Game Pass has proven to be a huge success for Xbox and developers since its inception, but supposedly the "gold rush is over" for indie developers looking to achieve major funding deals from these kinds of services.
Speaking to PC Gamer at this year's Game Developer Conference, the development teams behind Xbox Game Pass releases like Slay The Spire and Darkest Dungeon suggested indie developers are no longer getting the same deals or opportunities from the likes of XGP and Epic Games (the latter for exclusivity agreements).
Darkest Dungeon director Chris Bourassa said that Epic and Microsoft's offers for indie titles have "come down in scope" in recent times, with the "scale of the deals" no longer like the "big swinging days".
"The Gold Rush is over. I come from the Northwest Territories. The town I'm from was built on gold, and then they found diamonds further north. Maybe another paradigm shift is waiting for us, but I definitely think the scale of the deals I'm hearing about is significantly diminished from the big swinging days. Certainly we got our Epic [deal] at the right time."
The co-founder of Slay the Spire studio Mega Crit (Casey Yano) also summed up how dire the situation is for indie teams in general right now, according to some recent conversations at GDC:
"I talked to at least five small teams, like 35 [members] and under, during GDC, and they're like: Cuts, cuts, cuts, funding canceled, talks that were going on for a year, canceled... We're definitely very privileged to be able to self-fund. [Otherwise] I'd be very, very, very scared right now."
Unfortunately, the industry is experiencing a difficult period - with Microsoft earlier this year axing 1,900 jobs and restructuring parts of Xbox. Keep in mind though, Xbox hasn't officially commented about cutting back on indie deals and is still actively showing its support with the ID@Xbox program and plenty of upcoming Game Pass additions.