MS is not doing the industry a favor, is destroying it with his wallet.
Consumers will have more for less, of course, but I´m talking about studios that are not under this bussiness model. Today what most money makes for the developers is Nintendo and Sony´s bussiness model, not MS trowing some starting money, which will make people slowling not buying not only physical games, but digital games also. This industry becoming a rental universe is dangerous as hell.
There used to be entire stores dedicated to renting video games, 20 years ago.
At any rate, this argument makes me laugh any time I see it. Sony have PS Now, which contains all kinds of AAA games among it's library. Literally the only difference between it and Game Pass, aside from Microsoft's own games appearing on release, is that they get newer games sooner - along with a handful of third party day-and-date releases (double-A and indie titles). Publishers willingly enter into those agreements.
Beyond that, nothing is ever guaranteed to show up on Game Pass - and indeed it's usually a long time before a triple-A game shows up on it, unless the game in question was a commercial underperformer (such as Rage 2) and they are trying to wring some more money out of it. So basically the difference between "fine" and "destroying the industry!" is... how fast newer third party games appear on Game Pass, versus something like PS Now. I never knew we danced on the edge of a knife, so close to the abyss!
But perhaps more than anything else - I'm a consumer! It's my job to look out for my own interests! Not to give publishers more of my money based on armchair psychological analysis of future consumer trends.
If publishers are quaking in their boots about the value proposition of Game Pass, and how their games will compete with it, I say... GOOD.
