Subscriptions will "unlock the market to weirder things," says Outer Wilds dev

From GI.biz: "Outer Wilds is sometimes described as an experimental game, with players piecing together the game's narrative by reliving a solar system's last 22 minutes again and again. While that experimental streak has been recognized in the game itself -- the Innovation Award is just one of five GDC Awards Outer Wilds is in the running for this year -- developer Mobius Digital has been similarly experimental in how it's brought the game to market."

[Obscure_Observer]

Co-creative lead Loan Verneau:

"We're on Game Pass for Xbox, and it's been really awesome because I think it's brought a lot of players to the game who would not have known about it otherwise," he says. "So I think that's been a big shift. The same way it's changed the TV and movie worlds, the subscription system is also going to impact the game industry very significantly. We're starting to see that, and starting to see it maybe unlock the market to weirder things and more original things that would have been more risky beforehand."

Gamepass, loved by gamers AND developers.

[King_Noctis]

According to the N4G people, you’re totally wrong. Game Pass is cancer and is killing tons of developers and publishers.

[FanboyPolice]

It's amazing that people disagrees with this. What kind of blind consumers are the gamers becoming. This is exactly why loot-boxes, microtransactions and GaaS have made their way through so easily. I'm not sure if is the gaming consumers in general or just this website.

[Spurg]

A gamer who cannot afford some of the expensive games out there can now do so with gamepass

[FanboyPolice]

In my times, I had to pirate to get games. I had no other way to get them. It's amazing that now we have this choice, giving those who cannot afford games an awesome list of games that besides of being downloadable, you can play OFFLINE. XGP is simply awesome. Best thing that have happened to gaming since Humble Store monthly service.

[nucky64]

so, you're saying stealing is ok if you can't afford something.............uh, huh.

[ReVibe]

@nucky64 stealing is stealing and you're massively disrespecting those who put talent into the game, but allow me to play devils advocate on one point. Games are in indefinite supply, (unless you're R* and you "run out of keys.") Can wheat and rice be duplicated? Livestock, cotton, minerals, etc? These things have to be sourced.
A game is developed, then copied to kingdom-come. Yet still, the farm must be maintained and the workers paid.
IMO its the farmers (the devs) that much like in farming, get the shit end of the stick at the end of the day.

So yeah... pirating sucks, but it's not like you're stealing finite resources, so disrespect and undermine people you'll never know at your own discretion. Edit: Try before you buy if you have a heart. Ain't no shame in that.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Why not just advertise the smaller indie developers more when you open the store or on the gui? Why do they need to be in a service?

Seeing it for free and a demo for the games is better than paying monthly just to browse.

[UltraNova]

I'm not sure how games on gamepass are promoted but I'd bet anyone that small indie games will get buried under AAAs that have to get traction to justify them being on the service (especially day 1 ) to begin with.

I don't know...gamepass seems like something that's too good to be true.

[Atom666]

It's still got to be better than the alternative.

Advertising can only do so much, especially when there is only so much space to go around. When steam, PSN, Xbox, and Nintendo storefronts have thousands of games competing for exposure, it gets tough to stand out.

We're getting a dozen plus games released on these digital stores each week. We are constantly hearing complaints from devs of all sizes about being buried on these stores.

With the subs, they are given more exposure by being in a smaller, more curated group, and they get a check up front for being there.

It's still not going to be easy to stand out, but it's got to be a better situation than being dumped into the bottomless storefronts that currently exist with no guaranteed revenue.

[UltraNova]

Atom,

Valid points, but the fact remains - we know nothing about how MS compensates devs( one off upfront fee only? Some kind of sum depending on total downloads, both?) for putting games on GP. So if we cant know the economics behind GP we ultimately don't know if its viable.

[Atom666]

It's upfront payments, same as PS Plus and GWG or Netflix. Here's one discussion about it where devs dispel the rumors that it's based on the Spotify model or hours spent:

https://www.gamesindustry.b...

That's why some of the devs making Gaas games complain a bit.

[Godmars290]

"Why do they need to be in a service?"
For companies to have a set, recurring revenue source. To retain game ownership once subscriptions become common and raise game prices to make the service even more appealing.

[Fritzwochel]

Outer wilds is fucking awesome. Hope there will be a sequel <3

[AshleeEmerson]

I'm pretty sure these developers get a pretty penny upfront and a small residual bonus up to a certain point and probably another bonus depending if they reach a certain monthly or quarterly number. It's nothing wrong with Michael soft and Sony trying this is scription Base Service out but the issue is how many games get released at a time.

We will see more games in the future with higher-quality DLC and built for longevity.