Here's How Much Xbox Game Pass Paid For An Indie Game

Microsoft paid an indie studio a major sum of money in order to add its game to the Xbox Game Pass library.

The game in question is Cooking Simulator. Originally released on Steam back in 2019, the game will now be added to the Xbox Game Pass catalog. In its report, developer Big Cheese Studio has revealed the exact amount of money it has received from Microsoft in return for putting the game on its service.

[TheLordOfStuff]

They got paid $600k in a one of payment, equal to 22% of their previous fiscal year.

[PhillyDillyDee]

600k

[Jin_Sakai]

$600,000 or 22% of the games entire revenue from the previous year. But I was told we should buys games and support the developers because they don’t get paid well on Game Pass.

[DarXyde]

That is a disingenuous and myopic framing.

The arguments people typically make are about day & date, and this is a 3-year old clearly budget indie game.

Developers can* make money, but you really need to put some qualifiers around that. D&D is helpful for titles that would otherwise need the exposure and is acceptable for games that are live services. Single player high quality title though? Non.

A game like this would be fine on XGP, but let's not discuss these things without nuance.

[gamer7804]

The variables change to much to translate this to any other game. What’s the duration on gamepass. When does the game release. Not just how much money they got. It’s the developer/publishers choice, no one is forcing them to put their games on gamepass. It’s just another option.

[KillBill]

Except your take on the argument only makes it more so a point that Game Pass support is a good thing. As this is a good figure even for a 3 year old (2 years old on Xbox) title. Had it received the support of Game Pass day 1 then likely its revenue earnings would have had much larger accumulation. Though in hindsight a resurgence of the game in the market is also a viable look to their approach here.

[DarXyde]

KillBill,

Did you read my post clearly? You write:

"Except your take on the argument only makes it more so a point that Game Pass support is a good thing. As this is a good figure even for a 3 year old (2 years old on Xbox) title."

In response to my comment:

"A game like this would be fine on XGP, but let's not discuss these things without nuance."

I was taking issue with Jin_Sakai suggesting developers do get paid well on XGP. Certainly possible, but that is a blanket statement and I don't think that applies generally. For this game, as I clearly mentioned, sure.

I'm curious to know why you believe it would have done better as a Day 1 XGP title. Based on what, exactly? I can't say I would have any evidence to support that.

[S2Killinit]

I think the argument is that quality games will die with gamepass model. If your game is filler, you would probably be able to negotiate a good contract with MS, on a case by case basis. (Not that this one is a good contract because we would need all the details)

[InUrFoxHole]

What quality games have died with gamepass?

[S2Killinit]

The ones that MS hasnt made since… well I guess it started back from the second half of the 360 generation. Those ones.

[gangsta_red]

@s2killinit

You're answer is pretty vague...Which games from the 360 era and how are they related to Game Pass?

[S2Killinit]

Its vague only if you’ve had your head up in a green cloud for a generation and a half.

[gangsta_red]

Then you won't mind providing a bit more context with actual points to back up your claim.

But something tells me you'll comeback with another "I'm not doing the research" type of comment.

[S2Killinit]

No research is needed its been pretty evident.

[BrainSyphoned]

Jin is my favorite professional straw grasper.

[garryxcs]

This is one instance and not representative of the entirety of games MS pays to put on gamepass.

[Palitera]

They have more than 30 people in-house.
600k is burned down like paper in an IT company of this size.

[neutralgamer1992]

Jin

That's not what we say that's what the CEO's of biggest publishers in gaming are saying. This is why Ms have invested close to 90 billion to acquire talent and games

https://www.videogameschron...

So let's see should I take someone on a gaming site more seriously or the CEO of one of the biggest gaming publishers. Unlike us his only affiliation is business and not a plastic box being a fanboy

You blaming others JIN is like Ms blaming Sony for holding back games from GPZ only got it to be 100% denied

They can't depend on 3rd parties and pay per game basis and make a profit. This way they own the talent and the IP's. Also what worries me is we may see Ms push out games early and support more AA games to make GP stand out more

[rlow1]

On you being worried about MS pushing games out early.
Starfield and Redfall say hello.
Xbox took a lot of flak for that but they took it on the chin and did the right thing. So I would think by their actions, they are making sure the games are cooking as long as they need to.

[Christopher]

Because every Indie developer is getting paid $600k to put their just as good Indie games on Game Pass, right?

[InUrFoxHole]

Are you trying to imply, you think they'll get more or less?

[RabbitFly]

You have no basis for saying 22% is alot or even fair.

The problem is more about the Future of gaming.

You cannot claim that gamepass is good value and at the same time say devs get payed well. The system only works as long as the number of adopters is low. As such the idea that one should buy into gamepass because it is good value is flawed. The system can only survive an increase in popularity bu either removing revenue from the benefactors (publishers and developers) or increase the price to q point where the subscription concept of gamepass No longer makes sense.

Gamepass is a marketing ploy. And it is the good old "the first one is free" in New clothes. As such it brings nothing good to the industry, but has the potential to be devestating.

[fr0sty]

Getting paid less than a quarter of what your game made the previous year is supposed to be a win how?

[gangsta_red]

People are quick to believe and tell you that GP ruins games, doesn't support the developers, stiffens quality and isn't sustainable with less context than this article to base those opinions on.

But to actually get some numbers, multiple devs praising GP, and more games new and old being released to GP , this seems to never be taken into account. Why demand more context now, when your original opinion of GP had nothing solid to lean on from the beginning?

[brewin]

Well there goes that narrative. Games still make money on Gamepass. Just as movies still make money on netflix. Shocking. Sad that some people try and argue the service somehow degrades the quality of a game because it's on Gamepass. Games are more likely to find their audience on there. That's a win win. I know it's painful for Fanboys to admit that Microsoft got something right, but the facts are that Gamepass is wonderful for companies and for gamers.

[gamer7804]

Right it’s just another revenue model for games to choose from they just gotta figure out the amount of money vs amount of time On Gamepass and if a game releases on pc and ps then it’s not a bad option. People complaining about options…

[RickRoland]

Games make money…if they’re indie or filler. High budget games still benefit from actual sales. This reinforces the narrative that game pass has a bunch of junk on the service. A one time payment of 600K which is 22% of their previous years earnings….so basically unless they keep selling this game at the same clip (which they probably won’t since now people can play it on game pass)…that 600K will be their last big windfall with the title. Your sales trends no longer can be forecast once you join gamepass. Good luck!

[MadLad]

Except many devs have already stated they benefit from being on Gamepass, and that their games still sell while on Gamepass, the money given to them helped the studio, and they get a significant bump of sales on the discount had when exiting Gamepass.

Devs aren't obligated to praise Gamepass, yet many have.

[thesoftware730]

So no one on PC or PlayStation will buy it now that it's on GP? You should look at it as this is their big windfall on MS platform, which is an instant 600k..and the possibility of someone actually purchasing it adding even more money above the 600k.

[Malacath]

And yet publishers keep putting their games on there.

They must be making enough money off game pass to make up for the lost sales or they just wouldn't put their games on there.

I'm quite sure different games have different deals and a high budget game would get way more than than $600,000 especially if it's put on there day one. They would not only get enough to cover lost sales but if the games good enough a lot of subscribers would end up buying the game when the contract ends and it's taken off the service.

[Kyizen]

The amount of times I heard..."I would of bought that game but didn't cause it might be on gamepass" or I am glad I didn't buy that game since it is on gamepass"

[DOMination-]

For an indie game, I think its more beneficial. For an obscure title like.. its probably way better to have the exposure and a share of 25 million sub money than selling 20,000 units at full price (don't forget digital sales sacrifice up to 30% to the store vendor ie. Sony/Microsoft/Valve/Epic etc.)

Third party AAA is where things are going to be interesting. It is clear they are going to struggle moving forwards unless they adopt a F2P/MTX model. Hence the attraction for acquisitions.

First party is very different. Especially for MS who make $20BN PROFIT every QUARTER.

Sorry to piggyback your specific comment, it wasn't because I disagree or anything, I just felt it was the most relevant to re[ply to.

[gold_drake]

what narrative?
we all knew that MS had to pay a certain amount of money to get games on GP.

if it works out money wise for publishers is besides the point. theres a good chance you'd be loosing out on money if your game really takes off and ppl only play it on GP.

[MadLad]

Not to mention many devs have openly stated the games see a sale boost upon leaving the service. There's a lot of people who typically wouldn't go out and buy a game physically, try it because it comes with a service they already pay for, end up really liking it, and then buying it anyway because they ended up loving it and want it in their collection.

[garryxcs]

I'm not at all surprised some people are trying to use one example of deal MS made to bolster their argument but it's a hollow attempt, this one game is not representative of every deal made for every game on gamepass and what's "fanboying" is thinking that it is. As far as the service degrading games well if you truly believe Cooking Simulator is a highlight for gamepass then I guess there's nothing I can say that will help you.

[garryxcs]

@Sumbdone

Your complete and utter nonsense aside, I'll have to check out Hollow Knight as it's free on PS Plus Extra, thanks for the recommendation.

[FanboysKiller]

It's an unethical move , don't pity them.

[FanboysKiller]

It's about making choices , if you liked something and they pulled it from the service then you'll make the choice , numbers don't lie , there's no other side for this topic except the made-up stories , otherwise , you shouldn't see what happened.

[Germaximus]

looks like they got gipped to me

[RickRoland]

Yep and that 22% MS paid from their previous years earnings will be the reason that 600K will be 60% of their earnings for the next year when sales drop off due to the fact that nobody has to buy the game anymore.

[JEECE]

Also in the future when MS approaches them (having finalized deals on several publishers and therefore far less in need of third-party content) and offers them $200-300k for their next game, they will have to take it, because people have been conditioned that indie games = "Gamepass games," so they aren't going to be able to sell their game on Xbox in any kind of significant numbers.

[thesoftware730]

Again that makes no sense.

Your logic implies that if a game comes to gamepass(the lowest selling platform of the 3 by unit sales)PS and PC users will not buy it.

There are 3 competing systems against MS, the game has made 600k from one platform and you make that a negative lol.

[arkard]

@thesoftware gamepass is on pc to, so that argument makes no sense.

[rlow1]

Game came out in 2019. Don’t you think they already saw their sales drop. Especially after the pandemic?

[Godmars290]

@thesoftware730:
You're missing that if GP becomes more popular, becomes the leading means to access games, then both MS will pay less to get titles on it and games will sell less on other platforms.

[BrainSyphoned]

They have already sold 700k at $20(give or take sales) copies over 3 years. I know this is hard to grasp for the Sakai out there but double dipping off M$ is good, selling way less that 700,000 copies as a day one GP release and getting less dollars than units moved is bad.

[Yang_kai]

I’m surprised that no one is talking about the little tidbit at the end of the article about Colombia and Ireland stores having a option for family game pass to be independently share between 4 accounts 🤷🏿

[porkChop]

They didn't actually read the article. All they did was skim for a number.

[jznrpg]

There is absolutely no context here . Let’s see the numbers for all games and all years profit and of the numbers all durations do the deals . 22% of previous year doesn’t mean crap .
We need the full picture not something leaked by MS to make them look better .
How long does that 600k last? So many factors to this story means nothing without context and other games to compare it to with all of the years of profit with all games, time frames etc etc .

And the biggest issue is you get whatever Gamepass gives you . And wait for it no say in games please be on gamepas . This is a perfect example . You want MS spending 600k on cooking simulator ? That’s filler if I ever heard of filler

[porkChop]

"We need the full picture not something leaked by MS to make them look better ."

Leaked by MS? Riiight... A legal financial report publicly filed by the developer. Somehow that's a leak from MS.

"How long does that 600k last? So many factors to this story"

How long does that $600k last? What kind of question is that? I didn't realize you have a right to know how a developer spends their own money.

"And the biggest issue is you get whatever Gamepass gives you . And wait for it no say in games please be on gamepas ."

You don't get to choose what games are on any of PS Plus' 3 tiers. You don't get to choose what content goes on literally any subscription service. You're framing it as uniquely a MS issue which makes absolutely no sense.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

600k yikes gamepass is mostly for indies and other games in my opinion.

[Elda]

As of now that's the only current genre of games that release on Gamepass & most of those games are lackluster with the exception of one or two titles. Any AAA games that release on the service are usually old including no releases of new XB AAA exclusives for this entire year.

[northpaws]

And then when they release a sequel, what would happen? Gamers will wait for it to comes to gamepass, instead of buying it. And it doesn't even have to be good, because it is a lump sum payment. In the long run, they earn less and quality goes down.

Anyways, said what I needed to say, if you guys don't see it then whatever, have a good day.

[LoveSpuds]

That seems like a lot for such an old, mediocre title that I doubt will gain any traction on Gamepass.

If they are paying that kind of money for a title like that then I can't help but wonder what they are having to pay for a day one release for a decent game. It does reinforce me in my perception that there is no way this is sustainable.

At some point, shareholders will no longer be willing to eat the costs of this kind of service.

[porkChop]

How is it not sustainable? Game Pass has more than 25 million subscribers. Even if we assume 20% are using $1 promos, that's still $200 million every month. And that's not accounting for GP Ultimate subs. You really think they're spending $200 million every month to add a few new games?

[Chevalier]

Because you don't know all the cost involved. Highly doubt they do $200 million a month. Not only do they have $1 offers they also sell Gamepass at discounts on sales like on Black Friday regularly.

Netflix for example needed almost 15 years and 200 million subscribers to finally pull a profit. Netflix is spending like $10 billion in content a year. If Gamepass were profitable after being available for 5 years Spencer would have already said so to dispel any perceived advantage they could get. They haven't ever said it's profitable yet, because it's not.

[porkChop]

Ah, yes. Netflix. The typical talking point. Netflix's profitability issues are not comparable to GP. They create dozens of new shows and movies every year, each of which cost as much to produce as the average game.

Netflix's streaming service is their entire business. They have no other way to monetize the content they create, which is a huge problem considering how much money they spend creating so much content.

They also have to curate thousands of movies and tv shows from other companies, and keep them on the service for far longer than GP. If a show is on Netflix, they're continually paying to keep every season on until the final season is out.

Netflix is a far more expensive service to run, and has fundamental issues that GP doesn't. They are not as comparable as you think they are.

[rlow1]

So Phil has said that each deal on GP is unique to the publisher and the type of game. Which means a Triple A title will be different to an indie game.

So this game came out in 2019 and coming off the pandemic in which most companies and services have reported a drop. Which translates to slower sales, so it’s very likely this was a nice boosts for them income wise.

Even if they had lost sales by being on gamepass. The exposure they get leading into their next game will be a big benefit. I’ve never heard of them nor this game. But If I try it on Gamepass and like it. When they come out with something newer, they’ll have people like myself ready to buy.

Lastly, unless you know the deals and money made or lost on GP everyone including myself are just speculating. People on here are so convinced their view is correct no matter what side of the argument their on.

You really need hard data and the article above is the closest thing to it. They said it fell into their profits category so by that logic they made money.

[Donjune]

Gamepass kicks ass!

[Elda]

LOL! Why?

[darkrider]

Not multiply for hundreds of indie games... Millions for AA games and how much for a triple A game there from a this party?