Several of Limited Run Games’ digital Xbox releases have failed to reach sales of 1,000 units, according to company president Josh Fairhurst.
Limited Run Games president Josh Fairhurst recently took to Twitter/X to share that two major Carbon Engine releases are set for early 2026 that were not ready to be announced as yet. According to him, both of these are games that have been requested non-stop since the company started. He expects to announce them in the next three months. This prompted a follower to point out that Limited Run Games’ Xbox support has been poor. The company’s president had some interesting details to share in response.
In his response, Fairhurst mentioned that the success on Xbox is heavily weighted towards Game Pass, and that the company has never been able to successfully secure a deal for bringing its titles to Microsoft’s subscription service. This has made it hard for Limited Run Games to bring all of its games to the platform, as sales of physical copies are low and several of the digital Xbox releases have failed to even reach sales of 1,000 units.
Nevertheless, the Limited Run Games president said that he recently began talking to Microsoft more directly, and that he is hopeful this may lead to Xbox Game Pass deals that can give the company a route to bring more content to the platform.
Fairhurst’s statement is in line with last year’s report from Skill Up associate Edmond Tran, in which a series of anonymous game developers pointed towards Game Pass as the cause of a behavioral shift that has led to very few sales on Xbox. The general sentiment was that the existence of Microsoft’s subscription service has created a vicious cycle. One such developer released an award-winning title on Xbox more than two years ago after initially releasing on other platforms. They mentioned that their game’s sales on Xbox have been the weakest: “It’s a bit like trying to sell a DVD to someone who uses Netflix. Sure, people still do that from time to time but you’re not targeting the right audience.”
