People Can Fly should have started to receive money from Outriders. That is, if the game’s revenue has already covered production and promotion costs. However, the studio still hasn’t seen its royalties from publisher Square Enix, although it previously highlighted the title’s success at launch.
The developers expected to start getting royalties after the first quarter since the Outriders release ended on June 30, Eurogamer Poland reports. The 45-day payment period expired on August 16, and the studio decided to release a statement.
According to People Can Fly, it still has no data on the game’s sales. “We estimate it at between 2 and 3 million copies and assume that this was a result that would ensure profitability for the project already in the first quarter of sales,” the statement reads.
Outriders attracted 3.5 million players in its first month since launch. Square Enix was pleased with the results, saying that the game might expand into a new franchise. The lack of payment, however, could mean that the publisher thinks that Outriders isn’t profitable yet, or that its costs were higher than expected.
People Can Fly group president Sebastian Wojciechowski noted that the company hopes to receive royalties from Square Enix for the next quarters. He also claimed that the studio plans to release its future games independently.