People Can Fly is not optimistic about Outriders’ future.

It’s been more than a year since the Polish studio’s looter-shooter was released under Square Enix’s banner. Initially, the Japanese publisher sold it as a commercial success, as last May, it claimed three and a half million players (but that must have been distorted by the fact that People Can Fly’s product was on (Xbox) Game Pass…). Square Enix was quick to say that it would be the company’s next big franchise. Fast forward in time, and you get a completely different overall picture.

Back in August last year, People Can Fly was grumbling about Square Enix not telling them how Outriders was performing, and now here’s a financial report from the Polish studio stating that they’re in trouble: “The Group received no royalties from the publisher for the period to December 31st 2021, which means that as at the reporting date net proceeds from the sale of Outriders were insufficient to recover the costs and expenses incurred by the publisher to develop, distribute and promote the title. This was confirmed by the royalty statement for the fourth quarter of 2021, received by the Group from the publisher.”

In other words, People Can Fly did not receive a profit, so Outriders did not make a profit in one year. So they don’t feel like developing a DLC, but they are still working on Outriders Worldslayer, which will be released this year. But optimism, there is none: “There can be no assurance that net proceeds from the sale of Outriders in future periods will be sufficient for the publisher to recover the costs incurred and pay royalties to the Group.”

It is evidence that, in the case of a game with a live service model, the focus should not be on how many players the product has after launch but on the long term interest in it. Chances are, not much (and it can be said for Square Enix’s OTHER live service game, Babylon’s Fall, developed by PlatinumGames… oh, and there’s also Marvel’s Avengers from Crystal Dynamics, sold to Embracer Group… LOL).

No wonder they are focusing on Project Gemini, “a Triple-A game that is being developed in partnership with the publisher Square Enix Limited. Its scale is comparable to that of Outriders. The Group expects that the game will reach completion by the end of 2024.” Maybe they’ll make some money from that…

Source: PCGamer