Microsoft thought it might cost $300m to get Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on Game Pass at launch
Xbox assessed a range of third-party options to fill “a huge hole” in its line-up due to Starfield’s delay
Microsoft thought it might cost $300 million to secure EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor as a day one release on Game Pass.
The estimate was included in a confidential email conversation between top Xbox executives in May 2022, when the company was looking for ways to plug what Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer, referred to as “a huge hole” in its software line-up due to Starfield’s delay.
The email thread formed one of many confidential documents that Microsoft inadvertently provided to a federal court in unredacted form, which were uploaded overnight to an internet page established for its legal case against the Federal Trade Commission.
The documents potentially laid bare key elements of Microsoft’s gaming strategy for years to come, including plans for unannounced console hardware and games.
The Game Pass email thread showed that Microsoft had assessed how much it thought it would have to spend to secure a range of third-party titles for Game Pass on the day of their release.
At the time, Xbox executive Sarah Bond said Microsoft might be able to secure “D&D [day and date] crown jewels” like Warner’s Gotham Knights for $50 million and Ubisoft‘s Assassin’s Creed Mirage for $100 million.
Based on these estimates, Microsoft thought attempting to secure the costliest titles like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor “would not be a good ROI [return on investment]”.
Other titles it assessed and the estimated price to get them on Game Pass at launch included:
- Suicide Squad (Warner Bros. Games) – $250 million
- Mortal Kombat 1 (Warner Bros. Games) – $250 million
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Warner Bros. Games) – $35 million
- Dying Light 2 (Techland) – $50 million
- Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios) – $5 million
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Microsoft was reportedly responsible for this week’s giant Xbox leak
Notably, the document also revealed that Microsoft expected Rockstar to release an unannounced current-gen version of Red Dead Redemption 2 during the fourth calendar quarter of 2022.
To secure the title for Game Pass, Microsoft thought Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two might charge $5 million per month.
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