Remember "Outriders"? Released in April by Polish developer People Can Fly, this cooperative multiplayer shooter received polite praise and not much to say about it after the company addressed some vicious bugs. The game aims to be a loot shooter while eliminating some of the repetitive aspects of the genre, and it mostly succeeds.

However, there was another interesting situation regarding the release of Outriders. Developers are now questioning whether it was a good or bad move.

As reported by IGN, the story was revealed at an investor briefing for People Can Fly. During the briefing, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski discussed Outriders' profitability, or lack of potential profitability:

"We don't know what Outriders' sales are."

"We estimated between 2 and 3 million units and assumed that this was the outcome that would ensure the profitability of this project.

However, the game may not have sold as well as Wojciechowski's estimate. The game's publisher, Square Enix, did not pay royalties to People Can Fly. This is because Square Enix must pay its own operating expenses before any money is returned to the developer.

Interesting for Xbox Game Pass fans comes next:

"Perhaps some elements of Square Enix's sales policy are to blame, but the details will depend on the partnerships the publisher has entered into with distribution platforms and entities that offer "Outriders" as an addition to their own products," Wojciechowski said.

The briefing then stated that "on the day of the premiere, the game was offered 'for free' to subscribers of the Xbox Game Pass service."

To be clear, neither People Can Fly nor Wojciechowski explicitly stated that Outriders' sales are iffy because of Xbox Game Pass. Wojciechowski did imply it, however, and it was explicitly mentioned in the briefing. Whatever agreement Square Enix and Microsoft reached regarding Game Pass distribution of "Outriders," it may not have been as profitable as People Can Fly had hoped.

Of course, assuming that "Outriders" has not yet reached profitability, it may be premature to push everything onto Xbox Game Pass. We don't know how many people bought Outriders outright, how many people played it on Game Pass, or how many Game Pass players would have purchased it if the game were not offered on Microsoft's subscription service.

Still, "Outriders" was the first major third-party title available on Xbox Game Pass from day one. As far as we know, it did not pay off for the developer.

We'll have to wait and see if this case becomes an outlier or a trend; there are quite a few third-party games available on Xbox Game Pass that will be available on day one later this year.