According to the CEO of indie developer Finji, subscription services are “both amazing and terrifying”.
Finji CEO Bekah Saltsman shared her assessment of the risks and opportunities for indie developers through subscription services back in October last year at the Megamigs conference.
Indie developers typically rely on funding. In the past, a cyclical course could be observed in the industry. Many investments are made in “boom cycles”, followed by a contraction that finally turns into growth again.
Since “boom cycles” were usually initiated by hardware releases, Saltsman assumed that a contraction was beginning since enough time had passed since the last major hardware releases. This would make it harder for indie developers to get funding. Here she added that “really weird things are going to happen” through subscription services like Xbox Game Pass or the premium tiers of PlayStation Plus.
With regard to the success reports about the indie hit High on Life, this assessment was confirmed for at least one title.
Because Saltsman qualified: “Due to the restriction and consolidation of the industry in the last two years and the fact that many companies are only developing for subscription services, I am concerned that they no longer need us because the libraries are so large and the companies are so productive and have a huge user base.”
Here she was certainly alluding to the many studio takeovers, some of which could give the impression that larger companies were actually on a shopping spree.
“When we convert a buying population to a subscription population, it means we have to rely on subscription fees and acquisitions. And generally, subscription purchases don’t pay off for that many years of a team’s development unless the team is very small,” Saltsman further explained her concern.
She adds: “Subscriptions are awesome and scary at the same time, and it could go either way. And I’m most worried about the smaller indie teams that might not get a foothold early on as creators, that they might not have the space and money to make more than one game.”
Saltsman expressed concern that a focus on big titles and financials could crowd out indie games to subscription services in the future. Currently, the decisions about which games to add to the subscription game catalogs would be made by game fans looking for more than contributing to the bottom line. It is unclear whether this will remain a permanent condition.
Finji has already gained experience with various subscription service offers. Tunic, for example, is included in Xbox Game Pass, chicory
Saltsman can also say that there is no rule of thumb for subscriptions. The question of how much a developer should charge for inclusion in a subscription service, what works well and what tends not to.
“All I want is for people to be able to play more crazy, cool games, because if game design gets too constrained and only appeals to the majority, you’re missing out on so much of our art form. My only wish is that the teams are paid for their work in such a way that they don’t suffer. Pay them a decent salary included in these acquisitions.”