Among the few games we’ll still see coming out in 2022 is The Callisto Protocol, the first game developed by Striking Distance Studios, a studio founded by Dead Space franchise creator Glen Schofield.
In an interview during GamesCom 2022, Mark James, the studio’s Chief Technology Officer, talked about the possibility of adding the game to the Xbox Game Pass catalog and stated that the development team is considering this possibility, however, the developer feels that the service is more beneficial for open world or multiplayer games than single player games.
While many gamers are loving the current phase of the video game industry, thanks to services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Game Pass, many developers have already revealed that it is not financially advantageous to release games simultaneously on Game Pass and it seems that Striking Distance Studios, developer of The Callisto Protocol, also shares this thought.
You play The Callisto Protocol once. I think these services are built around open world style games and repetitive multiplayer. I think games of this type survive well on this service.
Further elaborating on its statement, the developer says that the Xbox Game Pass business model is difficult to make work for an independent studio. Single player games will continue to be placed on similar services, but most are owned by platform owners.
Microsoft has its own single-player games within the service, and I still think you’ll see the studios that own the platform provide single-player games on them; I’m just saying [que] as a financial model, it is difficult to work as an independent studio. I think you’ll see single-player games, but it will likely come from the companies that make the consoles.
As an independent third-party studio, it’s very difficult to make a third-person linear game work on these services. I’m not saying never; it’s hard financially to make it work.
The Callisto Protocol will be released on December 2 for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One.
So, what do you think of the developer’s statements?
