LogFAQs > #943335986

The Wave Master posted...

If you make a game, let's say, Ori and The Will of the Wisp, and the gane is on Gamepass, and it's down loaded 2 million times, Microsoft gets that money. I suppose they could pay you if you're a first party studio, but if you're independent, then you have to rely on word of mouth sales. Maybe you sell 1 mollion copies in the first 3 months of release because Ganepass stole a majority of your sales, 1 million at 40 bucks a piece is 40 million, but by the time you divide that with cost, overhead, development, payroll, and bonuses, you may break even or make a small profit, which you then need to invest in more games and paying people for your next game.

Gears of War 5 was downloaded 5 million times on Gamepass last year. 5 million at 65 bucks a piece is a lot more than maybe the 2 million they sold individually, really 7 million copies total. It would make sense to sell the 7 million individually and make a major of the profits without Microsoft involved.

Microsoft either pays a lump sum or compensates the dev for the copies downloaded. I'm not sure what you're trying to compare. Is $40 the MSRP? Because devs don't make much of that either. The retailer takes a ton of that and then the publisher gets their share.

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