Phoenix Point "dropped the ball" on Xbox Game Pass
The XCOM and X-Com like Phoenix Point is out now and players seem to be having a good time tactically defending the world from monsters. You can find it on the Epic Store as planned but Xbox Game Pass subscribers are still waiting despite plans for the game to launch on both simultaneously. Snapshot Games say they "dropped the ball."
Microsoft's subscription game service nets you access to a handy chunk of games both current and classic. You can still grab your first 3 months of the service for £1/$1 so it's easy to imagine plenty of players would be anticipating checking out a new release like Phoenix Point by that route and might be disappointed by its absence.
In a blog post yesterday, Snapshot Games came clean about why Phoenix Point is missing from Xbox Game Pass. The blog post says "being inexperienced with Game Pass and the Microsoft Store, we simply had not properly prepared the groundwork to get the game released on time on these platforms."
Launching a game is a feat, especially on multiple of today's many platforms. Coordinating different requirements and certifications isn't a process that I envy. Still, it does sound as if Snapshot have pulled the equivalent of showing up to an exam without ever reading the course syllabus. "Compared to other platforms we’re on these platforms require a number of pre-requisites, from Microsoft certification to legal documentation review," they say.
Above and beyond the wait for proper certification, the developers say that they are "currently unable to make the same content available on Microsoft’s platform that is available to players on other platforms," and won't release on the Microsoft Store until that can be rectified. Exactly what kind of content is missing hasn't been specified so it's hard to make any guess on how long the release will be delayed. Snapshot apparently aren't much more sure than I am, or are hesitant to promise a new date, because they specifically say they do not yet have an ETA on Phoenix Point's arrival on the Microsoft Store.
It's a shame to see what may have been an avoidable blunder unfold in real time around a game that otherwise sounds quite decent. Jeremy Peel says "there’s slow-burn greatness in Phoenix Point," in his Phoenix Point review. "It’s warmer, stranger, than its genremates. But it’s harder work to enjoy. Like its most outlandish guns and powerful armours, it takes a few hours’ research to get there." The same can now be said of its launch plans.
If you're already playing, check out RPS's Phoenix Point guide for tactical neophytes and veterans alike. If you don't care where you buy it from, you can get Phoenix Point on the Epic Store for £36/$40.