One note in this article I thought was interesting is that they talked to MS about putting Furi on Game Pass and MS passed because they want to focus on new game releases instead of older titles.
Again, not the argument. It's that word of mouth leads to more sales overall. It's not surprising that a game being on GP leads to few sales on Xbox.In the case of Haven the statistics provided here make it very clear that Haven's inclusion on Game Pass didn't lead to more Xbox sales. 10x as many PlayStation sales as Xbox sales.
That's been frustratingly apparent recently. I'm assuming they are using data on their side to back up their decisions but it'd be great to get some older titles in there but those usually come with bigger announcements. (We're bringing all Final Fantasy games, all Hitman games are coming, etc)One note in this article I thought was interesting is that they talked to MS about putting Furi on Game Pass and MS passed because they want to focus on new game releases instead of older titles.
Coming off Furi, which seemed to get a really positive reception here on Era, it kinda does? I'm honestly not too familiar with Haven, but if I'm trying a game out on Game Pass and I personally thought the game was a 75 on Opencritic's scale I wouldn't be rushing out to buy a copy. I almost certainly wouldn't even bother finishing the game unless it's very short. That's just my perspective though.
Nobody blames a small team for skipping a console their game is not selling on,
For sure. It's just like I said: if they can't financially support it and there's no other way of doing it (no Game Pass deal, etc.), then it is what it is. The developer can't just make money out of air and people need to understand that xDGamepass for them is mentioned in the article because they wanted to put furi on gamepass to get easier access for players to try it who may have not have back in 2016 and then sell the new dlc to make the numbers work for them. Microsoft isn't interested in furi being on gamepass due to it being older and they want to focus on newer releases for the service. The devs don't hate gamepass from what I can tell and outright want to be on the service to help the cost and risk of updating and making the new dlc for the platform.
I love Vice and Kepleck, but i don't think this is a well researched article. Or better, the title doesn't really match the content. If you are talking about how a service is changing games, you need more than one developer for the story. Besides, Furi had weak performance on Xbox way before Game Pass, too...
What threads are those?Considering Furi came out prior to Game Pass and you have two other notable threads on Twitter from indie publishers saying the complete opposite (hammering Sony), I'd probably not look too much into this.
The original thread about this news and the Tweet in that thread beg to differ: https://www.resetera.com/threads/fu...e-to-lack-of-interest-on-the-platform.579443/Nobody blames a small team for skipping a console their game is not selling on
Very likely the latter.If Furi was never on PS+, would it have been a hit on PS, or would this big update only be going to Switch and Steam?
It honestly reeks a bit of bad faith to suggest Game Pass is "changing games" when the charts in the article show that Haven and Furi have extremely similar breakdowns, just flipped between which platform's subscription it was on. If Furi was never on PS+, would it have been a hit on PS, or would this big update only be going to Switch and Steam?
I agree with the overlying sentiment of this post, but I think it misses the fact that Gamepass is, more or less, a solution to this problem but Furi was a little too old.I think the biggest problem here is the "I'm not going to touch this game unless its on gamepass" mentality some people have. MS needs to make sure that a game can still sell decently or well on their platform without the need of gamepass. It's going to be tough and not all games will succeed, but it would be a shame to lose games like Furi, Ace Attorney and others due to pubs/devs thinking they need gamepass to survive.
Glad we could sufficiently "console war" this thread up in 3 pages. Proud of everyone.
Furi on switch was a 2 year late port, which is a lot of the time a death knell for sales, since a later port does not have as much marketing and hype behind it. Personally i'm pleasantly suprised it sold as much.I'm honestly surprised Furi only sold as much as it did on Switch.
Haven seems to be doing a lot better, comparatively (it came out 2 months after) and already accounts for a higher share.
As far as we know there only won't be day one releases on nuPS+ for Sony's own AAA blockbusters. Furi itself was a day one PS+ release and that sort of thing has been common for a long time, and isn't showing signs of changing.We'll see if Sony's PS+ changes up the game, yes nuPS+ won't be doing any day one releases, but I'm assuming most people subscribed will wait until these games come to the service unless indies won't release on the service at all. Waiting to see if a game comes could affect sales on PlayStation. Interesting times ahead.
I mean that the majority played on Xbox makes sense, since it's included in GP and may people just try it out since it doesn't cost additional money.Their experience with Haven is thus:
It's a single game and a single datapoint, obviously, but it's a very extreme picture. The third bullet in particular would indicate that their sales on Xbox were significantly lower because of the game's inclusion in Game Pass.
- 75% of the people that played Haven played it via Xbox
- 97% of the people that played Haven on Xbox played it via Game Pass
- Haven sold 10x as many units on PlayStation as Xbox
Some people will always have some mentality. They have with Game Pass, they have with the other thousand gaming subscriptions, they have with discounts, they have with coupons, they have with permanent price reduction, they have with buying second-hand. Even the Epic Store giving games for free every single week can be a mentality. Any industry has been working like that, that's something no one can control and also something that usually never affects the majority of the buyers. Otherwise nothing would make profit xDI think the biggest problem here is the "I'm not going to touch this game unless its on gamepass" mentality some people have. MS needs to make sure that a game can still sell decently or well on their platform without the need of gamepass. It's going to be tough and not all games will succeed, but it would be a shame to lose games like Furi, Ace Attorney and others due to pubs/devs thinking they need gamepass to survive.
I mean, they have two.
Considering Furi came out prior to Game Pass and you have two other notable threads on Twitter from indie publishers saying the complete opposite (hammering Sony), I'd probably not look too much into this.
On the other hand, as someone with no real interest in Haven, I only played it because it was on Game Pass.
I played it for half an hour on gp and uninstalled it.Haven just wasn't a good enough game to consider buying after trying it on Game Pass. I was very hyped for it before it came out but dropped it after a few hours. I don't think you can blame game pass subs for not buying a game that the majority of players thought was average at best.
I'm doing my part! I bought the first one on a pretty big sale so I felt good buying it day one.I wonder how Rogue Legacy 2 is doing on Xbox.
It being an indie sweetheart, but not on GamePass
On the other hand, as someone with no real interest in Haven, I only played it because it was on Game Pass.
I don't think some indie devs realise that most people don't give a crap about indie devs and sure as hell not looking for them in the store most of the time so they will be lost, so having a no barrier entry will help them massively.
If you look how many indie games are made VS how many make it, it's a stark gap between ones that actually "make" it. Most casual gamers don't buy indie games and that's just the truth, this doesn't mean there aren't big outliers.
I feel like there is a reason behind that. I know personally owning a PS5 and Series X I'd still rather play indies on my Switch. I think they suit it more. Plus Steam sales and the refund policy make me more likely to give things a shot. Xbox and PlayStation aren't as conducive to this.
I played the first on PS4 because it was part of PS+ and I loved it.I'm doing my part! I bought the first one on a pretty big sale so I felt good buying it day one.
I love Vice and Kepleck, but i don't think this is a well researched article. Or better, the title doesn't really match the content. If you are talking about how a service is changing games, you need more than one developer for the story. Besides, Furi had weak performance on Xbox way before Game Pass, too.
Eurogamer did a really good one last year called: Is Xbox Game Pass too good to be true?
I would love an updated article like that, looking the differences between last year and this year, since the service gained a ton of subs.