Outriders still has not made a profit, developer confirms

[John Elden Ring]

As of March 2023, People Can Fly still haven't received royalty payments for its Outriders looter-shooter.

While scouting the publisher's investor relations page, I noticed something interesting: Outriders, the well-received third-person co-op game released in 2021, has yet to turn a profit. Outriders was financed by Square Enix and People Can Fly were to receive royalties if the game broke even. As of March of this year, Square Enix hasn't sent any royalties to People Can Fly.

"Furthermore, in accordance with the development and publishing agreement signed on February 16th 2016 between the parent and Square Enix Limited to develop Outriders, since the game was completed and released on April 1st 2021 the Group is entitled to receive consideration in the form of royalties. Their amount is directly linked to and represents a percentage of the profit earned on the sale of the game.

"The Group received no royalties from the publisher for the period to March 31st 2023, 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."

Via TweakTown

 

[nongkris]

day 1 gamepass effect

 

[shocknero]

day 1 gamepass effect

Thanks to the deal they signed with SE. their deal likely didn’t account for a piece of the compensation SE got from the Gamepass bag. But notice PCF is making their next game with MS and taking that Gamepass bag for themselves. No middleman.

 

[Ezekiel]

I've played the demo when it was first out, and tried again since the game is on PS+ Extra and... it's just not very good? Like the shooting and abilities are nothing really great.

Maybe it was the class I was playing.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Now MS can go an acquire People Can Fly after Gamepass tanked their value.

 

[shocknero]

Now MS can go an acquire People Can Fly after Gamepass tanked their value.

You can’t be serious. No one was hyping that game until that Gamepass announcement hit. Issue was after all that publicity SE didn’t account for the influx of gamers playing. There were constant crashes and lost loot, people got to a breaking point and left.

 

[Nhomnhom]

You can’t be serious. No one was hyping that game until that Gamepass announcement hit. Issue was after all that publicity SE didn’t account for the influx of gamers playing. There were constant crashes and lost loot, people got to a breaking point and left.

What is the game that was helped by Gamepass?

PS+ at least has some success stories like Fall Guys, Rocket League and Stray that ended up selling well.

Day 1 on Gamepass is a death sentence for sales.

 

[shocknero]

What is the game that was helped by Gamepass?

PS+ at least has some success stories like Fall Guys, Rocket League and Stray that ended up selling well.

Day 1 on Gamepass is a death sentence for sales.

The same publishers/devs keep coming back so they must be seeing success from it. SE signed that deal to amplify Outriders after looking at those preorder numbers. If that deal wasn’t made they wouldn’t have seen a profit either. Lol

 

[BlueLyria]

The same publishers/devs keep coming back so they must be seeing success from it. SE signed that deal to amplify Outriders after looking at those preorder numbers. If that deal wasn’t made they wouldn’t have seen a profit either. Lol

Honestly, I'm with this, Outriders was very much like Redfall in a way (in a technical aspect it's years ahead of Redfall), because the game just didn't have a target audience or struck a chord with a particular playerbase, It's like, it's just there? No one got hyped with the trailers, it just plopped into existence, was used in a few XBS vs XBX vs PS5 videos and promptly forgotten, even it's update or expansion, I don't really know which is it, failed to make it even remotely popular.

As I've said before, Live service games live through mind share, and Outriders had none from the get go.

 

[Zzero]

Looks like generic shit to me, why would anyone spend money on it?

 

[Systemshock2023]

People can fly should stick to single player games. Hopefully it's lesson learned by them

 

[BlueLyria]

People can fly should stick to single player games. Hopefully it's lesson learned by them

Bulletstorm 2 would've been better

 

[Vertigo]

I've played the demo when it was first out, and tried again since the game is on PS+ Extra and... it's just not very good? Like the shooting and abilities are nothing really great.

Maybe it was the class I was playing.

As someone who likes to try any major online multiplayer release just for shits n giggles… Outriders fucking sucked. I don’t even rank it above Godfall. Bullet sponge enemies in the worst way and dumb as fuck AI that just requires to find a rock to run circles around to beat. I wanted a gears clone but not this… level design was embarrassingly shit as well.

Didn’t help that PS5 version couldn’t connect to severs for its entire launch month either. Making it the worst the online multiplayer launch I’ve ever experienced since it was literally unplayable for paying customers.

Let Phil buy em.

 

[Shmunter]

I dug the demo, keen to try the full release - I have it. But the backlog effect is the turd in the punchbowl as usual.

 

[Vertigo]

Hoping Arc Raiders or Helldivers 2 finds a way to succeed were Outriders did not. Hoping one of them includes PvP. A shooter without PvP isnt worth the investment imo. Especially if there’s a loot and gear game.

 

[ksdixon]

Does anyone actually play this and need a team mate? Always fancied it for coop fun with no squad, but as it's own single player thing it looked somewhat repeating/tedious.