One month after the launch of Planet Of Lana, developer Wishfully and publisher Thunderful have told NME that it was the right call to make the platformer a day-one Xbox Game Pass title.
Planet Of Lana launched for Xbox and PC on May 23, and was available from day one on Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service — joining the likes of Redfall, High On Life, and Hi-Fi Rush in doing so.
While there have been questions on whether Game Pass cannibalises the sales of games on its catalogue, Adam Stjärnljus — Planet Of Lana’s creative director and Wishfully’s co-founder — says it was the right choice for his team.
“For us at Wishfully, being an indie studio releasing our first game, it has been invaluable,” Stjärnljus tells NME. “It lowers the entry bar for players to discover and try our game with a huge potential to bring over players that normally might not gravitate towards the puzzle platformer genre as well. We’re also beyond happy with the collaboration with the team at Xbox and Microsoft that has helped Planet of Lana in so many ways over the years.”
Agostino Simonetta, chief growth officer at Planet Of Lana‘s publisher Thunderful, agrees. “Planet of Lana is a new game — even though highly anticipated — [so] to launch it on Game Pass, where it can so easily be picked up and discovered, is what drove the decision. Working with Xbox and Microsoft has been instrumental in our go-to-market strategy for Planet of Lana.”
Simonetta adds that Thunderful had “seen the positive effects” of Game Pass “first hand” when it published The Gunk in 2022, and so felt “very secure” in working with Game Pass. As a publisher, Simonetta says there is “no question” that Game Pass offers advantages to publishers working with smaller studios.
“Last year Game Pass reportedly had over 25million subscriptions, all of which could be potential players of your game,” Simonetta explains. “So to be in an ecosystem where your game is easily accessible to millions of players, you can imagine the possibilities! The discoverability aspect is just as great for the small game, the larger IP, as it is for the players, so it’s a well-rounded opportunity.”
Beyond discussing Game Pass, Stjärnljus says the positive reception to Planet Of Lana has been “overwhelming,” especially as it was Wishfully’s debut game.
“It was so important for us to make a name for ourselves with Planet of Lana,” says the creative director. “Now we have a fantastic foundation for our studio and have set a very high bar for the games coming out from Wishfully. The whole team is so excited to learn from this game and to grow and evolve as a team to make even better games in the future.”
Earlier in the year, Stjärnljus shared that Studio Ghibli‘s 2001 film Spirited Away was a “guiding star” for Planet Of Lana.
In other gaming news, Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard is ongoing, despite legal challenges in the U.S. and UK.
Last week, PlayStation head Jim Ryan shared that Sony “simply could not run the risk” of sharing PS6 details with Activision Blizzard if the acquisition was approved.