On this subject we have already talked at length about the threshold necessary for Xbox to consider releasing a physical edition of an independent game. It’s an issue Sony has been leading the way on for years, in part because they’ve had their own strong distribution chain around the world for years.
This is and always has been the main reason why fewer games have been released in physical format on Microsoft consoles. The first time I heard this was during an Xbox Europe event, where independent studies confirmed to me that the range requested by Microsoft to support physical editions was between 10,000 and 20,000 copies.
The minimum number of committed physical copies on Xbox is prohibitively expensive for independent studios
The Spanish studio Grimorio of Games, creators of games like Super Hyperactive Ninja or its greatest success, Sword of the Necromancer, complained about it. The Barcelonians, who are now promoting the second installment of the SOTN franchise on Kickstarter under the subtitle ‘Revenant’, reported that this minimum copy range is quite high for their predictions.
The study indicated that this is precisely its biggest obstacle to launching a physical edition. The uncertainty. Afterwards, they commented that a Microsoft representative replied that this could have changed, so it is possible that these numbers were lowered. Chris Charla’s tweet you can read here. However, they seem unconvinced of the answer and said they would consider it calmly.
The minimum number of copies required to create a physical Xbox edition is too high and not achievable (at least for us) with a Kickstarter campaign. If we had around 10,000 people asking for a physical Xbox edition, we could add it, but that’s hard for a game like ours.
As the minimum for PS4, PS5, Switch is much lower, we can make a small order and serve both the backers and the retailer, without worrying about ending up with a lot of boxes in our office.
What happens (with Xbox) is that we have to make at least the minimum amount, and if we don’t sell them, we have to eat them. An Xbox rep responded to one of the tweets saying things have changed, so we’ll investigate…
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The study talked with some Xbox users and put an illustrative example of the situation. This will help you better understand his position on the matter.
The problem is this (all made up numbers, don’t take them literally):
– Let’s say the minimum is 5000 units
– We managed to fund Xbox units with a lofty goal, but there are only 500 backers who chose Xbox
What do we do with the rest?— Grimorio of Games – SOTN: Coming back to Kickstarter! (@GrimorioG) February 12, 2023
We will try to do what we can, but if the minimum remains high, it will be very difficult for us to achieve sufficient demand to make it worthwhile.
If it’s true that they lowered it, cool. Well, you always have to convince Limited Run, we’ve already worked with them xD
— Grimorio of Games – SOTN: Coming back to Kickstarter! (@GrimorioG) February 12, 2023
The study’s official account said it will contact Microsoft and investigate the case. Hopefully that changes and for the better, because of course that’s a grievance for users.