Dev Who Launched Game Into Game Pass Warns Against Launching Games Into Game Pass

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Developer Raccoon Logic worked with Microsoft to bring Revenge of the Savage Planet to Xbox Game Pass as a day-one launch title, but studio head Alex Hutchinson said new games launching into Game Pass can “devalue” them and hurt the industry overall.

Speaking to Gamer Social Club, Hutchinson said “most of the traffic” so far for Revenge of the Savage Planet has been from Game Pass, while full-game sales “have been good.” The game is also available on PS5 and PS4.

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Now Playing: Revenge Of The Savage – 20 Minutes Of Gameplay With The Devs

As for bringing the game to Game Pass at launch, Hutchinson said working with Microsoft–and presumably taking payment from the company–was part of Raccoon Logic’s balancing effort of trying to reach as many people as possible and making money. The financial terms of Game Pass deals are not made public, but it’s understood that Microsoft pays developers to bring their games to Game Pass at launch as part of the Xbox company’s ambition to scale the service and attract new users.

Hutchinson said the “whole industry should agree to only allow games on subscription services a year after release.” He said the video game industry should embrace the traditional movie model where a film debuts in theaters exclusively and then comes to DVD, TV, or a streaming service.

“The current structure will prove very damaging to anyone who is not owned by a publisher soon if it continues,” Hutchinson said. Posting on social media, Hutchinson said Nintendo stands alone with respect to retaining the value of games. “Everyone except Nintendo is also in a race to value content at zero which will end in tears,” he said.

Hutchinson is saying this as a person who took a deal from Microsoft to launch Revenge of the Savage Planet into Game Pass on day one, so what gives? He said the studio’s hope with making a deal with Microsoft was to help Revenge of the Savage Planet get exposure that would in turn encourage people to buy a DLC pack or encourage a friend to buy the game. That’s not what’s happened, though.

“We haven’t seen that, or at least not yet. What we’ve seen is that content has been devalued and that people are less willing to pay for things, which in the long run will likely mean less games being made and a lot more studios going under,” he said.

As for the Game Pass payments from Microsoft, Hutchinson said it was true that the checks were “big enough to make a difference,” but that was “years ago.”

“These days unless your game is tiny, or you’re a rare enormous brand, it isn’t much. But Microsoft have been amazing partners and we’re so glad to be working with them,” he said.

Game Pass is a paradigm shift for gaming, and it’s a model that no other major competitor has embraced. For its part, Sony has said it will not launch its new games into PlayStation Plus on day one because of how it can erode and negatively impact its overall value chain and ecosystem. Nintendo doesn’t have a similar program, either, and is historically known for holding prices, and in the case of Mario Kart World, increasing prices.

Hutchinson directed Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4 while at Ubisoft before leaving to start Typhoon Studios, which released Journey to the Savage Planet in 2020. Google acquired Typhoon for its failed Stadia gaming ambitions, before closing the studio and scuttling Stadia. Hutchinson then founded Raccoon Logic in 2021, releasing Revenge of the Savage Planet in May 2025.

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