs say selling 5 million copies at £40 each? So £200 million vs game pass money
Tap here to load 20 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...