Day 1 Gamepass Game Labeled "Big Disappointment"

[anonpuffs]

gamerant article

A recently-released day one Xbox Game Pass game is unfortunately labeled a 'big disappointment' by its own publisher.

Highlights​

• The Lamplighters League has been labeled a "big disappointment" by its publisher, Paradox Interactive, due to weak commercial reception.
• The game's release timing amidst the fall gaming rush and high-profile new releases on Xbox Game Pass has further contributed to its struggles.
• While the game may have gotten mixed reviews, fans of the genre can still try it out on Xbox Game Pass and come to their own conclusions.

Day one Xbox Game Pass game The Lamplighters League has been labeled a "big disappointment" by publisher Paradox Interactive. The Lamplighters League is a turn-based strategy game inspired by 1930s pulp magazines and XCOM that released on October 3. Developed by Harebrained Schemes, The Lamplighters League launched as a day one Xbox Game Pass game across PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Unfortunately, things have not been going well for The Lamplighters League. Lamplighters League reviews have been mixed, and beyond that, it's releasing in the midst of the fall gaming rush. With so many high profile new games to play on a weekly basis, an unproven IP with mixed reviews like The Lamplighters League has the cards stacked against it. Throw in the fact that Xbox Game Pass itself has been inundated with high quality new releases lately, and it's no surprise that The Lamplighters League has failed to meet its publisher's expectations.

More at the link

 

[Entropi]

Inundated with high-quality new releases, uh?

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Paradox is another one like Sega, giving away all their games until they are worthless. 225 people are playing on Steam and it just came out. 80% of the staff already left the studio according to a dev on ERA. They got exactly what they deserve. Bankruptcy.

I will never understand all these publishers ruining their business to give exclusives and perks to Microsoft.

 

[Box]

Paradox is another one like Sega, giving away all their games until they are worthless. 225 people are playing on Steam and it just came out. 80% of the staff already left the studio according to a dev on ERA. They got exactly what they deserve. Bankruptcy.

I will never understand all these publishers ruining their business to give exclusives and perks to Microsoft.

The CEO and executives at the top only look at short term profits. They can just get hired at a new studio when this is all done

 

[anonpuffs]

Paradox is another one like Sega, giving away all their games until they are worthless. 225 people are playing on Steam and it just came out. 80% of the staff already left the studio according to a dev on ERA. They got exactly what they deserve. Bankruptcy.

I will never understand all these publishers ruining their business to give exclusives and perks to Microsoft.

I'm sad because they legit made some of the best 4x games in existence, i spent a lot of time in Stellaris because it's so good

 

[Zzero]

I'm sad because they legit made some of the best 4x games in existence, i spent a lot of time in Stellaris because it's so good

The dev team behind LLL wasn't responsible for any of those.

 

[Red2Radio]

I don't understand what these studios hope to gain by going day 1 on GamePass? It clearly isn't lucrative enough for most, unless it's a highly anticipated title - at which point, they'd probably make more money by just selling it the traditional way...

 

[Remember_Spinal]

I don't understand what these studios hope to gain by going day 1 on GamePass? It clearly isn't lucrative enough for most, unless it's a highly anticipated title - at which point, they'd probably make more money by just selling it the traditional way...

Its going to be even less lucrative after ABK closes and microsoft dont need to pay them as much.

These indie games aren’t really moving the needle for subscribers, they are supplementary, now that both sony and xbox are about their hit thier mid-gen stride the budgets are gonna start decreasing for them. Those big payouts and the propping up of gamepass is going to bite these studios in the ass.

 

[Cool hand luke]

I don't understand what these studios hope to gain by going day 1 on GamePass? It clearly isn't lucrative enough for most, unless it's a highly anticipated title - at which point, they'd probably make more money by just selling it the traditional way...

The reason low quality correlates so well with day 1 on GP is because devs know that MS will pay where gamers won't. If it were quality and they were confident in it, it wouldn't sniff a subscription service. This is true with few exceptions. Lamplighters League must've looked rough during internal testing and the studio made a decision to try claw something back from the desperate, bloated corpse of Xbox.

 

[Deleted member 223]

Devs try to use Gamepass as a cheat sheet to success. Some luck in, some luck out.

The dynamic here is that devs fear letting their titles stand on their own in a very competitive market and chose to cut their loses with Gamepass money just in case. Of course, nothing is without drawbacks, as is this case and many similar others.

I still believe in a blame game, the blame lays mostly on the developer and not so much MS offering the deal. If you think about it, success or no success, they got money from MS.

The game itself from gameplay footage looks like a mid indie with a questionably niche , and low addressable market. Is that MS's fault? Nope. I think if anything, whomever signed the deal at MS should be answering hard questions for playing with money in such an inefficient way.

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Paradox got rid of the studio lol Are they going to keep the Game Pass money?

Paradox Interactive "parts ways" with Harebrained Schemes after The Lamplighters League

Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes have announced that the two companies will be parting ways following The Lamplighters League

www.destructoid.com

 

[Darth Vader]

The Gamepass Effect

 

[flaccidsnake]

Paradox got rid of the studio lol Are they going to keep the Game Pass money?

Paradox Interactive "parts ways" with Harebrained Schemes after The Lamplighters League

Paradox Interactive and Harebrained Schemes have announced that the two companies will be parting ways following The Lamplighters League

www.destructoid.com

weird that the makers of Victoria 3 are so ruthless toward a team like this.