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I have this gut feeling that MS is going to announce a partnership with a major 3rd party publisher to bring their games to Game Pass day 1

CloseTalker

CloseTalker

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Oct 25, 2017
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Game Pass is clearly one of MS' biggest weapons in their arsenal right now, and especially going into next gen. There will be a certain amount of Series X launch games that you will be able to play out of the box at no extra cost (besides the Game Pass subscription, obviously). Depending on their library, that could be a huge deal.

Knowing that, I feel like it would be a very MS move to partner with a big 3rd party to bring their games to Game Pass day one at launch. The games wouldn't be exclusive to Series X, you'd just be able to play them at launch on Game Pass. MS has money to throw around, and this just seems like a thing that fits their style of marketing.

Pubs like Ubisoft and EA are out of the question, as they have their own services. I could see Capcom or SEGA being a good fit, they already have a pretty good relationship with MS and Game Pass (DMC5 came to Game Pass incredibly quickly, and the Yakuza games are coming).

I dunno, I'm just thinking out loud, but seeing how MS tends to market and position themselves, it seems like it would be a very unsurprising move. What do you think?
 
RingRang

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This would be far too costly. This kind of thing is only going to be possible for smaller games.
 
Pancracio17

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Hmmmm, I dont think so? I dont think theres any third party publisher that would like a deal like that. Maybe EA, cause their gaas games fit the model well, but theyve already got EA Access.
 

Deleted member 64517

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It won't happen for all games under a publisher but individual deals will happen with bigger games yes. Cyberpunk is my belief.
 
Stixitnu

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It'd cost an arm and a leg. Wouldn't be worth it and they are not in the business of just throwing money away
 
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Prine

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Sounds like a strong possibility, i fully expect them to do this next gen. Not EA, UBi, but mostly JP pubs imo. SEGA, Namco etc. Also expect all those games will be playable via streaming day 1.
 
Raijinto

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No that just wouldn't work. It would completely destroy the sales of that company's games on any GP supported platform whilst at the same time undermining the value of the games on all other platforms. I still think that EA/WB/Ubisoft et all value greatly how many copies they can sell OW, I don't think MS could justify paying them the money it would take to alter that somewhat.
 
TheGhost

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I don't see how it's any different than exclusive deals to keep it off another system...

Except you can put it on both systems, you get paid money for it and plus the people who don't have game pass will still buy it.


I can totally see this happening and I welcome it.
 
Lom1lo

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Oct 27, 2017
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All games ? Nope
I think it would be more worthwhile to get single games from multiple publishers and even that won't happen regularly.
 
Remeran

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Nov 27, 2018
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TheGhost said:
I don't see how it's any different than exclusive deals to keep it off another system...

Except you can put it on both systems, you get paid money for it and plus the people who don't have game pass will still buy it.


I can totally see this happening and I welcome it.
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Looking at it this way maybe, my first instinct is it would be too costly but for some reason this makes more sense.
 
SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

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Jan 21, 2018
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Oh, that can happen for sure.

If MS puts their first party games on the service, why wouldn't they be able to pay enough for a third party game? A new Splinter Cell, or a new Metro or something. Just not the entire catalogue. That's way too expensive.
 
Meg Cherry

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Oct 25, 2017
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Depends what we're defining as a 'major publisher'. Ubisoft or EA? Obviously not - they're actively running their own subscription services as a counterpoint to Game Pass. Activision? Almost definitely not, as it'd effectively just be a deal for day one CoD - and cost an absurd amount of cash to work in Microsoft's favor.

But I could see them making a short term deal with somebody like Bethesda or Capcom to have several key titles available day one + significant chunks of their backlog. Both already have a pretty consistent pipeline for putting games on the service about six months after launch - clearly they like the business model.

Microsoft has cash to throw around if they want to.
 
Eeyore

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I guess it depends what you mean by a major third party publisher. People like EA and Ubisoft? I don't know about that, they have their own services although I'm not sure how successful they are.
 
YaBish

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Cactuar said:
Grand Theft Auto VI.
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tenor.gif
 
K' Dash

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creating a thread about something like this on a PS centric forum will get you a lot of negativity OP.
 
Windu

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I doubt there will be a formal announcement. Tbh they seem to have those kind of partnerships already. Bethesda games seem to hit the service 6 months to a year after launch for example.
 
Snake__

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I 1000% agree with you
Wouldn't even be surprised if it is more than one 3rd party
I also don't think EA and Ubisoft are out of the question
Next Gen launch sales are generally lower and I bet they would love some guaranteed money upfront, especially if they are still getting the likely majority of their game sales on PS5

And to get a little crazy for a second, I honestly think there is even a chance that the majority of launch games will be on game pass
 
Prine

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TheGhost said:
I don't see how it's any different than exclusive deals to keep it off another system...

Except you can put it on both systems, you get paid money for it and plus the people who don't have game pass will still buy it.


I can totally see this happening and I welcome it.
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Yup, that money-hat budget would effectively be used to bolster GP offering, without restrictions on others. Its quite brilliant.
 
DarthWalden

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I've had a gut feeling about this for a while.

As you said you could rule out Ubisoft and EA because they have their own services.

But I wouldn't be totally shocked to see a game like CyberPunk or Dying Light 2 launch Day one into Gamepass. These developers with a longstanding relationship with Microsoft are prime candidates for this.
 
bsigg

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Oct 25, 2017
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I think that route would be cheaper than outright buying the publisher. Also, at that point people don't lose access on other platforms and the publisher doesn't face having to let go of people due to redundancy so kinda seems like the best option if they're looking to do something that large?
 
OP
OP
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

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Oct 25, 2017
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Remeran said:
Lol I don't mean compared to yours. I'm saying that both his and yours makes me think maybe. Like every time someone mentions it I just can't see it since it's so expensive but I dunno.
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Yeah totally. The math would be if the value gained by GP subs overtakes the money spent on the deal. I don't know enough to know if that checks out, but MS has been in the market of drastic moves in the past couple years
 
pg2g

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I wouldn't mind seeing add-on packages for an additional fee that would give day 1 access to games from other publishers.
 
iksenpets

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I don't think they'll want to pay to get 3rd party games at launch when they could way more cost effectively add back catalog stuff.

Like, you could pay Capcom less to get all of Resident Evil minus 2 and 3 on the service than it would've cost to get 3 on the service at launch, and that's probably a greater value add for the median subscriber, and gives the third-party publisher a marketing boost for their upcoming releases in the franchise on top of that, something kind of similar to the deal they got with Square to get the Final Fantasy back catalog on the system. The only exception seems like the deal they got with Yakuza where Sega is clearly interested in just shoving those games into people's hands.

Especially heading into next gen where all of these franchises will be getting big new entries, seems like a better deal for everyone to get the current-gen back catalog available to help promote the new releases than to throw enough money at publishers to give the new releases for free.
 
jelly

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Perhaps a game here and there but still think unlikely because there is so much money to be made day one for big games. I think the fact they invested so much in 1st party shows were their priorities are.
 
get2sammyb

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This thing has already got to be deep in the red. Which is fine, because I get Microsoft is looking at it from a long-term perspective. But at what point do they have to make it profitable? They can't just keep throwing money at it, right?
 
Nintendo

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I can see them integrating Uplay+ into Game Pass at an additional small fee.
 

Absolute

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I subscribe to gamepass as I think it is great value but I've seen it called the biggest weapon in their arsenal before. Is there any indication that gamepass has turned things around for xbox? The console sales seem to be flat. Outside of the UK and the U.S sales don't seem to have grown noticeably since gamepass was introduced.

If it has been a great driving force for them then I'm sure they will keep trying to increase its value with deals like this though. I'm sure if a 3rd party publisher didn't have great expectations for an upcoming title they would happily take a money hat to have guaranteed income in their pocket.
 
Xx 720

Xx 720

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I can see them doing this for a single game perhaps. Some games also generate $$$ outside of sales so it would make sense.
 
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