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Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, Says Xbox Game Pass Has Redefined Success For Games

https://exputer.com/news/obsidian-xbox-game-pass-success/
Story Highlights
  • Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart has said that Xbox Game Pass has changed his perspective on success.
  • Instead of revenue in Dollars, success is instead measured by hours spent in-game.
  • This has resulted in the studio making their games in such a way they have something for everyone.
  • Urquhart also says the upcoming games from the studio wouldn’t be possible without Microsoft.
Since its inception, Obsidian Entertainment has made a name for itself in the role-playing genre. The studio’s expertise has only increased in the years since its acquisition from Microsoft. And the CEO has now said that the subsequent release of Obsidian’s game on the Game Pass has changed how they measure success.

In a new interview, Feargus Urquhart said that the subscription service has changed how he views success. But, the way Obsidian operates remains the same, with no change being made to the formula.

When we list the innovations that have changed the gaming world, the Xbox Game Pass is one of the first names that come up. Xbox and its new service have reshaped how major companies offer video games to consumers. Its unprecedented success led to an industry-wide change in the gaming subscription model.

The Obsidian CEO said that the service has made them reevaluate how success is measured. Instead of going by sales revenue, the studio now gives more attention to the hours spent in-game. His quote gives us more detail on this matter:
"I can’t go off and spend a billion dollars and only a million hours get played on Game Pass, ‘cause people aren’t paying that much for their subscriptions.”
Hence, instead of measuring a game’s outcome in money, the studio uses the time players have spent playing it. As a result, the talk has gone from a million Dollars to a million hours. The subscription service has not made the studio change its ways, however.

Urquhart says that Obsidian hasn’t changed how it approaches games due to Xbox Game Pass. Obsidian Entertainment still makes its popular role-playing IPs the way it did before. However, success is obviously not taken into account by sales numbers anymore.

This does match the metrics Microsoft is using for other departments at Microsoft, and matches how Microsoft recently announced that Xbox now has 120 million Active Users.

They have all but dropped sales numbers and revenue figures for other metrics that don't create a perception of "will that studio survive?" or "should the director/CEO change strategy" which fits with Nadella removing pressure and internal competition with sales and revenue metrics which has been ongoing since 2015.

I don't really agree with him doing this so broadly since parts of the company, including parts of Xbox, do actually need to have growth and a positive revenue stream, and if sales are not where they should, that does need to be addressed, but most of the industry seems to be going in the same direction. Heck, we have been getting Revenue instead of units from NPD for almost 10 years now.

I do like however, that some developers feel more empowered with things like Game Pass because of the feeling pressure is being relieved, and a lack of focus on revenue and money with ultimatums, means less MTX tactics so...
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
How can hours spent in-game matter unless monetization is based on it? I mean I guess if you are selling advertising space then the longer the exposure matters, but that seems like the only situation where it should.

Because at the end of the day isn't that just arguing that longer, grindier experiences are "better" than short, snappy ones? And if that's the case, what does it say about the industry going forwards?
 

graywolf323

Gold Member
measuring by hours played is exactly why some of us fear it’ll become GAAS focused :messenger_confused:

I mean I’m glad they don’t have to worry about selling a ton anymore but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a double-edged sword; will Xbox keep making games that are single-player, limited replay value, and on the shorter side? it’ll all depend on if they’re singularly focused on that “millions of hours of play-time” as being what defines if a game was successful or not
 
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bitbydeath

Member
Timing seems very coincidental after yesterday’s report.

Microsoft: Read the script Feargus!

images
 
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Thirty7ven

Banned
Some publishers have started giving a lot more importance to % of completion, this isn’t a gamepass thing.

Number of hours spent in a game is a Ubisoft special so I don’t think the guy is saying what he thinks he’s saying.

Maybe what he’s saying is that in the gamepass model it’s not the number of people that try a game that matters, just like on Netflix it’s not the amount of people that take a peek that matters, it’s how many people stick.
 
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AmuroChan

Member
sure but will we get The Outer Worlds 3 if 2 doesn’t meet the “millions of hours played” that Xbox projected it to?

look at how quickly Netflix cancels shows that aren’t massive hits

It's possible it doesn't, but that's not any different than a game not getting a sequel because it sold poorly. Netflix is notorious for axing their shows early, but that may have something to do with the way they manage their content. We don't see a similarly quick axe over at HBO Max, Disney+, Apple TV, etc.
 
Would you expect anything less from this wonderful industry? Even Sony is going all in on the live service GaaS crap. Please be excited.
Nothing wrong with live service games if they are done correctly. If charging for a battle pass is what keeps the money flowing for new maps and weapons and modes, that long term support for a truly good game, then I'm all for it. The main issues is that it sometimes feels predatory when not done correctly, it becomes obvious its a cash grab.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
Nothing wrong with live service games if they are done correctly. If charging for a battle pass is what keeps the money flowing for new maps and weapons and modes, that long term support for a truly good game, then I'm all for it. The main issues is that it sometimes feels predatory when not done correctly, it becomes obvious its a cash grab.
To me battle passes are industry cancer but I don’t play multiplayer games which is where you see that stuff. I’m talking more single player stuff like Ghost Recon Breakpoint with it’s always-online requirement and endless MTX crap.

But I agree there’s are good examples too.
 

X-Wing

Member
Engagement and player count are important metrics if you are planning on monetise on user data instead of sales.
 
To me battle passes are industry cancer but I don’t play multiplayer games which is where you see that stuff. I’m talking more single player stuff like Ghost Recon Breakpoint with it’s always-online requirement and endless MTX crap.

But I agree there’s are good examples too.
GR Breakpoint being a live service game was a shitty decision and derailed the good will Ubisoft built with the amazing GR Wildlands. The moment I hear something is a looter shooter, I check out. That shit is for the fucking birds. If you want to play that style of game, by all means, and if devs want to make that style of game, more power to them. But to bend a game like GR into that model and end up with a far poorer product, what a fucking turn off.

GR Breakpoint on the heals of Wildlands is my biggest gaming disappointment for the last decade.
 
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bender

What time is it?
I don't know why but I'm reminded of Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypses promising 400 hours of game play.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Of course a videogame developer who isn't dependent on game sales for success is happy with game pass, lol.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
GR Breakpoint being a live service game was a shitty decision and derailed the good will Ubisoft built with the amazing GR Wildlands. The moment I hear something is a looter shooter, I check out. That shit is for the fucking birds. If you want to play that style of game, by all means, and if devs want to make that style of game, more power to them. But to bend a game like GR into that model and end up with a far poorer product, what a fucking turn off.

GR Breakpoint on the heals of Wildlands is my biggest gaming disappointment for the last decade.
Yep. Couldn’t agree more. I preordered it like a dumbass because I loved Wildlands and I still feel burned.
 

feynoob

Banned
For people that are dismissing players engagement.

If a game has 20m gamepass engagement, there is a chance for 1m-5m out of 20m potential sale. That is a huge win for devs.

But I guess you guys won't care about that.
 

ChorizoPicozo

Gold Member
For people that are dismissing players engagement.

If a game has 20 minutes gamepass engagement, there is a chance for 1minute-5 minutes out of 20 minutes potential sale. That is a huge win for devs.

But I guess you guys won't care about that.
fixed
 
If devs are happy, I’m happy.
This. Just let me have my Xbox and PlayStation and release games for them so I can play, I don't care about financials. Everyone is so hung up on the corporate health of these companies around here. Me personally, it doesn't make a lick of difference how many consoles or copies of games are sold as long as its enough so that good games can keep getting made. If someone folds out of the industry they will be replaced by someone else as is the nature of business.
 

GHG

Gold Member
The topic wasn't those people, but move the goalposts if you need to. It's ok.

Xbox had some positive news today and you feel the need to shitpost all over the place to try to to kill the mood. I get it. Everything's going to be ok, though.

Try again. It has everything to do with those people. The division wouldn't need to cut staff if it was making the revenue it needs to in order to sustain those people. The quotes in the OP make no sense when you take that into consideration.

If you want to go into "daddy's cash" mode then I'd suggest you do so at time when they aren't having to cut staff at Xbox. MAU up, gamepass subscribers up and yet they are still in a position where they have to conduct layoffs.

Cry foul and attempt to make it personal all you like, those are the facts. Try and face them instead of deflecting.
 
The topic wasn't those people, but move the goalposts if you need to. It's ok.

Xbox had some positive news today and you feel the need to shitpost all over the place to try to to kill the mood. I get it. Everything's going to be ok, though.
Just remember: its always the same people with the same takes, its best just to put these fanboys on ignore. If Sony or MS doing well bothers people to the point where they continuously vocalize it and then gaslight you when its brought up, to the ignore list they belong.

It's concern trolling at best. At worst, emotional responses over a plastic box.
 
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feynoob

Banned
Try again. It has everything to do with those people. The division wouldn't need to cut staff if it was making the revenue it needs to in order to sustain those people. The quotes in the OP make no sense when you take that into consideration.

If you want to go into "daddy's cash" mode then I'd suggest you do so at time when they aren't having to cut staff at Xbox. MAU up, gamepass subscribers up and yet they are still in a position where they have to conduct layoffs.

Cry foul and attempt to make it personal all you like, those are the facts. Try and face them instead of deflecting.
MS = / = gamepass.
But go a head and complain MS actions in a thread about gamepass.
 
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