The creator of High on Life praised the Game Pass and told why the shooter was released immediately by subscription

Many game studios often speak out in support of the Xbox Game Pass, which allows their projects to become more popular.

Now Squanch Games has joined the list of such developers, whose comedy shooter High on Life recently became a No. 1 hit in Microsoft subscription.

Speaking on the official Xbox podcast, the founder of Squanch Games and co-author of "Rick and Morty" Justin Royland told why the team decided to release High on Life in the Game Pass and what led to this.

In short, the studio saw an additional benefit for itself in the Xbox Game Pass, because otherwise many players would simply have passed by their new project.

According to Royland, if the developers are sure that they have done something really worthwhile, then for them Game Pass will become a very powerful tool, thanks to which it is possible to reach a wider audience from among the subscribers of the service.

In addition, one of the decisive factors to add High on Life to the Game Pass immediately on release was the fact that Squanch Games is a small indie studio that needs a "military budget" to produce "a bunch of other fun and crazy games."

"Before we made the decision [to release High on Life in XGP], I talked to several people from the studio who had already dealt with Game Pass.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that the subscription would be an additional benefit, because there are many people who otherwise would not have taken up the game and would not have played it."

"If you are a Game Pass subscriber, you don't need to think about buying - you just download the game and immerse yourself in the gameplay.

If you believe that you have done something really worthwhile, then Game Pass will be a very powerful tool for you, allowing you to get a wider reach of players."

"Many people have told me that the games they release bypassing Game Pass sell seven times better than those available by subscription. But we are a small indie studio.

We need a military budget to make a bunch of other fun and crazy games. And this has become a decisive factor for us."

High on Life was released on December 14 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.

The project was marked by the largest launch in Game Pass for 2022, and also demonstrated the most successful launch in the history of subscription among single games and titles from third-party studios.