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 topXboxexecutives in May 2022, when the company was looking for ways to plug whatMicrosoft’s head of gaming,Phil Spencer, referred to as “a huge hole” in its software line-up due toStarfield’s delay.
The email thread formed one of many confidential documents thatMicrosoft 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’sGotham Knightsfor $50 million andUbisoft‘sAssassin’s Creed Miragefor $100 million.
Based on these estimates, Microsoft thought attempting to secure the costliest titles likeStar 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:
Further reading
Notably, the document also revealed that Microsoft expectedRockstarto release anunannounced current-gen version of Red Dead Redemption 2during the fourth calendar quarter of 2022.
To secure the title for Game Pass, Microsoft thought Rockstar’s parent companyTake-Twomight charge $5 million per month.
