Quoting the Developers page: This right here is worrying to me. Play time is not a good metric to base revenue splits on if you're attempting to reward game quality and/or popularity. Something...
You earn revenue based on how much time subscribers spend playing your game. There's no exclusivity requirement, and no long-term commitment; you're free to join and leave on your own terms.
This right here is worrying to me. Play time is not a good metric to base revenue splits on if you're attempting to reward game quality and/or popularity. Something like an idle game will by nature accrue a lot more play time than, say, a 2-4h long narrative-focused experience without it having any bearing on the actual quality of either game in their respective genre. I hope this isn't the only metric they're basing this on otherwise they're going to kneecap the exact genre of game I would see this subscription model making the most sense for to customers in the first place.
Yeah, it's tough. I get why they do it that way, but the monetization method shapes certain kinds of genres that succeed more there. I don't really know how to fix this issue, though. I assume the...
Yeah, it's tough. I get why they do it that way, but the monetization method shapes certain kinds of genres that succeed more there.
I don't really know how to fix this issue, though. I assume the monetization is similar to Spotify, so it seems "fair" that games being engagement get more money. They'd probably need to carve out models per "medium" in some sort. Separating arcade-y and roguelikes from narrative/puzzle heavy games.
As much as I would prefer that services like gamepass and the like would give all of their money to the indies, I really don't like this. I remain on the side of owning games. As much as I think...
As much as I would prefer that services like gamepass and the like would give all of their money to the indies, I really don't like this. I remain on the side of owning games.
As much as I think that indies are kicking the big guys asses when it comes to making games I’d actually be interested in playing, I also have to admit that I am completely uninterested in the vast majority of them for the simple reason that there are so many of them and most of them are pretty mundane. As things are right now I am not enthused by all of these names that I don’t know and don’t want to bother with digging through them to decide if it’s worth a subscription. If they want to be successful they will need to find some big names to attach to the service that will attract more people to their offerings.
I prefer owning games too. But I figure this is the big advantage of a subscription service; curation. If it can work like old Steam where every game on the platform has some sort of seal of...
As much as I think that indies are kicking the big guys asses when it comes to making games I’d actually be interested in playing, I also have to admit that I am completely uninterested in the vast majority of them for the simple reason that there are so many of them and most of them are pretty mundane.
I prefer owning games too. But I figure this is the big advantage of a subscription service; curation. If it can work like old Steam where every game on the platform has some sort of seal of quality, it can be a filter towards games with looking out for and even buying later on.
Admittedly, that's where my praise ends. We already see the direction TV went when going into streaming, music with Spotify, and mobile once everything became "free". The thing I fear most is a service like this devaluing one of the last mediums that still makes money directly off its art. We already see a peek of that with Gamepass.
In the Browse Catalogue section, if you check the Cozy games, almost all of them are horror games lol That oopsie aside, I'll be keeping an eye it. I'm not sure if it's for me, but I can see this...
In the Browse Catalogue section, if you check the Cozy games, almost all of them are horror games lol
That oopsie aside, I'll be keeping an eye it. I'm not sure if it's for me, but I can see this being a good way for a new dev to gain visibility
This is not necessarily a mistake. As oxymoronic as it might sound, games that label themselves as "cozy-horror" have been gaining traction, combining a chill atmosphere and incremental gameplay...
This is not necessarily a mistake. As oxymoronic as it might sound, games that label themselves as "cozy-horror" have been gaining traction, combining a chill atmosphere and incremental gameplay loops with occasionally unsettling worldbuilding/lore.
Haha, good catch. It seems like that whole catalog feature is messed up. Seems like all the horror games are under "Cozy". And if you check "Horror" none of the games seem to be horror. There are...
Haha, good catch. It seems like that whole catalog feature is messed up. Seems like all the horror games are under "Cozy". And if you check "Horror" none of the games seem to be horror. There are also two "Action" sections.
Writeup from the Verge: https://www.theverge.com/games/905476/indie-pass-io-subscription-service-games I like the idea of an indie bundling service, but I'm not sure a subscription works if...
I like the idea of an indie bundling service, but I'm not sure a subscription works if there's nothing that keeps you coming back that you wouldn't want to buy anyway. Do you keep stuff exclusive, or just bank on people wanting to be on the cutting edge?
They better have a hell of a compensation rate for featured games. Indies are usually harder up for money unless they can get sufficient hype, and Gamepass has already demonstrated that it...
They better have a hell of a compensation rate for featured games. Indies are usually harder up for money unless they can get sufficient hype, and Gamepass has already demonstrated that it generally negatively affects profitability of games in a way similar to streaming for musicians (while also creating a minimal profitability for certain experimental games that might have never happened but for gamepass, like Pentiment).
Not to come across as a cold cynic but I always felt indies were generally priced well enough to not need this sort of service.
iirc Gamepass at least theoretically has the advantage that some games can get up-front funding in exchange for being included, which can make sense. That doesn't seem to be the case for this...
iirc Gamepass at least theoretically has the advantage that some games can get up-front funding in exchange for being included, which can make sense. That doesn't seem to be the case for this revenue model tho.
Interesting! I’ll probably subscribe for a couple of months — partly to see how it is and partly because I like the idea of helping something like this get off the ground. I’d love for the...
Interesting!
I’ll probably subscribe for a couple of months — partly to see how it is and partly because I like the idea of helping something like this get off the ground.
I’d love for the launcher to have Linux support, but I suspect it’ll probably be for Windows.
Quoting the Developers page:
This right here is worrying to me. Play time is not a good metric to base revenue splits on if you're attempting to reward game quality and/or popularity. Something like an idle game will by nature accrue a lot more play time than, say, a 2-4h long narrative-focused experience without it having any bearing on the actual quality of either game in their respective genre. I hope this isn't the only metric they're basing this on otherwise they're going to kneecap the exact genre of game I would see this subscription model making the most sense for to customers in the first place.
Yeah, it's tough. I get why they do it that way, but the monetization method shapes certain kinds of genres that succeed more there.
I don't really know how to fix this issue, though. I assume the monetization is similar to Spotify, so it seems "fair" that games being engagement get more money. They'd probably need to carve out models per "medium" in some sort. Separating arcade-y and roguelikes from narrative/puzzle heavy games.
As much as I would prefer that services like gamepass and the like would give all of their money to the indies, I really don't like this. I remain on the side of owning games.
As much as I think that indies are kicking the big guys asses when it comes to making games I’d actually be interested in playing, I also have to admit that I am completely uninterested in the vast majority of them for the simple reason that there are so many of them and most of them are pretty mundane. As things are right now I am not enthused by all of these names that I don’t know and don’t want to bother with digging through them to decide if it’s worth a subscription. If they want to be successful they will need to find some big names to attach to the service that will attract more people to their offerings.
I prefer owning games too. But I figure this is the big advantage of a subscription service; curation. If it can work like old Steam where every game on the platform has some sort of seal of quality, it can be a filter towards games with looking out for and even buying later on.
Admittedly, that's where my praise ends. We already see the direction TV went when going into streaming, music with Spotify, and mobile once everything became "free". The thing I fear most is a service like this devaluing one of the last mediums that still makes money directly off its art. We already see a peek of that with Gamepass.
In the Browse Catalogue section, if you check the Cozy games, almost all of them are horror games lol
That oopsie aside, I'll be keeping an eye it. I'm not sure if it's for me, but I can see this being a good way for a new dev to gain visibility
This is not necessarily a mistake. As oxymoronic as it might sound, games that label themselves as "cozy-horror" have been gaining traction, combining a chill atmosphere and incremental gameplay loops with occasionally unsettling worldbuilding/lore.
if cozy-horror is indeed a rising indie genre, then it should be labeled as such rather than just as "cozy"
Haha, good catch. It seems like that whole catalog feature is messed up. Seems like all the horror games are under "Cozy". And if you check "Horror" none of the games seem to be horror. There are also two "Action" sections.
Writeup from the Verge:
https://www.theverge.com/games/905476/indie-pass-io-subscription-service-games
I like the idea of an indie bundling service, but I'm not sure a subscription works if there's nothing that keeps you coming back that you wouldn't want to buy anyway. Do you keep stuff exclusive, or just bank on people wanting to be on the cutting edge?
They better have a hell of a compensation rate for featured games. Indies are usually harder up for money unless they can get sufficient hype, and Gamepass has already demonstrated that it generally negatively affects profitability of games in a way similar to streaming for musicians (while also creating a minimal profitability for certain experimental games that might have never happened but for gamepass, like Pentiment).
Not to come across as a cold cynic but I always felt indies were generally priced well enough to not need this sort of service.
Maybe the draw here (for game makers) is exposure.
Finally, industry has found a way to make "I'll pay you in exposure" into a viable path forward! /s
iirc Gamepass at least theoretically has the advantage that some games can get up-front funding in exchange for being included, which can make sense. That doesn't seem to be the case for this revenue model tho.
Interesting!
I’ll probably subscribe for a couple of months — partly to see how it is and partly because I like the idea of helping something like this get off the ground.
I’d love for the launcher to have Linux support, but I suspect it’ll probably be for Windows.
Hope they support Linux! Humble also had (has?) some catalogue playable with the pass, but Windows only.
Looks promising. The website needs work though, namely a full page catalog view and a link to more information about each game.