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EUROGAMER | Is Xbox Game Pass too good to be true?
- Thread starter terminaljeremy
- Start date
I think the problem is that everyone still tries to compare the big 3 platform holders as a 1:1 thing when clearly all 3 have moved into a phase of leveraging their individual strengths to grow themselves rather than directly competing like the 90s warz.
Nintendo has streamlined their handheld and console into a juggernaut revitalising their IPs
Microsoft is leveraging the azure stack and reach into multiple platform areas to grow a service that matches the ubiquity of office 365
Sony is sharpening the saw of the PS4 strategy that was successful for them to great effect
Much like how PS+ was in the PS3 days. It will be great...until it isn't. So just enjoy the ride for now and worry about it later.
It's sustainable for Microsoft because there are business synergies with other MS businesses like Azure, Bing, MS Edge, Windows, MS Store etc. Increasing the Game Pass subscriber base will attract publishers to Game Pass to release their games on the service because of the high subscriber base and will use Azure to do so to reach the subscriber base. People will be using Bing and MS Edge to get MS Rewards which will be used to purchase Game Pass subscriptions and Game Pass can be used to promote Office 365 which scales up very well. Game Pass supports the MS Store and Windows in maintaining them market share and compete against Linux, Steam, EGS etc.
For companies like Sony, other than their anime subscriptions there isn't many synergies with the other businesses to convince those divisions to support the whole Sony burning billions.
For companies like Sony, other than their anime subscriptions there isn't many synergies with the other businesses to convince those divisions to support the whole Sony burning billions.
Game Pass is a great deal that offers absolutely nothing of interest for me personally. It's main appeal is simply not the way I play games.
It's obviously not sustainable, and will only bring ruin to Microsoft, that's why they want more and more people to sign up. They are hoping that their demise will end the videogame market, and the PC market, so that... uh... well, I don't know, kinda doesn't seem to make much sense. I guess Microsoft is evil after all.
I got both new consoles on release day. Thinking Xbox would be very much my 2nd console. And it started off that way as I had Demon Souls, Miles and Astrobot. But since the turn of the year I have been 100% Gamepass. I got the 3 year upgrade for one Euro deal and have played games I never would have considered like Alien Isolation, Tekken 7, Ace Combat as well as MS games Gears 5, Forza Horizon and just started Will of the Wisps. Its incredible value and its their model going forward.
No chance they will opt out now after putting so much into the service. Its here to stay I think
No chance they will opt out now after putting so much into the service. Its here to stay I think
Has anyone done this yet for the next gen?
"Is the 70 dollar retail price point sustainable? An in-depth look at sales of launch games on PS5, and what the developers of launch games like Godfall, Destruction Allstars, Sackboy, and soon to be released Returnal, think of developing games to launch at such an unprecedented price point "
Just a suggestion
"Is the 70 dollar retail price point sustainable? An in-depth look at sales of launch games on PS5, and what the developers of launch games like Godfall, Destruction Allstars, Sackboy, and soon to be released Returnal, think of developing games to launch at such an unprecedented price point "
Just a suggestion
I went to see if 1up.com is still up after all this time, thanks to this.
Sure enough, there it is archived with the last few posts they made!
Thinking about Game Pass like selling lemonade (costs versus revenue) is where people will go wrong, and that mistake has been made a couple of times in this thread.
There are so many other benefits for Microsoft to have the Xbox business & Game Pass business increase its audience beyond just the costs it recoups for development and publishing expenses.
There are so many other benefits for Microsoft to have the Xbox business & Game Pass business increase its audience beyond just the costs it recoups for development and publishing expenses.
It's a foot in a door deal. Like Netflix, etc. Get a huge number of subscribers, get them to be comfortable to use the method that it becomes the norm for them, increase price later, profit.
This. A portion of gaming enthusiasts do really love to pay more than they need to and ignoring the undeniable shift in media consumption habits.
or in other words
*clutches pearls*
"Oh my, but is it all sustainable?!?"
*swoons*
fuck me, let the highly paid industry execs worry about it, fill your boots in the meantime irregardless
Ultimately, if Microsoft gets to the stage whereby 25 million people is giving them $10 a month, that will be about enough for six major games of about ~$50 million spent each. That's not considering Microsoft's cut from people buying games, nor any Xbox Live Gold revenue. Just Game Pass. The potential for endless profit for Microsoft is there, before we even consider price increases for Game Pass.
I've always assumed Game Pass is following the Uber business model?
Spend years burning money in order to price everyone else out of the market, and then substantially raise prices when there isn't enough competition to matter.
Spend years burning money in order to price everyone else out of the market, and then substantially raise prices when there isn't enough competition to matter.
I hope they fix how to recover space after you uninstall a game in PC store :S I do not know how to recover it! :(
Very long and informative work of journalism.
But, it does not answer the question from Jim Ryan it quotes.
How is it sustainable to launch day-one on a 20$/month subscription platform games like GTA V, The Last of Us, Super Mario Odyssey, God of War, Assassin's Creed?
If the aim is to gain scale and reach the general public (like Netflix and Spotify did), those are the type of games that start by convincing people to jump from mobile/F2P gaming into spending money.
There's a lot to be said about the human (not financial) sustainability of those games' dev cycles (crunch and other problems); but, for better or for worse, like Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible or James Bond, those big and impressive projects are the ones bringing money to the industry and gradually converting consumers into experiencing more indie works.
There's a reason a far more experienced industry - cinema - is having problems with this proposition. Even in a pandemic period!
The answer cannot be: Microsoft, like Netflix, has a lot of money....
In the end, those companies don't make decisions based on bulk, but based on margins and percentages.
But, it does not answer the question from Jim Ryan it quotes.
How is it sustainable to launch day-one on a 20$/month subscription platform games like GTA V, The Last of Us, Super Mario Odyssey, God of War, Assassin's Creed?
If the aim is to gain scale and reach the general public (like Netflix and Spotify did), those are the type of games that start by convincing people to jump from mobile/F2P gaming into spending money.
There's a lot to be said about the human (not financial) sustainability of those games' dev cycles (crunch and other problems); but, for better or for worse, like Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible or James Bond, those big and impressive projects are the ones bringing money to the industry and gradually converting consumers into experiencing more indie works.
There's a reason a far more experienced industry - cinema - is having problems with this proposition. Even in a pandemic period!
The answer cannot be: Microsoft, like Netflix, has a lot of money....
In the end, those companies don't make decisions based on bulk, but based on margins and percentages.
That's why I picked 25 million, since I do think it's entirely plausible that they hit that mark by this time next year. I'd be very surprised if turns out ~$300 million per year isn't close to covering the running costs of Xbox's expended first party (again, ignoring all the other revenue streams Xbox has).
Of course it is sustainable for MS, but no other company can afford to take the initial hit to build the a subscription base.
Theres no wonder people feel it is a threat.
Theres no wonder people feel it is a threat.
Once MS studios start banging out those games it's going to look an awful good deal compared to paying £70 for PS5 first party games on day 1.
Some of my favorite game pass games have been 3rd party games that launched on Game Pass day 1.
this is also true, I'm currently on my 6th "buy one month for £1, get 2 months free" deal.
think I've paid £7.99 once
and it will only get better once all 23 devs start dropping thier games into the service...and lets not forget MS isn't even done with acquisitions. so we could have 25 + devs all working on games for Xbox/GP by the end of 2021.
To me, it's really simple. For the first time in my life, Game Pass has allowed me to play games close to their release date instead of waiting years for a 75% discount on Steam. And I really don't understand why are people concerned if it's sustainable. If it's unsustainable, surely it will fail in a couple years after Microsoft realizes that they have lost billions without having made any profit and it won't impact the end user whatsoever because they are not buying games on Game Pass (unlike something like Stadia) that they would be afraid of losing if it goes down. People pay for a monthly access to games and get it's worth right away.
Out of curiosity, which way is this? I ask as in my experience GamePass has a range of things in terms of style (essentially, big SP + sustain MP).
They advertise the hell out of those deals so even casual players have heard about it either directly through Microsoft or from their friends. Everyone loves a good deal. I would not be surprised to see its a very high percentage of players. The Bethesda deal could help keep those people on board but we won't know for sure for several years.
To be honest, I don't really care if its sustainable.
If they hike the price up massively or shut down the service, at least I got to play a bunch of games for cheap for the last couple of years before unsubbing.
I'm not under any false pretences about owning these games and know it could all go tomorrow, I'm just here for the ride.
If they hike the price up massively or shut down the service, at least I got to play a bunch of games for cheap for the last couple of years before unsubbing.
I'm not under any false pretences about owning these games and know it could all go tomorrow, I'm just here for the ride.
(almost) same here.
I decided to preorder a Series X and a PS5 even though I was content with being a PS4-only last gen.
Got 3 years GPU with the conversion trick for 150€.
Don't think I will continue my subscription once my cheap deal expires and might end up selling my XSX.
Don't think 15€ a months is worth it for me. That money simply adds to the money I spend on games anyways.
I'm privileged in a sense that I don't lack funds to buy brandnew games, the time factor is more important to me
The boost in GP subs when Starfield and Halo drop is going to huge. Also find it fascinating that we're now moving away from games sales to sub numbers (for MS) and engagement commonly used by Disney and Netflix when speaking about successful product rollout.
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Yup, completely agree. I can't afford to buy the equivalent of 95 USD for new games. If anything game pass makes me spend more than I would have if that was the only choice.
My entire thing about Gamepass is based on the other XaaS vendors. If something is priced so low, where are the people making the products going to make any money. Especially when you get to a saturation place where people will not buy individual titles due to being subbed, and you're a small fish who has to take whatever terms Microsoft decides to throw at you.
With this being such a common theme with absolutely every other content providing service out there, more scrutiny around this is welcome. And coming into this with a perspective of "this is such good value for me and this is where my thinking ends" is rather sad, and a symptom of the rather negative pivot to the consumer, consumer, consumer world. The consumer isn't everything, the people making the product/service are equally important.
In a nutshell, this is how things are panning out on other services, from Spotify to Deliveroo:
Consumer - Good
Platform provider - Mostly Good
People providing the service/goods - Not Good unless you are huge
With this being such a common theme with absolutely every other content providing service out there, more scrutiny around this is welcome. And coming into this with a perspective of "this is such good value for me and this is where my thinking ends" is rather sad, and a symptom of the rather negative pivot to the consumer, consumer, consumer world. The consumer isn't everything, the people making the product/service are equally important.
In a nutshell, this is how things are panning out on other services, from Spotify to Deliveroo:
Consumer - Good
Platform provider - Mostly Good
People providing the service/goods - Not Good unless you are huge
From what I've seen around here, people love Game Pass because it gives them the chance to try and play many games. On the other hand, I focus all my attention to one (console) game at the time, aiming for the Platinum if it has one, however long that may take me. Maybe it's a week, maybe it's a month, but I don't like hopping between games when I haven't finished the one I'm playing.
It's pointless for me to get Game Pass playing this way. If I want a game, I'll buy it. That lets me focus on it for as much time as I want without having to worry about others I may want to play leaving the service. I have a massive backlog on my PS4 and Vita, so the idea of adding even more games to it seems absolutely counterproductive.
Yep, that's me. I have a very limited amount to play games, so I rather invest it in the exact, precise games I really want to play.
My Game Pass sub is good till June 2022... but I haven't played a game on it since early last year. I sold my XBX and invested in a PS5, and that's been much better for me and my huge PS4 backlog.
We had (a very informal) poll here a little while ago and, even here where we're all enthusiasts who know about these offers, only 16% of people said they paid $1 deals only.
The same percentage paid the full monthly price, double that bought multi-month deals (3 month or 6 month gift cards) and the biggest percentage - 40% - had converted XBL with the $1 deal (so they'd paid about $180 for three years of Game Pass Ultimate). Which works out at about half price over three years.
I think the 'only paying $1 for one month/three months' folk often get bundled in with the converting XBLG for $1 folk (who have had to buy three years of XBLG to do it so are still giving Xbox $180 to do it - just in one bulk go).
Personally speaking, I was a 'converted my XBLG' voter but, as of this month actually, that's expired and I'm on the 'paying full price monthly' train (other than a couple of free 7 day cards I got with some Pringles last week). I can't be bothered to keep chasing deals and cancelling and resubbing to get $1 deals. I just let the sub roll. I could do similar deals with Netflix and WWE Network and Disney+ etc if I shopped around but, to be honest, the price is already so low that it's not worth my time. You can get obsessed with trying to get deals on everything all of the time... I'm not sweating like £3 a week coming out of my bank account for Game Pass Ultimate as a full price subscriber.
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the article does a good job of pointing out why the value is phenomenal. There's tons of threads here from excited subscribers talking about how it provides great value for them. And all at a great price.
Nobody is acting like it gets every single big game day 1.
Don't Microsoft make like $15 billion profit per quarter? If so they're one of the few companies that can afford to do this in terms of AA / AAA budgets.
There's also the fact that once they have people in their ecosystem those people are far more likely to buy other non GP digital content like full third party games, special editions, early access first party versions, dlc, expansions, micro transactions etc so they're getting a cut of a lot of potential added purchases.
There's also the fact that once they have people in their ecosystem those people are far more likely to buy other non GP digital content like full third party games, special editions, early access first party versions, dlc, expansions, micro transactions etc so they're getting a cut of a lot of potential added purchases.
