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[IbizaPocholo]

Subscriptions will "unlock the market to weirder things," says Outer Wilds dev

Outer Wilds is sometimes described as an experimental game, with players piecing together the game's narrative by reliv…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Outer Wilds was the first game on the crowdfunding/investment platform Fig. It took an Epic Games Store exclusivity deal at the height of the ugly backlash to such agreements. On the console side of things, it was only available on Xbox One to begin with, and launched as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

While discussing Outer Wilds and industry trends at the Montreal International Gaming Summit in November, Mobius Digital co-creative lead Loan Verneau tells GamesIndustry.biz the studio is happy with the results.

"We're on Game Pass for Xbox, and it's been really awesome because I think it's brought a lot of players to the game who would not have known about it otherwise," he says. "So I think that's been a big shift. The same way it's changed the TV and movie worlds, the subscription system is also going to impact the game industry very significantly. We're starting to see that, and starting to see it maybe unlock the market to weirder things and more original things that would have been more risky beforehand."

Verneau believes subscription services will find value in attention-grabbing, innovative content that customers would like to try, but maybe aren't so curious about as to make a stand-alone purchase.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Like unlocking a brand new shiny game for a buck? Yeah, that is kinda weird.

 

[Jack Videogames]

Well if GamePass is that good what are you waiting for? Release your game on GamePass PC you fuckos

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Ah yes, finally we can begin to experience weird and risky games. There were just so few of those during the last 10 years of the indie movement.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

I had this game for free for watching some stream at some point, never got around to playing it. I was actually annoyed because I thought it was Outer Worlds...? Which doesn’t matter because that IS on gamepass Talk about annoying game titles lol.

 

[GHG]

Well if GamePass is that good what are you waiting for? Release your game on GamePass PC you fuckos

They took the Epic money instead. I bought it during the Epic end of year sale using the $10 coupon and I'm still yet to play it but yeh, it does seem a bit hollow for them to say that.

They literally cut themselves away on the PC the moment they took the money from epic.

If their primary concern was reaching as many players as possible (and not money) then they would have released the game on every storefront (steam, GOG, origin, humble, etc) and subscription service possible on the PC (gamepass, origin access, Uplay+), but they didn't.

 

[MoreJRPG]

I’m pretty sure their revenue still depends on how many people play it.
So sure, it can look unique but if it’s not generating downloads it’s still in the same boat.

 

[Outrunner]

Ah yes, finally we can begin to experience weird and risky games. There were just so few of those during the last 10 years of the indie movement.

Hope the subscription fad dies faster though.

 

[Bryank75]

Bullshiiiiiiiit, it will open new doors to exploit gamers. That's about it.

 

[nikolino840]

I’m pretty sure their revenue still depends on how many people play it.
So sure, it can look unique but if it’s not generating downloads it’s still in the same boat.

Yeah but if one have already the subs for aaa games Is more tempted to try indi games