The Xbox Game Pass subscription service helped Rebellion manage the chance it was taking on a new IP like Atomfall.
That's according to CEO and co-founder Jason Kingsley, who told GI.biz that Microsoft putting up a minimum payment for the title's inclusion in its platform reduced the risk of releasing a new franchise. Atomfall launched back in March and swiftly attracted 1.5 million players, in no short part thanks to Game Pass.
"Yes, it does mitigate risk, because without going into details, they guarantee you a certain level of income, regardless of what it will sell for," Kingsley explained.
"But it potentially has a knock-on effect. Places like Xbox sales, for example. You could argue that all the hardcore are on Game Pass, and they're the ones that might buy a new IP like this, so therefore, are you cannibalising one section of the audience? And I think, perhaps, yes, a little bit. But what you gain from that cost is disproportionate."
Speaking of managing risk, Kingsley also discussed how Rebellion handles budgets, saying that the company simply doesn't have $200 million to put behind one of its projects.
"We try our hardest to control budgets and make them the appropriate size for our games," he said.
"I'm flattered to even be talked about in the same area, or even vaguely occupying similar parts of the charts as fantastic games like Assassin's Creed, which are costing hundreds of millions, I believe, I don't know whether the actual budgets are public. But I believe it's hundreds of millions.
"And obviously those games, ultimately, will sell better than our game. But our game is a very small fraction of that budget."
He continued: "We don't deliberately fit into this mid range, but that's what we can do, and what we can do successfully. We literally can't afford to spend 200 million on making a game. We just don't have 200 million."
