Outriders CEO Clarifies Early Royalty Confusion

Back in August, it was reported that developer People Can Fly was unsure about the profitability of Outriders due to the lack of royalties, which wouldn’t pay out until publisher Square Enix broke even on its investment in Outriders. The news was painted in a somber light. During a recent interview with The Best War Games, CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski discussed Outriders, among other things, and helped to clarify this situation.

During our interview, Wojciechowski mentioned that, according to Square Enix, Outriders “is on its way to become a major franchise in their offerings.” In other words, it’s not all doom and gloom as many may have speculated. This can be seen by everything that has happened recently with Outriders, with the New Horizon update adding many fan-requested features to the game and the Worldslayer announcement showing a continued investment in Outriders by PCF and Square Enix.

Wojciechowski revealed that he thinks “a bit of confusion” best describes the royalties situation back in August, as the company had only released the statement due to certain disclosure obligations on the market. It’s not like People Can Fly was expressing any discontent with the royalties, just that PCF has certain obligations and is a very transparent company on top of that. August’s “communication gap” regarding Outriders’ royalties was resolved just after the statement, with Square Enix confirming that Outriders hasn’t broken even. However, this is to be expected.

As Wojciechowski himself puts it, “taking some time to break even is very common in the industry due to the cost involved in big productions like Outriders.” Wojciechowski also expressed confidence that Outriders will get there, again as evidenced by People Can Fly and Square Enix’s continued push on Outriders as a franchise, not a one and done.

More specifically, royalties are and should always be understood as a bonus source of income, not the main payout. People Can Fly has been receiving payments for Outriders from Square Enix based on its contract and milestone cadences; therefore, the situation back in August was never as big of a “situation” as it may have seemed. Plus, the relationship between People Can Fly and Square Enix “is as strong as ever.”

Beyond just New Horizon and Worldslayer, People Can Fly has reached a new investment agreement with Square Enix regarding subscription warrants, and he describes both companies as proceeding in a “business as usual” mode. To both People Can Fly and Square Enix, it’s clear that Outriders is a franchise, which is a very strong term in the gaming industry. What comes of this franchise remains to be seen, but there’s plenty to come. “[T]he work on the Outriders experience continues,” said Wojciechowski.