The Game Awards

“But we can tell from personal experience, from using Game Pass, that being part of that ecosystem is a great place to be. We have found ourselves experimenting and playing more genres and games outside our comfort zone.

“With Xbox driving the Game Pass subscription service with the Xbox Series S|X, we are excited to be a part of the catalogue and reach players we otherwise might not have.

“Getting the word out is half the battle for smaller developers with interchanging roles. Our publisher has thankfully taken away a lot of stress of getting PHOGS! in front of gamers and let us focus on making the best possible experience for anyone who plays the game”

A mixed bag then – though Descenders’ performance is certainly going to attract attention to those considering bringing their title to Game Pass. So how easy is it to get Microsoft’s attention? Can you seek out your success on Game Pass, or does your game already need to be successful to even be considered? It seems obvious that it’s in Microsoft’s best interests to pick out the already popular titles for its platform.

“It’s tricky,” agrees Rose. “Arguably, Microsoft only really wants to put titles that are successful, or they know will be successful, onto Game Pass, otherwise players will complain. That being said, I think it’s really cool that they allowed us to add Hypnospace Outlaw to Game Pass. The game was already successful on PC, but it’s pretty niche and pretty weird, so obviously they’re open to adding wacky stuff too!”

“For us at Bit Loom,” notes Flinders, “getting on Game Pass was an exciting surprise as we mainly saw larger games and more well-known indies getting selected to be part of the Game Pass service. Having Coatsink as our publisher has definitely helped us to get PHOGS! on Game

Pass with their previous successes as a publisher of indie titles. “Coatsink has built relationships with first parties over the years and I’d expect that this would help determine being offered to be included in the Game Pass service.” Game Pass isn’t quite a free-for-all – and its uses for discoverability would suffer if it was. But it’s an encouraging sign that Microsoft is willing to entertain the potentially successful titles too – provided a reputable publisher is involved too, of course.

GAME PASS FOR ALL

Still, for those lucky enough to be chosen, both Rose and Flinders agree that the platform is an encouraging sign for smaller creators.

“It’s still pretty early along into the life of Game Pass,” says Rose, “but currently I would argue that it has been beneficial to the majority of smaller devs who have got titles on there. I would imagine that being on Game Pass has reduced a lot of porting risk for a lot of studios.”

Flinders shares Rose’s general optimism here, adding: “Services like Game Pass can give a new, wider audience to smaller developers and help them continue making interesting games by giving a platform for new players to discover their game and recommend it to a friend, driving sales on other platforms.

“It is easy for smaller games from less wellknown developers to become lost in the sea of other games being released at any given time so Game Pass and the support of the Xbox team is priceless in helping drive maximum visibility on the Xbox platform.”

These benefits to indies will surely only increase with the addition of xCloud. Being able to stream your game to mobile platforms, at no additional cost to the user, must surely be a real boon for discoverability. What exactly is the potential for xCloud bringing indie games to a wider audience?

“We’ve already seen it,” says Rose. “We were asking to have Descenders on xCloud quite early on in the preview, and it has definitely increased our player numbers. I can’t really say by how much, I’m currently not able to see that data, but we are told by players quite regularly that they played on xCloud.”

“It is exciting to know that people will be able to play the game without owning an expensive console or computer.” says Flinders. “Not everyone will spend money on a games console but those people might have a phone they can stream the game to.

“The Streaming space is an exciting place right now, Stadia, xCloud and Amazon all believe in the streaming model and it gives the accessibility and a low entry point to consumers to get highquality games without a hardware barrier.”

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT?

Still, it isn’t all rosy. As we head into the next generation, Microsoft is clearly focused on bringing even more big-label titles to Game Pass than ever before.

It’s an exciting prospect for consumers, sure. But what of the indie developers? How can an unknown, low-budget title compete for attention when it’s surrounded by FIFA, Fallout and Doom?

“This was and is always the concern with any of these sorts of platforms,” says Rose. “And yeah, I imagine it will creep that way in the coming months and years. It’s in Microsoft’s hands to keep bringing as many smaller titles into the service, as they do with triple-A titles”

“Visibility is always going to be an issue for indie developers,” notes Flinders, “especially when up against triple-A games. However, we’d like to think that the extra support from Xbox for being part of Game Pass will bring more subscription users to stumble upon smaller indie games like PHOGS! and try out more indie games where they might not have otherwise if it wasn’t just included with their subscription.”

It’s always an interesting time whenever the industry is on the cusp of a new generation. But this generation in particular – with Microsoft’s subscription service offering an aggressive challenge to Sony’s dominance of the market, feels particularly interesting. It just remains to be seen if Microsoft can keep Game Pass friendly for indies.

Gongs Go Global

Forced to give up its usual showbiz trappings, The Game Awards decided to push forward with a more global, multiple location event. Geoff Keighley tells MCV/DEVELOP about his big plans for the big night

The Game Awards returns for 2020 on December 10th, but like every other awards show it will be a little different this year. Rather than being presented from a glitzy theatre venue packed with the great-and-good of the industry, the event will instead adapt to the prevailing pandemic conditions.

Of course, the event was always an online one, for audiences at least, with the blend of awards and exclusive trailers reaching over 50m global viewers last year. Beyond that the show acts as an anchor for playable content, demos, extended live streams and other experiences. Plus there will be sales across all major platforms linked into the event. All of which is rolled together under The Game Festival banner.

And with E3 having been heavily disrupted this year, first switching to a digital event and then deferring to the Black Lives Matter protests, the Game Awards, with plenty of forewarning and coming off the back of the big console launches, is looking to be the biggest single stage in town in 2020.

So rather than simply relocating to a smaller, emptier venue, Geoff Keighley and his team have instead taken the opportunity to go global. With three locations, Los Angeles, Tokyo and London, all combining to provide what should be a night to remember.

We caught up with host and executive producer Geoff Keighley to discuss this year’s plans in more detail.

Why did you decide to switch to three locations?

I’ve always dreamed of hosting The Game Awards internationally. This year, since the world can’t fly to LA to attend the show, we thought we’d bring the show to the world. It felt like the right approach to have hub locations in North America, Europe and Asia. I’m tremendously excited about the possibilities.

Will you be gathering all the shortlisted nominees across the three locations?

Our plans are still taking shape, but we hope to have select guests appear live at each of our hub city locations under strict COVID-19 safety protocols. Nominees will join us via live link from their home locations. We are not planning to have a large gathering of people or live public audiences in any of our locations this year.

What are the challenges of hosting a live awards show digitally?

We’ve always streamed the show digitally, so the at home viewer experience won’t be any different: They can expect awards, world premieres, musical performances and a big celebration of gaming. The main challenge I’ve been thinking about a lot is how to capture the energy of the live crowd and bring that to the show. The good news there is that we have 5,000+ co-streamers across all the platforms that react to the news.

With the new consoles launching just a few weeks before the event, there’s intense interest in gaming at present, even beyond the usual community, so what are your audience expectations?

It’s a great question. I feel tremendous weight on my shoulders to deliver a show that celebrates the vital role this industry has played in entertaining the world in 2020. It’s certainly an exciting time for our industry. We’re working hard to have some great game announcements that showcase the forward momentum in 2021 and beyond.

It will be very interesting to see how the event pans out, but there will undoubtedly be some big stories and big trailers launched on the night. Plus Keighley is continuing to explore the show’s ability to launch demos and the like, in order to instantly engage viewers with new content they can play, rather than just watch.