Activision's big Call of Duty showcase is coming up this Thursday.
19.09.2023 - 20:33 / gamespot.com / Eddie Makuch / Sarah Bond / Swen Vincke / Tim Stuart
Microsoft reportedly expects publishers to ask for millions and millions to put their games on Game Pass at launch.
By Eddie Makuch on
The big Xbox document leak has revealed many things that Microsoft never intended to be made public, and one of those is how much money Microsoft might pay a publisher to bring games to Game Pass on launch day. Game Pass getting day-one new releases is a major perk and incentive to encourage people to sign up and stay subscribers, and Microsoft might pay top dollar for this.
Xbox vice president Sarah Bond sent an email to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox CFO Tim Stuart (among others) detailing what it might cost to secure major third-party games coming to Game Pass on launch day. It's important to note that the prices mentioned below are not actual prices paid by Microsoft, as many of these games never came to Game Pass, nor are they even negotiated or necessarily discussed with any of the companies in question.
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They seem to be only expectations of what a deal might cost from Microsoft's perspective. And even beyond payments, there would surely be a range of other factors at play for a company when deciding whether or not to launch their new game into Game Pass.
With those caveats out of the way, the document mentions what's described as the «expected partner ask» for a range of games in 2022 and early 2023, as well as games already released. The spreadsheet also included columns for «likely to close» and «wow factor.»
For GTA V, Microsoft was expecting Take-Two to ask for $12 million-$15 million per month. The game has been added and removed from Game Pass multiple times over the years, and it's back right now. For other games, only a single payment was listed, like $250 million for Suicide Squad, $300 million for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and $250 million for Mortal Kombat 1 to come to Game Pass at launch. Assassin's Creed Rift, the codename for Mirage, was listed as $100 million to get it on Game Pass for release.
The document also mentions a new-generation version of Red Dead Redemption II, with Microsoft expecting Take-Two to ask for $5 million per month to get it as a day-and-date title for Game Pass. Rockstar has not announced a new version of Red Dead Redemption II.
Baldur's Gate 3, from Larian Studios, is also listed on the document at $5 million. Larian co-founder Swen Vincke seemingly reacted with bewilderment to this news, posting on Twitter/X, «I'd love to meet that analyst.»
(via NextGenPlayer)
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Earlier this week, Microsoft was party to a monumental set of leaks that detailed everything from console plans to video game roadmaps. It also revealed email exchanges between Microsoft's execs, where Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and others discussed potential games for the company's Game Pass subscription service.
The success of Baldur’s Gate 3 came as a surprise to many people. This includes developer Larian Studios, with concurrent player counts surpassing 800,000 players on Steam. It also seemed to surprise another big name in the industry, Microsoft.
When Yakuza: Like a Dragon released in 2020, there was an odd situation where the PS5 version released four months after the Xbox Series X/S version, with no explanations given.
After it launched, Baldur's Gate 3 hit a phenomenal 800,000 concurrent Steam players and received PC Gamer's highest review score in 16 years, but during its years in early access, it wasn't widely expected to be the next big thing. Take as an example this May 2022 document accidentally leaked by Microsoft as part of its lawsuit with the FTC which dismissed Baldur's Gate 3 as a «second-run Stadia PC RPG» that Microsoft figured it could get onto PC Game Pass for about $5 million.
Microsoft thought it might cost $300 million to secure EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor as a day one release on Game Pass.
One of the many leaked Microsoft FTC documents claim that Microsoft valued Larian’s smash hit RPG game Baldur’s Gate 3 at 98% less than EA’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor when it comes to its Game Pass service. No doubt they’ve probably rethought that number following Baldur’s Gate 3‘s mind-blowing success.