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Devolver Digital passed on Game Pass/PS+ deals, It says subscription revenue is down after it rejected agreements that "undervalued" it games
- Thread starter Smitch
- Start date
I mean, owning a 5% won't make them choose their business decisions.
The subscription revenue being down after refusing subscription deals isn't news.
The interesting info here is that Devolver refused these deals cause they felt the offers undervalued their games. Considering that MS was thinking BG3 on gamepass was worth paying $5 million for, I'd guess Devolver's games would be marked far lower.
The interesting info here is that Devolver refused these deals cause they felt the offers undervalued their games. Considering that MS was thinking BG3 on gamepass was worth paying $5 million for, I'd guess Devolver's games would be marked far lower.
It's good that Devolver is trying to fight for a fair deal for their games, but I think they're in the position where a game pass/PS+ might be better than nothing in all honesty.
Sadly game subscription services could end up the sake way as film/tv/music where the revenues continually shrink meaning the smallest players are not making enough out of it while the big fish can demand whatever amounts they want.
Sadly game subscription services could end up the sake way as film/tv/music where the revenues continually shrink meaning the smallest players are not making enough out of it while the big fish can demand whatever amounts they want.
Carrion was on Game Pass, right? I think I remember that being a thing. I can't imagine MS throwing that much money their way for a game like that. Neat as it was.
Didn't we have a thread on this? I can't find it anymore for some reason, but I thought we knew this.
Edit: we did
www.resetera.com
Where most people were brushing this off and saying Devolver was just hit by delays, but when I looked at the stock price drop timing it clearly wasn't from delay announcements
Edit: we did
[GIBiz] Weaker subscription deals have hit indie publishers, says analyst
Smaller subscription deals and the underperformance of certain titles have had a severe impact on Devolver and TinyBuild, says stockbroking firm Goodbody. Both companies floated at the peak of the games business in 2021 and have seen their share prices plummet over the past two years. Devolver...
www.resetera.com
Where most people were brushing this off and saying Devolver was just hit by delays, but when I looked at the stock price drop timing it clearly wasn't from delay announcements
I would imagine if they got a good offer one of the PS/Xbox platforms would've got priority.
Netflix probably offering more money than Sony and MS tbf, which seems to be DD's problem more so than the actual services. Netflix are trying to break in to the industry whereas Sony and MS probably aren't throwing lots around for the smaller stuff anymore.
I can see that being the case too, with the focus obviously being on the big AAA releases and day-one XGS content (in the case of Game Pass).
It's kinda ironic as indie games have been the vast majority of what I played and enjoyed whenever i subscribed to Game Pass/PS+. It's the sort of stuff I might not have noticed/bought otherwise.
Look at sub services across Music and TV/film. It doesn't benefit the creators or distributors in the long run 9/10 times.
Yikes, that seems to say they lost close to $100 million over the last year?
I have been concerned that subscription services will lead to games being devalued, much as has happened with spotify. I think it's a little less likely because it's not like everything is on gampass like is the case for streaming music service.
I have been concerned that subscription services will lead to games being devalued, much as has happened with spotify. I think it's a little less likely because it's not like everything is on gampass like is the case for streaming music service.
Good luck to their business decisions but for me personally I'm too swamped with game pass games that trying their games out is not an option for me.
Probably. I'm not sure how much Sludge Life 2, Terra Nil or Bleak Sword DX would have been offered..
My initial reaction is "good" because not everything should be on these subscription services. It might be good to start pushing back against that because of what we're seeing with rising prices with video/media subscription services while getting less and less for it.
"The expert just said its worth $50,000 but its just not a very popular genre. Its going to just be sitting around my eshop collecting dust. The best I can do is $10,000."
Devolver is legit my favorite publisher
Glad to see them holding their games to the standard it should. They put out better games than any of the major publishers.
Glad to see them holding their games to the standard it should. They put out better games than any of the major publishers.
I imagine smaller games get undervalued fairly often on Gamepass/PS+, sadly.
I don't think folks are getting less and less for Gamepass though so I'm not sure how that makes sense.
I don't think folks are getting less and less for Gamepass though so I'm not sure how that makes sense.
It's a gamble either way. I commend them on their stance, but there are just too many good games readily available for many people to pay theirs any mind. Unless they launch something that can capture the zeitgeist, I'm afraid they'll just end up with more underperforming games than not. Too many of those and it's layoffs or closures, the worst possible outcomes.
From what we've heard about how sub services work, at least Netflix (maybe Gamepass) is that devs/publishers are paid upfront what the service expects their games to sell/bring in, which is why it can be a lucrative proposition for them by having sales expectations essentially handed to them right off the bat. But if they feel their games are being undervalued and that amount doesn't reflect their sales expectations then we get into this situation
At least at Steam most of their games don't have trouble selling. MS and Sony should just offer more
That's always part of the point with these services: devalue art and entertainment to where essentially most of it is worthless and then reshape the market around that. Devolver may be an outlier now, but more stories like this will come. It probably won't be a total 1:1 to how streaming and subs destroyed other mediums, but it'll be similar. That's part of the design
I wish Devolver luck in their push back.
All these sub services exist to 'eventually' squeeze the creators of content by undervaluing them, whilst trapping them in the only box that exists for consumers to pick product from. Then the consumers get squeezed for their sub fees because there will be no where else to goto to find product. The sub service's shareholders then make off like criminals.
All these sub services exist to 'eventually' squeeze the creators of content by undervaluing them, whilst trapping them in the only box that exists for consumers to pick product from. Then the consumers get squeezed for their sub fees because there will be no where else to goto to find product. The sub service's shareholders then make off like criminals.
Yeah, unfortunately. I know a lot of people make fun of people here for asking how Game Pass is sustainable but it's really a fair question when streaming services across the board have made people ask the same questions. Subscription providers need content but they also undervalue the content they're providing, so it's tough.
I think Devolver Digital is in an interesting spot because they are not a small indie studio that would likely more happy about the upfront compensation and visibility that subscription service inclusion might create. We've read many positive comments from those small studios. Devolver though is a publisher and in the middle ground between the studios and platform holders. If they can get behind good games like Cult of the Lamb and Plucky Squire, they'll sell even if not on a subscription service. But it's not an easy task either. Devolver certainly will have pressure to achieve strong sales given there are always so many games to play and 'I can wait' is a common attitude especially towards indie games. Maybe they can put some back catalogue games on subscription services in addition to that.
True but services like PS+ and Gamepass essentially train people to wait for indie/AA games to hit those services.
The movie industry is currently suffering from this, especially animation as a lot of people simply just expect those movies to hit D+, Netflix, etc. And don't show up to theatres.
I'm in no way saying that sub services are bad, they are great for people that may not have been able to buy games due to price increases or lack of funds. I wish I had something like this as a kid. But it does cheapen the value of games.
And its not an unfounded concern either, the movir and music industry is suffering from subscription services not being the golden goose they want. How is gaming any different really
Devolver used to be happy wirh what they were getting too. MS has cut back. You can't keep quoting people who were happy about the old payments when talking about the present.
Not right now, but it's only a matter of time before that shift changes. Rising prices, less ways to save, cutting out bulk purchases, etc.
There is scenario where Sony might scale back on Extra but MS is all-or-die on Game Pass, demise of Game Pass (whatever that would be) means MS completely failed in the gaming industry.
It's not a phase, at least not for MS.
It'd have to be massively less than what they offer right now for folks to completely give up on it.
These arguments never make any sense. Because they're never unique to subscription services.
It's like "gaming publishers will always try to extract more value from the consumer as time goes on"…how is that in any way exclusive to subscription services?
Was wondering why/surprised that Cult of the Lamb still hadn't been on one before.. guess this is why! I'm not in a huge rush to play it, so I'll keep waiting to see if it does.