Specifically in the indie space, these Game Pass deals have often been lauded as a way to mitigate risk for developers, offering guaranteed money rather than facing market uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Now, speaking on The Business of Video Game Podcast<\/a>, hosted by Shams Jorjani, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios<\/a>, Rizo alleged that those Game Pass deals may be slowing amid an uncertain period for Microsoft\u2019s gaming brand.<\/p>\n \u201cI was at a trade show in Italy, had some nice lunches, some nice dinners with industry colleagues,\u201d said Rizo. \u201cWord on the street was that loads of people who were in the frame for Game Pass deals, i.e, you know, nothing was inked yet, but the deals were in advanced discussions\u2026 Everybody got the rug pulled out from under them.\u201d<\/p>\n When Jorjani asked whether Rizo thinks new deals are \u201ckiboshed,\u201d Rizo replied that they\u2019re \u201con pause.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re figuring it out, that\u2019s my read anyway. But yeah, for the time being, it seems like a Game Pass deal\u2026 like we just did one at Kaboodle earlier in the year, and I get the feeling that it might have been one of the last ones that they did.\u201d<\/p>\n VGC has asked Xbox for comment and will update this story if we receive a response.<\/p>\n Xbox is in the process of \u2018resetting\u2019 its games business, according to CEO Asha Sharma<\/a>. According to reports, this is likely to result in significant job losses<\/a> within the next few weeks. VGC understands the cuts could include multiple studio closures.<\/p>\n Following a previous price increase, Microsoft recently announced it would drop<\/a>\u00a0the price of Game Pass across the board<\/a>.<\/p>\n It also announced that future Call of Duty games would not be available on either service on the day of release, and would instead be added the following holiday season (up to a year after release).<\/p>\nDevelopers in line for Game Pass deals \u2018got the rug pulled from under them\u2019 it\u2019s claimed.<\/p>\n