A large number of indie game developers worry that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will hurt them

A large number of indie game developers have said they are concerned about Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard because it will make indie games harder to be noticed by the average player.

A new BBC report investigates whether the continued growth of Xbox Game Pass means that any small indie games that are not included in XGP will be obsolete.

Considering that all Activision Blizzard studios will join the Xbox Game Studios family, indie developers are worried that Xbox may eventually continue to launch blockbusters, which will dominate the Xbox Game Pass game library.

One developer who expressed her concerns in a BBC article was Tanya Short, who developed the critically acclaimed game Boyfriend Dungeon, which is still in Game Pass. Short said most indie studios currently avoid releasing games near Christmas because they don't want to compete with AAA games, but that may no longer be a useful strategy.

"The Activision acquisition has caused us panic because it makes it obvious that maybe they can dominate the rest of the year, so what are we going to do?"

The BBC says Short is one of a large number of indie game developers worried about the Microsoft acquisition. In addition to Short, the article also features Yura Zhadanovich, founder and game director of Sad Cat Studios, who is working on the cyberpunk adventure game Replaced, which will also debut xbox Game Pass.

Zhadanovich first praised The way Microsoft treats its studios, but also expressed concern, as more big-name games land on Game Pass, he worries about whether there will be enough players to support their games.

In addition, Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere Analysis, told the BBC that as more subscribers subscribe to Game Pass, any indie games that are not included in the XGP will be harder to sell.

Jake Simpson, a veteran developer in the industry (from TNB Studios), told BBC Game Pass that this is one of the reasons why the perceived value of indie games is in a "bottom-by-bottom race".

"People are willing to spend $1,000 on the phone, but if you ask them to pay $4.99 for a game, they feel offended."

The BBC then contacted Microsoft, and Sarah Bond, microsoft's co-vice president of the game ecosystem, replied: "We will continue to invest in independent game developers, and we will continue to do so as XGP services grow." ”

Bond also said that Game Pass will actually be beneficial to indie game developers because XGP encourages players to try out new types of games they were never interested in before, and then look at similar games that they will like if they find them.

Bond then gave an example. He said that 60 percent of gamers who had played Humanity's Lost game on Game Pass had never played a puzzle game before, and 40 percent of those people went on to buy puzzle games that didn't land on Game Pass.