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Xbox Game Pass 'quadrupled' Descenders sales says developer Mike Rose

Alucardx23

Alucardx23

Member
Nov 8, 2017
4,711
The best value in gaming seems to be good for developers as well.

Ross said the following to GamesIndustry in a recent interview.

"Sounded like b*******, right? Weirdly, it's true. It surprised me. Being on Xbox Game Pass means that you basically have constant featuring on Xbox. Your game is on the dashboard all the time... People are seeing our game every day. And because of that, during launch month, our Xbox sales — we didn't do any discounts on it or anything — quadrupled, and have now settled to about three times as much as before. It's essentially an advert; a straight-up advert. And now Xbox is asking, 'Oh, can we feature Descenders in more of the Xbox Game Pass advertising?' Yes, you can. Of course you f****** can."

www.windowscentral.com

Xbox Game Pass 'quadrupled' Descenders sales says developer Mike Rose

That was unexpected.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com
 
Timelost

Timelost

Member
Oct 25, 2017
70
Canada
Good for them! Game pass is amazing and it's nice to hear it's just as great on the developer side too. Also lol @ his response to free advertising.
 

walriii314

Member
Oct 28, 2017
344
Gamepass is very consumer friendly and Phil deserves big kudos for it, my son has a ton of games to play and so do I while I wait for AAA games.
 

Deleted member 36578

Dec 21, 2017
26,561
It's such a good deal it was pretty much a no brainer for me to sub to after E3. If it's awesome for the devs too then it's a win win.
 
Burrman

Burrman

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,633
Gamepass is too good. I almost feel guilty with how little I'm paying. So many games I've would and wouldn't of bought have been played by me and my son. Happy to see it works out for devs too.
 
MistahS

MistahS

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Sep 2, 2018
3,730
Gamepass is a no brainer. Good for consumers and apparently really good for devs. Can't wait to see how the launch line up of GP games looks for Scarlett.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,182
Didnt it launch on Gamepass the same day it left early access and got multiplayer added? I think we had this thread already
 
DirtyLarry

DirtyLarry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,112
I actually just checked the game out over the weekend 110% because of GamePass.
I am unfortunately not one of those who purchased it. If they can iron out the frame rate issues I would absolutely recondiser. For now though I will happily play it via GamePass and enjoy it.
 
Kaji AF16

Kaji AF16

Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,405
Argentina
A friend of mine had recommended Descenders to me with a passion. I wasn´t really interested.
Once it hit GamePass, I found it to be extremely fun.

It would be hard for me to explain the value of GamePass to a first-worlder given the current state of Argentina´s economy. It is an unbelievable deal.
 
BioDigital Jazzman

BioDigital Jazzman

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,942
woolyninja said:
Why wouldn't people just play it on GamePass instead of buying it?
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Some People use GP as a rental service to test out games. Or as Phil has said multiple times it works as great WoM marketing. If your friend is raving about descenders Person A that doesn't have gamepass can either sign up or just buy the game outright. And it's jot that expensive so an impulse purchase is easier
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,337
woolyninja said:
Why wouldn't people just play it on GamePass instead of buying it?
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Some don't sub to Game Pass, they prefer to buy games. And Game Pass titles are still displayed on their dashboard. So the devs discussion of how it's basically an advert for the game still applies. There's a huge Game Pass tab front and centre on the console dashboard.
 
JustinH

JustinH

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,380
It makes me really happy that Game Pass is a good thing for devs too, because I hope that means it'll be "work out" and be around for a long time.

I love Game Pass, but I still buy games that are on Game Pass from time to time. Like Forza Horizon 4, I bought the physical copy, Outer Worlds and Gears 5 I will be buying a physical copy, and I bought a copy of Below (probably a mistake lol. I've barely played that game).
 
Narpas Sword0

Narpas Sword0

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,087
ghostcrew said:
Some don't sub to Game Pass, they prefer to buy games. And Game Pass titles are still displayed on their dashboard. So the devs discussion of how it's basically an advert for the game still applies. There's a huge Game Pass tab front and centre on the console dashboard.
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Remember when consumers used to be mad about ads on the dashboard, especially with paying for online? Now they added a second subscription and kept the ads and consumers are proud of it lol
 

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
At this point I'm just waiting for the PR backlash, some dev screaming that they had to close the studio because they didn't make any money at all because of Gamepass.

I just don't understand why it works. I haven't bought a game for Xbox since RDR2 but devs still make money. Is it because me and other freeloaders are talking about the games and get others who haven't found out about Gamepass to buy the games?

How long will that work? Who will buy the games once everybody have Gamepass?

And what about games we don't like and don't talk about or talk about in less positive ways? Still quadroupling sales?
 
Brown Intruder

Brown Intruder

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,849
Fredrik said:
At this point I'm just waiting for the PR backlash, some dev screaming that they had to close the studio because they didn't make any money at all because of Gamepass.

I just don't understand why it works. I haven't bought a game for Xbox since RDR2 but devs still make money. Is it because me and other freeloaders are talking about the games and get others who haven't found out about Gamepass to buy the games?

How long will that work? Who will buy the games once everybody have Gamepass?

And what about games we don't like and don't talk about or talk about in less positive ways? Still quadroupling sales?
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Are you French by any chance?

Serious question. I live in France, and I have never met so many people that actively search for the negative
 
BioDigital Jazzman

BioDigital Jazzman

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,942
Fredrik said:
At this point I'm just waiting for the PR backlash, some dev screaming that they had to close the studio because they didn't make any money at all because of Gamepass.

I just don't understand why it works. I haven't bought a game for Xbox since RDR2 but devs still make money. Is it because me and other freeloaders are talking about the games and get others who haven't found out about Gamepass to buy the games?

How long will that work? Who will buy the games once everybody have Gamepass?

And what about games we don't like and don't talk about or talk about in less positive ways? Still quadroupling sales?
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Well the devs likely get an upfront payment to be on gamepass. So it's not like they are getting nothing. Plus they get Gamepass word of mouth marketing which can lead to additional sales
 
danowat

danowat

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,783
I would say that exposure and/or discoverability, regardless of whether said game is on gamepass or not, is one of the things that is the difference between living or dying in the indie dev world.

Now, my question is, did / do the developers know about this increased exposure, even for those NOT subscribed to gamepass before signing on?
 
Kemono

Kemono

▲ Legend ▲
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,669
Brown Intruder said:
Are you French by any chance?

Serious question. I live in France, and I have never met so many people that actively search for the negative
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Then come to germany. It's a hobby for the whole nation to look for a hair in the soup.

Most of europe is like that to be honest. It sounds like bullshit to our ears if something is doing well without a real explanation.
The first thing my mind jumped to when i read "Being on Xbox Game Pass means that you basically have constant featuring on Xbox. Your game is on the dashboard all the time... People are seeing our game every day. " i automatically thought "sure, your and another 99 games".

Even the Dev was suprised: "Sounded like b*******, right? Weirdly, it's true. It surprised me. ".

Gamepass working (without MS bankrolling it) is strange af to me but as long as everybody is happy... More power to them.
 
zedox

zedox

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,215
Fredrik said:
At this point I'm just waiting for the PR backlash, some dev screaming that they had to close the studio because they didn't make any money at all because of Gamepass.

I just don't understand why it works. I haven't bought a game for Xbox since RDR2 but devs still make money. Is it because me and other freeloaders are talking about the games and get others who haven't found out about Gamepass to buy the games?

How long will that work? Who will buy the games once everybody have Gamepass?

And what about games we don't like and don't talk about or talk about in less positive ways? Still quadroupling sales?
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LOL @ waiting for PR backlash... Like why? Lol.
 
headspawn

headspawn

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,605
woolyninja said:
Why wouldn't people just play it on GamePass instead of buying it?
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Any title on Game Pass has the trickle down affect of being more visible, in part because it's going to be shown in that curated list, but also because every single person that plays it for free becomes a beacon for exposing the title to even more people who might not have seen it via friends list, screenshot sharing, people who might have never seen it otherwise could possibly be streaming it now also, word of mouth, if it's a good game then more reviews will also draw people in, if it's multiplayer then those people playing free are like a buglight for friends of friends being exposed and wanting to play together, visibility increases basically etc etc.. also some people who might not stay subscribed might be buying more games because they have sampled more games, increased their gaming palette whilst using the service.

It's a great service for people who love games but also like 4d chess as far as game sale advertising.
 
danowat

danowat

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,783
headspawn said:
Any title on Game Pass has the rifle down affect of being more visible, in part because it's going to be shown in that curated list, but also because every single person that plays it for free becomes a beacon for exposing the title to even more people who might not have seen it via friends list, screenshot sharing, people who might have never seen it otherwise could possibly be stanning it now also, word of mouth, if it's a good game then more reviews will also draw people in, if it's multiplayer then those people playing free are like a buglight for friends of friends being exposed and wanting to play together etc etc.. also some people who might not stay subscribed might be buying more games because they have sampled more games, increased their gaming palette whilst using the service.

It's a great service for people who love games but also like 4d chess as far as game sale advertising.
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On the flip side, that affect would be diminished if the amount of games (allowed?, is there a limit?) on gamepass increases?.
 
Complicated

Complicated

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,330
Really seems like lightning has struck with Game Pass. It's grown so fast and it doesn't seem like it's stopping any time soon.
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
Fisty said:
Didnt it launch on Gamepass the same day it left early access and got multiplayer added? I think we had this thread already
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I have no idea if this is true, but if it is, how is that measure quantified?

If something was not on Gamepass was put on the service after a couple of months, and saw quadruple the increase in sales as a result, I think we can all agree on that. But if a game was never not on Gamepass, how can you quantify the effect or lack thereof of the service on the game's sells?
 
Bitch Pudding

Bitch Pudding

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,202
Sooo, the reason Game Pass enhances sales of your game is much higher visibility on the XBOX store front. Which also means that their game didn't have any major visibility before. Which means it probably didn't exactly sell well to begin with.

If you asume people subcribe to GamePass AND buy the game at the same time you're dead wrong. This is not what's happening. It's all about awareness, on the storefront and of course more people playing and / or streaming the game also enhances visibility outside the store.

But that also means that sales of a game which is already popular / visibile on the store and/or social media will probably go down once it launches on GamePass.
 
Bede-x

Bede-x

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Oct 25, 2017
9,365
How does this compare to something like Netflix? Do shows and movies also see an increase in sales, when appearing on that service? Or has the it made Blu Ray/DVD/digital sales go down overall, with featured titles better off than others, but still down overall?

EDIT: Have we had this thread before? I seem to remember it or something similar :)
 
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