My first game I was paid to do was Gardenarium in I got a really small amount, like a grand or something. Montreal used to be way cheaper. But I was making it work. At the same time, I was VJing. I made a comic book. So there [were] little bits of money coming in from other sources. I got by. That lasted for maybe three years. Canadian arts funding is pretty awesome. Basically, percent of my core income comes from that and UK arts funding.
I was a software engineer from to This is kind of my secret: work as a software engineer for 15 years living relatively frugally. I spent all of that plus all of my retirement savings. After I ran out of money, I got some more from Indie Fund, and I got some personal loans from friends and family, and then finally got picked up by Annapurna. If it had been a four-person team, it would have been different. Having no dependents also helped. I would sometimes wake up in a panic during the middle of the night.
But looking back, I was worried a lot of the time. The possibility of a real disaster was always looming.
You just kind of yo-yo between too much confidence and panic. I graduated in , and then I applied for an art fund, which I got. And with that, I was able to work on my games full time for a year. I was still living in a student room so my costs and rent were very low, which is why I was able to live. I worked as a waitress for a couple of months, and then I sold computers for six months.
It took me out of the video game bubble. Not everyone cares about video games. I applied for this startup entrepreneur funding, which I still have now. This [new funding] is from the government of Utrecht, and they want to support startup companies and give out either one, two, or three years of funding, and I got two years.
The catch is all the money I make I have to pay back, so it becomes a loan if I become successful. Things are definitely getting tougher, even in the last year. It was a substantial drop. You need a car to do anything. If you want to do this for a living, you have to readjust your entire life. Thankfully, the economic situation has changed now, though. The game is going to get made.
Then they have all the retail upside, we have the opportunity for day and date," Spencer said. Sometimes the developer's more done with the game and it's more just a transaction of, 'Hey, we'll put it in Game Pass if you'll pay us this amount of money. Other agreements are different. Developers have come to Microsoft asking for deals based on "usage and monetization. Most of the partners said, 'Yeah, yeah, we understand that, but we don't believe it, so just give us the money upfront.
Also in the interview, Spencer said he's been heartened to see more and different types of games come to light thanks to Game Pass. And my hope is that Game Pass can get to that same level.
Xbox Game Pass is not without its critics, as some people say subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade further devalue games and condition people to think games should be free or cheap. It's a fascinating gamble, with potentially huge returns, and its success depends on whether Microsoft can build a platform attractive enough to developers and, in turn, players.
Then they get all the retail opportunity on top of Game Pass. When we started, we had a model that was all based on usage. This kind of flexibility obviously depends on both seriously deep pockets and a willingness to back a range of projects. Indeed it's hard to see what other approach would work in an industry where budgets can range from the low thousands to hundreds of millions.
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