[ad_1]
The Outriders developer said Square Enix has yet to pay a royalty, suggesting it has yet to break even.
In a financial report, Polish company People Can Fly said that until August 16, it had not received royalties from the sale of the cooperative-focused looter shooter from publisher Square Enix.
Royalties would be paid to PCF if net proceeds from Outriders sales produced the previously agreed level of return for Square Enix on costs incurred related to quality assurance, distribution and marketing. Essentially, the contract states that PCF does not receive its profit royalties until Square Enix has paid back its investment.
The deadline for this Square Enix royalty payment was 45 days from the end of the calendar quarter and expired on August 14. No payment was made on August 15 – the first working day following that day – which led PCF to conclude “that there is no need for the publisher to pay royalties to the company for the period. from April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021 “. Outriders was released on April 1.
The suggestion here is that Outriders failed to break even for Square Enix, but it seems PCF doesn’t know exactly what happened – it accused Square Enix of not providing any information regarding the sales, income or costs related to the development and publication of Outriders.
PCF President Sebastian Wojciechowski said: “We don’t have sales figures for the Outriders – we estimate it at between two and three million units and assumed that this was a result that would ensure the profitability of. this project in the first quarter of sales. the absence of payment by the publisher probably means that, according to Square Enix, this is not the case. “
Wojciechowski then speculated on the cause of this shortfall:
“Perhaps this is due to certain elements of Square Enix’s commercial policy of which we do not know the details, such as the partnerships concluded by the publisher with distribution platforms or entities offering Outriders in addition to their products. . profitability can also mean that the costs incurred by the publisher are higher than expected.
“But I don’t want to speculate, we’ll analyze the situation in more detail. It should be noted, however, that such explanations take time and our influence on the position of the publisher is limited.”
The news comes as a surprise, given that Square Enix spoke about the success of Outriders shortly after launch.
In May, Square Enix said Outriders was “on the verge of being the company’s next big franchise” after 3.5 million unique players flocked to the experience in its first month. At least part of Outriders’ success has been attributed to its launch on Day 1 on Xbox Game Pass.
Then in June, Square Enix said it was “pleasantly surprised” by the success of its new IP, stating that “the title’s digital sales ratio was very high”, and insisted on its “decision to make Outriders available with the Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. From the launch of the title also worked in [its] to favor”.
Microsoft announced that the shooter would hit Xbox Game Pass just weeks before its release, and Outriders quickly became one of the service’s hottest offerings.
A few months later, Square Enix said that despite “slight issues” with bugs and server instability, Outriders “got off to a good start as a new IP”.
Not good enough, perhaps? Eurogamer has contacted Square Enix for comment.
Looking to the future, Wojciechowski said that the “sales lineup of ‘Outriders’ is ahead of us.” PCF is working to support the Outriders with more content, which will be revealed soon. The company is also “counting” on more promotion from Square Enix and expects the first royalties from Outriders sales to be paid this year.
People Can Fly is currently working on Project Dagger for Take-Two Interactive, and Project Gemini, which is a new game for Square Enix. Clumsy!
PCF said it is also working on a new game that it intends to release on its own, which makes sense in the context of the issues with Square Enix.
“Working with the publisher has many advantages, but also its disadvantages – one of them is the low impact of the PCF on sales activities and the incompleteness or – as in this case – the lack of data obtained from the editor in this regard, “Wojciechowski concluded.
“This is one of the reasons why, in addition to working with publishers, we have decided to develop projects whose intellectual property will remain the property of the company and which will be edited by the company.
[ad_2]
Source link