Summary
- The Lamplighters League has been labeled a "big disappointment" by its publisher, Paradox Interactive, due to weak commercial reception.
- The game's release timing amidst the fall gaming rush and high-profile new releases on Xbox Game Pass has further contributed to its struggles.
- While the game may have gotten mixed reviews, fans of the genre can still try it out on Xbox Game Pass and come to their own conclusions.
Day one Xbox Game Pass game The Lamplighters League has been labeled a "big disappointment" by publisher Paradox Interactive. The Lamplighters League is a turn-based strategy game inspired by 1930s pulp magazines and XCOM that released on October 3. Developed by Harebrained Schemes, The Lamplighters League launched as a day one Xbox Game Pass game across PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Unfortunately, things have not been going well for The Lamplighters League. Lamplighters League reviews have been mixed, and beyond that, it's releasing in the midst of the fall gaming rush. With so many high profile new games to play on a weekly basis, an unproven IP with mixed reviews like The Lamplighters League has the cards stacked against it. Throw in the fact that Xbox Game Pass itself has been inundated with high quality new releases lately, and it's no surprise that The Lamplighters League has failed to meet its publisher's expectations.
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Paradox Interactive has announced that it will be writing down the capitalized development costs for The Lamplighters League. Paradox praised the game as being "fun" and having "many strengths." But that "the commercial reception has been too weak." Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester labeled this development a "big disappointment." Wester did say that Paradox is seeing "cautiously positive player numbers" in subscription services, likely alluding to the game's performance on Xbox Game Pass.
It's unclear just how many people are playing The Lamplighters League through Xbox Game Pass at the time of this writing, but the game has such stiff competition that it wouldn't be surprising if the player counts are lower than expected in that department as well. Many Xbox Game Pass subscribers are still making their way through Bethesda's massive open world sci-fi RPG Starfield, Forza Motorsport just dropped, and Game Pass has also seen other popular releases like Soulslike Lies of P and party game Party Animals release in the past month.
Unfortunately for The Lamplighters League and other smaller Game Pass games, the service isn't slowing down. New games are added to Xbox Game Pass regularly, with more titles set to come to the service before October is over, including more day one releases. There are already some games confirmed for Xbox Game Pass in November 2023 as well, with plenty more games coming in 2024, too.
Fans of the genre who haven't tried it yet should consider checking out The Lamplighters League and seeing if it's something that appeals to them. A big benefit of Xbox Game Pass is the freedom to try games that maybe didn't fare so well with critics, but could still be something one might enjoy, without making a big financial commitment. It's likely that The Lamplighters League will remain available through Xbox Game Pass for at least a year, and whenever it is set to get removed, fans can rest assured that they will have advanced notice.