Indie Pass, the world’s only subscription platform exclusively for indie games, launched recently worldwide on PC, provided to you by the publisher and game management company indie.io! Indie Pass introduces a low-cost, player-first subscription model designed to support independent developers and small teams in bringing their titles across the globe.
Regional Pricing and Affordability
For the price of $6.99 a month, it feels pretty affordable, especially considering similar services out there.
What I do love, though, is that there is regional pricing available for some countries, meaning that, especially in countries with a lower wage average, more folks could be able to afford games on there.
There are games that I’ve tried on Epic Games before, where I got them for free, only for me to purchase them on GOG or Steam afterwards. I think this might fit a similar niche of allowing you an unlimited trial on titles when you’re debating a purchase. For the sake of discoverability and for the sake of trials (when there are no demos), this could be pretty interesting.
I also don’t often replay games personally. There are exceptions to this, of course, but some games are just “done” after one playthrough and depending on said game’s price point, this can feel somewhat disappointing. If I get a subscription for less than the full purchase price in that case, then it definitely is a good deal for me either way, though this doesn’t affect me quite as much as I’ll mention later.
Another Rental Service?
There is an argument to be had about not “owning” the games in question and that can be an issue for some folks, but as someone who typically switches from one game to another on a monthly basis, I love the idea of “renting out games”. I really enjoyed GamePass, as a product, before the price increased… and before it then increased yet again.
I love the idea of it because for the price of less than your typical indie game, I’d get to try out a whole catalogue of games before inevitably deciding to buy said titles on GoG, Itch or Steam. It feels like a pretty good way of introducing players to titles.
The Catalogue
The best part about it, for me, is that the platform is genre-agnostic, meaning that there’s not just one type of game on there but instead a whole lot of variety for all sorts of game fans, albeit limited to indie devs.
This means that developers and publishers do get a good way of getting their games in front of an audience in a flexible, non-exclusive and low-risk participation model. In my head, it feels like a win-win situation. Players get to check out games in their entirety (and then possibly buy them on their main platform, like Steam or GoG) while developers get paid out based on playtime rather than based on downloads.
And honestly, I’m pretty excited for this because it means supporting developers while also exploring a great catalogue that already has so many gems in there, including the Dark Deity games, Echoes of the Plum Grove, Troublemaker, Rogue Labyrinth, Fractured Core, Sands of Aura, Tyrant’s Blessing, and many more games – with more being added over time.
Concerns
With all of that being the case, there have been some concerns in the space about IndiePass as a concept since it doesn’t pay out developers based on downloads or purchases and instead focuses on a revenue split based on playtime. The issue with this could theoretically be that certain games don’t live on extensive playtime. Indie games in particular do often feature more concise story beats, so I think that’s a fair point to a degree. Hence, some people speculate that this could incentivise developers to specifically create gameplay loops that are addictive and that don’t respect players’ time.
That said, I don’t really think that is much of a concern. The catalogue already features games that naturally have pretty long playtime built in, like strategy titles, roguelikes and farming sims. We don’t know yet whether the catalogue will favour a specific genre over time, and ultimately, developers themselves are the ones who decide whether or not they want to put their game on this service.
In the launcher, one can, however, filter by the playtime estimate, too, which I find interesting. There are games to try out that are on the shorter end, but most of the catalogue currently is in that kind of “medium” of 2-10 hours. Obviously, it heavily depends on the player and the game.
There is also something to be said about the revenue share. Indie.io does take a 20% split from the revenue, meaning developers can “only” earn “up to” 80% of the revenue from players. Indie.io does specifically say “up to” because of the fact that taxes work very differently based on the country that players are from. For the developers that participated in the beta, indie.io only takes a 10% split as a thanks, so to speak.
This also means that there are no guarantees for developers, and ultimately it’s all up to the players to play games on the service for developers to earn anything from it…
I think there are valid concerns for this kind of service, but only time will be able to tell whether or not this service pays off for developers and whether it’s sustainable in the long run. I get the scepticism for new services like this, but I don’t know if putting the cart before the horse is a good idea in this case, especially as the regional pricing is going to be a huge thing for gamers in other countries.
Transparency
I did get reached out to by StridePR to take a look at Indie Pass and maybe write about it if I find it interesting enough. And I did! I also got an offer for lifetime access to it if I’m interested in that, and I did get that.
I think it’s a great idea overall, and I may rely on this in the future for coverage since I do have the access… but when I do write about games featured on there through this service, I will openly disclose that in the review at the start of the review. Typically, a lot of the games that I do write about are titles I got reached out to by PR, publishers and developers alike, and I think it’s important to be transparent about me having purchased games versus me receiving a key.
The reason I’m mentioning this is for the sake of transparency and integrity. While my opinions are my own and I ultimately have the final say in whether I recommend or don’t recommend a title or whether I even write about it, I think being open about getting keys, buying games or even me refunding them (which has happened before), is important as a reader’s perspective on a review is different when this kind of stuff doesn’t get disclosed.
My goal on Indiecator is to highlight cool games and review titles I play. It’s a passion project and hobby of mine that I don’t earn anything from. If I were to not disclose this kind of stuff (like some major outlets tend to do), it would hurt my integrity and devalue my reviews and this whole site.
With that being the case, I genuinely do believe that this is a cool idea, and I hope that IndiePass catches on with lovers of indie games. Yes, it’s another launcher. Yes, it’s another subscription service… But it’s also a very cool tool for discoverability and for developers to monetise their games without Early Access, Kickstarters, and the like, on top of being a nice opportunity for players to check out games cheaply and maybe make a purchase on another platform later on.
This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
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