Recently, developer The Game Bakers announced that they will be releasing an unexpected update for Furi, his sleek 2016 mashup of bullet-hell action, where players battle a parade of demanding bosses. This update, including a new character and an improved version for PlayStation 5 players, would be released on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Switch. Very precisely, it would not be released on Xbox, even if Furi originally posted there. Which has caused some understandable frustration from people who exclusively play on Xbox.
“We heard from all of you who played Furi on Xbox and we understand your frustration,” reads a series of tweets from The Game Bakers, trying to explain why he skips the Xbox. “We are a small indie team and couldn’t find the time and budget to do this port.”
Furi is the definition of a cult classic, a game with a small but dedicated following that maintains constant word of mouth about its quality, helping it sell over time. But it didn’t become a cult classic on all platform, and more specifically, it didn’t catch fire on Xbox, a space where, according to the developer, the best path to success is Game Pass or bust.
All of this gave the studio immense pause when considering revisiting Furi in 2022.
The game has sold “year after year,” according to The Game Bakers co-founder and president Audrey Leprince in an interview with Waypoint, and a break between major projects has given The Game Bakers the opportunity to tweak and add more. Furi.
The problem, however, is that updating a game isn’t as easy as pushing a few lines of code and re-exporting the art at a higher resolution. There are huge logistical challenges.
“Apart from the game design, code and assets of the new [character]”, said Leprince, “we needed to update an old game completely on all platforms: update engine, SDK [software development kits]middleware, all platform-specific content, test all these versions, pass the platform check and re-release.
There are a lot of i’s to dot and t’s to go through, and came right after the release of its latest version, Havena game about two space lovers leaving their lives to forge something new. Haven shipped simultaneously on many platforms – PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X – and required navigating release requirements in multiple regions, including Europe, the Americas, Japan and Asia.
The team is only 12 people and The Game Bakers does not work with a publisher. In many cases, the reason for working with an editor is that they can help you with these many small details.
Plus, the numbers didn’t lie. Furi on Xbox was selling “less and less”, and according to Leprince, and accounted for less than a “third” of sales on Switch, often considered one of the best places to sell indie games on the market’s biggest crapshoot . The problem was compounded by the inability to secure future promotions for Furi on the Xbox storefront for better awareness, and Haven “didn’t sell at all” on Xbox, outside of its Game Pass partnership.
You can see how sales break down explicitly, according to this chart provided by The Game Bakers, first showing what it looks like with Game Pass downloads:
And here, without Game Pass:
“We spoke to the Xbox team to see if there was a way to get help, but Furi didn’t fit the Game Pass strategy focused on new titles,” Leprince said. “That’s why we made the decision not to bring the DLC to Xbox at launch: the chances of the investment not being recouped were high.”
“Unfortunately, without Game Pass, it’s also very difficult for many indie games to be seen on Xbox.”
Because The Game Bakers is self-funding and publishes its games, the math has to add up.
For context, a third of FuriThe budget of, according to Leprince, was funded through a PlayStation Plus partnership with Sony, while a quarter of HavenThe budget for was funded by a Game Pass deal with Microsoft. Both meant the games were briefly “free” on both platforms.
“Being self-published is a different exercise than having an editor, that’s for sure. It at least gives us a lot of creative independence,” Leprince said. “But every game also requires a lot of business development and partnerships. We don’t make enough money with our games yet to be able to completely self-finance the next ones. Especially since our games cost between 1.5 and 3M€ [1.58 to 3.16 million USD] to develop. We are therefore grateful for the opportunities that partners like Sony or Xbox offer us.
For comparison, here’s how Furi sold on various platforms, first including downloads through its PlayStation Plus offering:
And now without PlayStation Plus numbers:
The future of Xbox is tied to the future of Game Pass; it’s the company’s ambitious pitch for the future of how video games will be played by a much wider audience than those who buy an actual Xbox. But Game Pass is only a few years old, and it’s only now that we’re beginning to see how its priority at Microsoft can and will impact games being made.
“Game Pass is such a fantastic platform for gamers,” Leprince said, “so there may be more Xbox gamers than ever interested in indie games. Unfortunately, without Game Pass, it’s also very difficult for many indie games to be seen on Xbox.
If you’re a developer who changed your design, production, or marketing because of Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, or other subscription services, I want to know how you got there. My email is [email protected], my signal number is 224-707-1561.
Leprice does not know exactly why Furi connected more strongly on PlayStation than Xbox, although she theorized the platform’s “strong connection to Japanese games”, which also influenced the design of Furi, may have played a role. But the game also feels very French.
“We’re not sure!” she says. “We’d like to know though!”
There’s a reason Xbox owners are hopeful. The unexpected outcry caught the attention of the developer, and if Furi sells enough, a return to Xbox is possible down the line.
“We sincerely hope the DLC will be a big hit,” Leprince said, “so that we can bring it to Xbox in the near future.”
Follow Patrick on Twitter. His email is [email protected]and available privately on Signal (224-707-1561).
