Gamescom may have ended last week but we are still getting news trickling out from the show, including a little nugget that Phil Spencer dropped about Xbox helping fund Capcom’s latest new IP Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess.

During one of the Xbox Gamescom live streams Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond were speaking on a variety of issues and during the stream it was revealed by Spencer that Kunitsu-Gami, a multiplatform title, was partially funded by Xbox. Of course it wasn’t all for nothing as the game did launch on Xbox Game Pass, but it’s a very interesting development that a game pass deal included actual funding for a third party, big publisher game. Typically it was assumed that most Game Pass deals were simply a payment exchanged for joining the service.

According to Spencer Xbox helped with funding that lended to the game being more bold and creative with things such as art style, boss design, and overall game’s color palette. Spencer went on to say that they believe in these unique experiences and want to help bring games like Kunitsu-Gami to the market.

A New Wrinkle For Third Party Deals?

This new development is certainly one worth watching going forward. Historically platforms holders have paid for and helped fund games in exchange for exclusivity, including in the past Xbox themselves. If Xbox is willing to help fund games and only want Game Pass in return it could be very enticing for publishers.

A world in which these companies can get funding and still launch on rival platforms could both help Xbox as well as publishers going forward and might ultimately take exclusive deals away from PlayStation. Whether this was a one off partnership or something Xbox will push for we will have to wait and see.