“Someone told me that part of the reason why. [Cult Of The Lamb] isn’t in Game Pass is because Sony has [Massive Monster] paid not to put it in Game Pass,” the journalist said. His claim caused plenty of discussion in the community. However, it does not seem to correspond to reality. Shortly after the rumor surfaced, the publisher Developer Digital had its say and described the whole thing as “absolutely untrue”.

Deals are not rare in the industry

Even though there seems to be nothing to the case of “Cult of the Lamb”, similar deals are not uncommon in the industry, which is true for both Sony and Microsoft. Sony, for example, secured special rights to the “Call of Duty” series in recent years, after Microsoft had held the reins in previous years and will again after the Activision Blizzard takeover. For other games, there were and are even complete exclusive releases.

In the case of “Cult of the Lamb”, forgoing the Xbox Game Pass may well have paid off. Just yesterday we reported that the title was released in the first week after launch. was sold more than one million times. With a sales price of around 25 euros or dollars, the retail turnover can be calculated quite simply. A large part of it goes into the coffers of the developer and the publisher.

How much Microsoft pays to include a game in the Xbox Game Pass usually remains hidden. In the case of “Cooking Simulator” it was apparently $600,000, as Twisted Voxel reported. Assuming that games included in a subscription generate fewer sales, “Cult of the Lamb” would require a significantly higher amount to compensate for the loss of millions in sales revenue.

Sony has also significantly expanded its own subscription offering, offering multiple libraries across three tiers with PlayStation Plus. While new releases via PS Plus remain the exception, subscribers have an access to hundreds of games, including classics from previous console generations. Sony believes that releasing new games via subscriptions will have a can have a negative impact on their quality.