By this point Microsoft has been doing its best to promote its Game Pass service as a way to get cheap access to the latest games. Thanks to Twitter user Timur222, however, now we know roughly how much it’s been paying developers to put their latest games on the service.
According to the LinkedIn page of Microsoft executive Ben Favreau, deals that Microsoft makes with developers to put their games on Game Pass can range from a simple $1 million to $100 million.
Game Pass is a service that lets PC and Xbox owners be able to stream games for a low monthly fee, rather than forking out 60 dollars to buy a game. The service has proved extremely popular, likely due to the low cost while still having access to great games.
The amount of money that Microsoft pays a developer in order to get their game exclusively on Game Pass likely depends a lot on what game it is, its anticipation level, and more. Various games such as Kingdom Hearts 3, the Yakuza series, for instance, likely are paid a great deal of money.
Big gaming companies paying developers for exclusive access to their game isn’t anything new, either. Sony makes such deals with developers to keep their games as either timed or full exclusives, infamously requiring developers to pay them to make up for lost revenue if they go multi-platform. The Epic Games Store also pays developers to put their games on the store for a certain period.
Such exclusivity deals can often help developers to make more money off of their games, especially if it turns out to not sell well. This not only helps them bring in more profit on the game, but also helps to recoup development costs, which can be vital especially for small studios or indie games.
At the same time, supporting developers in whatever ways they can is also a good thing, and as long as Game Pass continues to be a huge success, we can expect more Xbox Game Pass deals like the ones Favreau made to come around in the future.