How do companies make money via gamepass

[The Mad Titan]

Xbox Game Pass is the gift that keeps on giving to consumers, but developers and publishers have also expressed their admiration for the service over the years - including SEGA, which is "really happy" with the results.

In an extensive rundown about Xbox Game Pass over at Eurogamer, SEGA Europe's senior vice president of commercial publishing, Anna Downing, spoke about the company's relationship with Xbox Game Pass, which has seen titles such as Two Point Hospital and the Yakuza franchise thrive since their inclusions.

"We're really happy with the results and we hope [Microsoft] are too. Ultimately, they wanted quality titles, we wanted to take advantage of a great new opportunity."

Downing also spoke about the success Two Point Hospital has enjoyed since being included into Xbox Game Pass, and how its addition "strengthens the exposure you get to a huge first-party audience".

"[It] helped propel the franchise to over 3 million players worldwide. That's a huge benefit of being on Game Pass, it strengthens the exposure you get to a huge first-party audience... That surge in engagement in turn helps to further establish your product in the marketplace. It's great for us and it's great for consumers who get to experience something they may not have engaged with outside of the Game Pass model."

Finally, she spoke about how SEGA's strategy over the past decade has been to deliver games that continuously update with new content, seeing a mixture of free and premium content available to purchase. With that said, Downing commented on how games could even be developed with a subscription service in mind, depending on how the industry evolves.

"Can that model work within a subscription service? Absolutely. Would we specifically develop games with a subscription service in mind? Potentially. It really depends on how the offerings evolve over the next few years and what consumer demand and expectation is."

 

[ItWasWritten]

Where’s the making money part ?

 

[Sex Luthor]

I'm guessing its a lump sum up front and a percentage off of downloads or plays. Kinda like spotify. If it wasn't for gamepass when would you ever want to play or pay for games like theif or guitar hero? Those developers would probably rather $500 a month compared to the years of nothing before gamepass.

Dont quote me. I could be wrong. This is just what I think. Not 100% sure how they get paid

 

[DPresidential]

Where’s the making money part ?

Finally, she spoke about how SEGA's strategy over the past decade has been to deliver games that continuously update with new content, seeing a mixture of free and premium content available to purchase.

Imagine a whole new pool of consumers who wouldn't have taken the risk to experience your IP for the first time even though you know they'd love/like it.

Now, they have an ability to get those games into the laps of consumers who, once they fall for it, will be spending at least $1 on DLC for a game they would have never spent any of their money on.

Now, what if they love it? They'll be more inclined to spend more money on DLC than the actual retail value of the game itself.

All because of that exposure.


In Business, exposure is currency.

I got a free stadia a month ago. I WOULD NEVER have purchased one. They gave me the controller and the chromecast ultra.

Now, that turned into me actually purchasing a few games - at discounted prices I'll admit. They also got me to give another $10 for their subscription service.

I'm probably not going to continue it but they definitely got money out of me. As of right now, that didn't pay for the hardware cost...YET.

But, I'm exposed to it, I have it in my house. 12 months from now, I might just purchase a few more things and a few more months of subscription.

Their possible bottom line? 12 months from now, they may get more.money from me than the cost of the hardware they gave me for free.

Had they not done that; they would have earned $0 revenue from me as a consumer. Them doing that, actually has me already paying for little games/subscriptions here and there.

 

[Food Mane]

Probably a share of subscription revenue based on downloads. Exactly like artists get paid by apple music and apotify.

 

[The Mad Titan]

This method is great for those mid range games or Indies as well as 1st party Triple a games.


Alot of middle man is cut out with publishing. You probably get a bag up front for x amount of time on gamepass and then 100 percent revenue on dlc and sales.

Free PR and marketing to millions of eyes as soon as your game is announced on gamepass and exposure that you would be we have gotten otherwise.

Now if you drop a gem like say streets of rage 4.

Streets of rage 5 doesn't need to release on gamepass and there are a ton of people that wouldn't have played it that are now streets of rage fans that are probably going to purchase.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

Where’s the making money part ?

It's moreso exposure, which in turn can be prosperous for future titles. Good for established series to put their legacy titles for awareness of the newest release.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

In Business, exposure is currency.

I got a free stadia a month ago. I WOULD NEVER have purchased one.

And now you never will.

 

[DPresidential]

And now you never will.

Lol.

 

[Sex Luthor]

DPresidential said: ↵
In Business, exposure is currency.

I got a free stadia a month ago. I WOULD NEVER have purchased one.

And now you never will.

 

[The Mad Titan]

 

[Animal House]

Sad but that’s good. I say that because games that do something different don’t really tend to be AAA games.

 

[ItWasWritten]

Still no answer on how money is made

 

[Pressure]

Still no answer on how money is made

Microsoft pays them.
Consumers pay for DLC/expansions/micro transactions

 

[Sad Bunny]

Microsoft pays them.
Consumers pay for DLC/expansions/micro transactions

And I'm sure some consumers go purchase the actual game if they liked it enough I went and bought the outer worlds after playing it on Game Pass