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Xbox invests big into indies, signs Game Pass deals with over 50 studios

⁨70⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/107814/xbox-invests-big-into-indies-signs-game-pass-deals-with-over-50-studios/index.html

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Comments

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  • wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    XBox then buys indies and shutters their studios. Whoopsie.

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    • thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Maybe not; but my bigger worry is that while this is good for indies initially, by guaranteeing a minimum fixed income for a project - the long-term effect will be that Gamers^TM^ may just begin to expect indie titles to be “free” via GamePass and won’t buy them otherwise.

      This would pretty much monopolise those sorts of titles to XBox and leave developers dependent on Microsoft for their continued existence.

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      • Sonotsugipaa@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Unfortunately that’s already happening, I know a few people that are hard to convince to play something that isn’t on GamePass — I never insisted, but it’s still a bummer that I need M$'s blessing to play with people I know, considering I don’t have an Xbox and cross-play games that we all like are hard to find.

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      • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Yeah it’s straight up the big tech playbook. Undermine competition with low subscription prices and a lot of content. Lure in developers with deals that are too good to be true. And then once the customers are invested in using GamePass and stop buying games, increase subscription prices. And since MS is by then the gatekeeper to the market they don’t have to pay out so much to the developers anymore. It’s basically what Uber has done, once they killed the taxi market in a city they increased prices and lowered payouts to drivers. And since customers are used to those ride hailing apps the normal taxi market will never bounce back and drivers are basically forced to work with Uber or change jobs.

        Also once Microsoft has a large chunk of the market in hand they basically decide before hand which games become a success or not instead of letting the market decide. So yeah games critical of their customers like the Israeli government will probably never get on GamePass and thus never reach a large audience. Will be seeing way more censorship than what we’ve seen with Steam recently.

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      • LNRDrone@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I think that there’s big enough chunk of gamers that wasn’t own and support Indie games directly rather than rent them through gamepass that it hopefully won’t have much impact.

        I am hoping there won’t be any exclusivity BS though, Epic has been bad enough with that already.

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    • ieatpwns@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Their “close deal” and “close studio” keys are right next to each other on their keyboards. Simple mistake to make

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    • zecg@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Whose employees then go and make new companies, marketing its first game as “by the makers of X” and MS is left holding IP of dubious worth and their dick in their hands.

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  • HollowNaught@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It’s hifi rush all over again ;_;

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  • ms_lane@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    RIP 48 of those games.

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    • addie@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      48 studios will be closed before they get a game out, and then the other two will be closed after making something award-winning and genre-redefining, and the IP will never see the light of day again.

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  • devolution@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    49 studios shut down. Details at 6.

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  • nuggie_ss@lemmings.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It’s just business.

    Might as well cast a wide net with a bunch of indie trash, hoping that something ends up gaining a following for- whatever reason.

    It’s cheaper and easier than taking on risk themselves and trying to compete with the big dogs.

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  • ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I mean, at this point studios must know what it means to let MS meddle in things. Or is the feeling of “no, not with me, this time will be different” so prevalent?

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  • verdi@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Well, that’s 50 studios that won’t ever see my money.

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    • MurrayL@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Given the state of the industry right now, there’s a good chance these games simply wouldn’t have been made without these deals.

      If the choice is between releasing on GP or not releasing at all, I don’t begrudge them for taking the deal.

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      • nuggie_ss@lemmings.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        People have made better games with fewer resources.

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    • FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      That’s dumb. That’s like saying you won’t buy a DVD because it’s available for rent at Blockbuster.

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    • Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I will avoid giving Microsoft my money where possible, but I’m not going to oppose indie developers taking their money.

      It just means their game trailers get an “Available with Game Pass” logo which I swiftly ignore.

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    • CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Sucks to be your then 🤣

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  • Breezy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    They’re not buying the game theyre supporting it to get it on game pass same as they did with palworld. I dont see anything wrong, right now.

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