game news “Everything is going very well for us,” this developer railed against the PlayStation boss after his statements about the Xbox Game Pass
Recently, during the lawsuit between Microsoft and the FTC, Jim Ryan stated that all publishers don’t like Game Pass because it “destroys” the value of their games. All publishers, or almost, it seems, since one studio just shared their point of view contradicting that statement.
“Publishers don’t like Game Pass”
Jim Ryan, who was heard by the FTC last April in connection with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, The company reportedly said publishers didn’t like Game Pass because it would destroy the value of their video games. The Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO reportedly added that he had spoken to “all the publishers” and that they all shared that view.
Therefore, this quote, recently shared on the third day of the hearing on the Microsoft-FTC trial, has been widely discussed in the video game industry. Several publishers and development studios have already questioned the statements made by SIE’s CEO, claiming on the contrary that Game Pass has brought them benefits. Today, it is the Sports Interactive studio that offers its point of view on the matter.
Game Pass helps reach new players
Here, Eurogamer delivered the statements from the Director of Sports Interactive regarding Game Pass and the recent controversy sparked by Jim Ryan’s statements. Miles Jacobson is certain that Microsoft’s service has given his studio’s games new impetus. In particular, Sports Interactive is working on the license football managerthe latest edition of which is available in Game Pass.
Each studio will have a different opinion on this topic and each studio will have different dates as each game works well in different situations. For us, there are only positives on the three platforms (Xbox One, Series and PC, editor’s note). We run a modest ship and I like that our studio is profitable. Sega made a big bet on us years ago, and strange as it may sound, their shareholders should be rewarded for it. (…) The fact is that Game Pass and Apple Arcade made the license available to people who had never played it before. I have enough confidence in our games to believe we’re going to keep these players for a long time, regardless of their platform.
For Miles Jacobson, Game Pass has helped the Football Manager license grow in popularity and reach even more players. As already mentioned VGCthese statements echo those of studio director Ryu Ga Gotoku Masayoshi Yokoyama, who last year explained the popularity of the license yakuza in the west was certainly due to the presence of these games in Game Pass. It therefore appears that, contrary to Jim Ryan’s statements, some publishers and development studios are satisfied with their partnership with Microsoft.