Xbox Game Pass and Epic Games Store are moving away from indies: “The gold rush is over”

The current recession we’re living through in the video game industry has also affected the indie scene. According to the people behind independent studios, digital platforms such as Xbox Game Pass and Epic Games Store that used to offer funding and deals for indie games have since changed their terms and conditions to not be as beneficial as they once were.

Darkest Dungeon II Developer on Xbox Game Pass and the Epic Games Store: “The Gold Rush is Over”

In recent statements to PC Gamer, the developers of popular indie games of the likes of Slay the Spire and Darkest Dungeon II have commented on the paradigm shift that is coming to the indie scene regarding deals and payments for exclusivity that were previously offered by platforms such as Xbox Game Pass and Epic Games Store. According to them, there are now “cuts, cuts, cuts, funding canceled, talks that were going on for a year, canceled.”

Casey Yano, co-founder of Mega Crit (developers of Slay the Spire) has even stated that “It sounds like it’s shit. We’re definitely very privileged to be able to self-fund. [Otherwise] I’d be very, very, very scared right now.” Chris Bourassa, the director of Darkest Dungeon II, added that Microsoft’s deals for getting games on Game Pass have “come down in scope” since the service started, which means that what once was extremely beneficial for funding smaller titles is gone.

“The Gold Rush is over. I come from the Northwest Territories. The town I’m from was built on gold, and then they found diamonds further north. Maybe another paradigm shift is waiting for us, but I definitely think the scale of the deals I’m hearing about is significantly diminished from the big swinging days. Certainly we got our Epic [deal] at the right time,” said Bourassa .

These statements coincide with what Phil Spencer, the most visible head of Xbox, said recently. According to Spencer, given the current recession in the video game industry and its current limited growth capacity, it is time to reduce costs. And these cuts would be taking place, in addition to jobs, in the amounts that companies like Microsoft or Epic Games offer video game developers to obtain temporary exclusivity with which to attract new users for their platforms. The reasoning so far is that these investments were worth it because the costs were recovered with users who then subscribe to your service and/or make payments on your platform. But this has changed drastically.

For many smaller studios, this injection of capital was essential to continue operating. Although there are players who don’t like it when the sequel to a multiplatform video game suddenly becomes a temporary exclusive, as was the case with Darkest Dungeon II, the first part of which is available on PC and consoles but DD2 came out first as early access in the Epic Games Store. In many cases, this was the only option that small development studios have if they want to continue full-time development.