The CEO of Rebellion, Jason Kingsley, discusses launching their game Atomfall on Xbox Game Pass. He considers Microsoft a beneficial partner and emphasizes the guaranteed payment structure mitigates financial risks. Despite concerns over cannibalizing full-game sales, Kingsley believes Game Pass provides significant exposure, helping with the game's discovery. He acknowledges that many Game Pass users are hardcore gamers likely to buy new games, and even if some subscribers play on Game Pass, many may purchase the game to join conversations about it. Overall, Atomfall marked a successful launch period for Rebellion.
Part of that help included a guaranteed payment as part of a deal between Rebellion and Microsoft to have Atomfall launch into Game Pass. "It does mitigate risk, because without going into details, they guarantee you a certain level of income, regardless of what it will sell for," Kingsley said.
Kingsley went on to say he understands that some people might think launching a game like Atomfall in Game Pass could carry the risk of "cannibalizing one section of the audience" who might have bought the game outright. Kingsley said he agrees that this may be true "a little bit" because he believes many Game Pass subscribers are "hardcore" gamers who might be inclined to buy a new IP like Atomfall.
Kingsley went on to say that Game Pass can help a game like Atomfall because people might try it and then tell their friends about it. "Some of them are on Game Pass, and will [play] it. But some of them aren't on Game Pass, and will also want to be part of that conversation. So, they'll go and buy it," he said.
Kingsley admitted, "We don't have the data in for that." But in any event, Kingsley said one of the challenges Rebellion faces is "discovery," so taking a deal with Microsoft for Atomfall to come to Game Pass "has allowed for a lot of discovery for our game."
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