Outriders Developer Didn't Make Profit Since Launch
People Can Fly claims that they didn't receive any payment for Outriders, assuming it has not been profitable yet.
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| Outriders Developer Didn't Make Profit Since Launch |
Despite having an outstanding launch and huge player numbers across multiple platforms, 2021 third-person shooter Outriders from developer People Can Fly and publisher Square Enix have allegedly failed to make any earnings till date.
Square Enix's new loot shooter made its day-one debut on Xbox Game Pass and becomes one of the biggest launches on Steam. However, it seemingly has failed to break-even and generate any profit from first-quarter of sales this year.
Polish developer studio People Can Fly claims that they are owed royalty payments from Square Enix after recouping all production and marketing costs, which they didn't receive yet and thus, assuming Outriders hasn't been profitable yet.
According to an investor statement, it has been more than a calendar quarter and 45 more days since Outriders was launched and dev team has yet to collect a profit payout from Square Enix, only if they have surpassed break-even point.
Sebastian Wojciechowski, CEO of People Can Fly studio reveals that they don't have any sales figure for Outriders yet. Their estimated sales were roughly 2-3 million copies and assumed that they would make some profit by first-quarter.
Wojciechowski thinks that lack of royalty payments maybe due to Square Enix sales agreements and policy, which are not known in details. He also points out that overall expenses for known project maybe estimated more than expected.
People Can Fly CEO, Sebastian Wojciechowski shares his opinion on Square Enix due payment issue at hand.
We do not have any sales figures for Outriders – we estimate sales to be between 2 and 3 million copies and we assumed that this result would make the project profitable already in the first quarter of sales. The lack of payment from the publisher probably means that in Square Enix's opinion this is not the case after all.
Wojciechowski states that reason behind no royalty payout could be as a result of Square Enix's deal with Xbox Game Pass. However, they have little control over current situation and it might take some time for their publisher to respond.
In an early press release, Square Enix stated releasing Outriders on Xbox Game Pass has paid off in terms of active users. This deal has exceeded their expectations by securing a massive player-base and a surprisingly high digital sales ratio.
Outriders had a record 3.5 million player-number at launch month, partly due to its Xbox Game Pass deal of day-one release. Regardless of crashes and server issues in early phase, players are coming back for its engaging co-op multiplayer.
Square Enix has yet to release an official statement regarding People Can Fly's claims on overall profitability of Outriders, which is still at an early phase of its planned lifecycle and may require more promotional efforts to make it a success.
