The last few weeks have been extremely busy in the video game industry thanks to the leak of confidential documents from Microsoft. These details have brought to light a series of secrets related to the Xbox ecosystem and its partners.
According to information on the website Kotakuan internal email exchange dated May 2022 between Sarah Bond, vice president of games business development at Microsoft, and Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, revealed details about the costs involved in bringing titles like “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” and “Mortal Kombat 1” for Game Pass.
Image: Xbox/Reproduction
Is it really that expensive?
Sarah Bond provided a detailed analysis of potential releases on the Xbox subscription service in a leaked email. This included cost estimates, the average game length, and the likelihood that the publishers would agree to make a deal.
“Star Wars: Jedi Survivor” was identified as the most expensive title, with an estimated cost of US$300 million. Bond described the acquisition of this title as a crown jewel for Game Pass due to the weight it carries, but acknowledged that it is difficult for EA to accept a deal.
“Mortal Kombat 1” was another game considered a jewel for the Xbox parameters. However, like other Warner Bros. games. Interactive Entertainment, the recent merger with Discovery made it completely impossible to approve this title. In other words, there are major obstacles in these cases presented.
However, to the delight of the public and with a ray of hope, on Tuesday, Xbox announced that “Gotham Knights” (cost of US$50 million) would be available on Game Pass from October 3rd.
In addition, another “Star Wars” title, “Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga” (costing US$35 million), was made available on the service in December last year.
Despite the theories and possibilities, these investments represent substantial figures. This provides a great justification for the monthly rotation of the game catalog on Game Pass, as there are titles that enter and leave the catalog recurrently.
Another point that the emails bring is the reason why Microsoft is committed to increasing the number of subscribers to the Microsoft service. Xbox. As noted, this became an essential condition for its continuation in the video game industry. Will it work?
