Christopher dring 'clarifies' his stance on gamepass.

What the actual fuck is he talking about in this word salad mess? It literally gave me a headache reading it because it's so convoluted.

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He literally should not have posted anything. Twitter / X was a mistake. What an absolute fuck up.

This is literally what adamsapple adamsapple was saying. I hope he didn't catch any strays for talking sense.
 
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I guess we're going to pinball into surrendering our common sense every time someone who speaks too much towards the truth in Chinese whispers gets a call from Microsoft. And make no mistake, that's what happened here. If it hasn't been made clear that a disproportionate amount of Xbox resource goes into feeding the games media a narrative to regurgitate, it will never be clear.

I was quite certain that Gamepass was losing money explicitly sans creative accounting. I am 1000% certain than it is not profitable when you account for implicit costs, no matter what.

Common sense and observation indicates both of those. You don't just go ahead and cancel that many projects and have yet another successive round of sweeping layoffs/shutdowns if everything is going great. They cut people from key COD teams. From Call of Duty. Even I wasn't expecting the hammer to drop that fast. And guess what, gullibles? There's plenty more to come.
 
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I dunno who that is but seeing that he apparently is not working for any big publisher or platform holder, his opinions on GamePass are just as irrelevant as mine.
 
Saying it's profitable but without explaining it how.

So the first-party studios have other means to sell their games (PC, PS5), okay. But how game pass is profitable before these games are sold outside this service? What happens when these games don't sell on other platforms or services? Or this a "Trust me Bro" PR move to save face?
 
He could have just said Game Pass puts pressure on margins for first party games and the reaction would have been similar. But he was given this info 18 months ago? This guy can be really weird at times
 
Sebastian1295 said:
Ty lol. Dring needs to learn to properly convey wth he's talking about for now on.
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I think he knows exactly what he's doing. First he bait in a short post with a vague statement, then he wait for engagement and for the fanboys to do their thing, then he backtrack and explain in a long post so you have to click to read it all, boosting engagement further. Then end it with - "Nothing to see here, move along" go play Tony Tawk.
🙄
 
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Yeah I knew it would happen. Like when they said "did you ever made money off the consoles" "no" during the trial, and the next day they published a statement saying they're super successful.
 
How can both of these statements be simultaneously correct?

1. Game development is so expensive that we need to raise prices to $70/$80.

2. Gamepass, when including development cost and lost revenue, is profitable.

To me it seems like someone, somewhere, is lying. Good thing this industry loves transparency so that we can easily check the receipts...oh wait. 🙄 Anyone got the numbers to back this up?
 
SomeNorseGuy said:
How can both of these statements be simultaneously correct?

1. Game development is so expensive that we need to raise prices to $70/$80.

2. Gamepass, when including development cost and lost revenue, is profitable.

To me it seems like someone, somewhere, is lying. Good thing this industry loves transparency so that we can easily check the receipts...oh wait. 🙄 Anyone got the numbers to back this up?
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I don't think dev cost is included in his tweet, only lost revenue...
 
A lot of people took him seriously in the other thread, now that he's saying otherwise no one takes him seriously anymore lmao people don't want to know the truth, they just want something that fits their narrative
 
It's always like this with Dring's news and comments... Clickbait that generates controversy and misinformation, followed by the typical tweet where he backtracks, tries to clarify and provide context for his words, and then blames people for misinterpreting him, followed by the final point of "people should just focus on playing."🤷


Pure and great example of video game journalism.....🙇
 
playbignbox said:
A lot of people took him seriously in the other thread, now that he's saying otherwise no one takes him seriously anymore lmao people don't want to know the truth, they just want something that fits their narrative
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Hard to take a guy seriously when he is flip flopping this badly. Making it about people following what he is saying is its own narrative and isn't about knowing the truth either
 
Mr Moose said:
"Sources have reached out to tell me to shut the fuck up and back-pedal".
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Exactly what I meant as well as I didn't mean to imply if I knew if GP was profitable or not, people will believe whatever regardless

If it truly was profitable and MS spoke to him about it being so we wouldn't have needed the essay response he put out, other factors came into play
 
SomeNorseGuy said:
Ahh, my bad. Reading is a gargantuan task without coffee in the bloodstream. 😁 So it's not profitable outside of accounting shenanigans, that makes sense.
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From his tweet (assuming it is true), Game Pass makes up for lost sales and still generates profit, then it makes more sense to keep it than to go back to a 100% traditional direct sales model, right?
 
playbignbox said:
From his tweet (assuming it is true), Game Pass makes up for lost sales and still generates profit, then it makes more sense to keep it than to go back to a 100% traditional direct sales model, right?
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He didnt said Game Pass made up for lost sales so no, that is not necessarily true
 
Sebastian1295 said:
What the actual fuck is he talking about in this word salad mess? It literally gave me a headache reading it because it's so convoluted.

0180f830-5c3a-4a0d-a2d8-25f280d60907_text.gif
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It's profitable because there are some profits somewhere but can't be profitable also. Practically it's what he said resumed in a sentence.
 
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playbignbox said:
From his tweet (assuming it is true), Game Pass makes up for lost sales and still generates profit, then it makes more sense to keep it than to go back to a 100% traditional direct sales model, right?
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I guess it all depends on how the brass at MS HQ sees it. Are the losses they have to eat for the development teams worth it? Rumors and vibes seems to point to no. But who knows when it comes to MS, they pivot their strategies and messages every two weeks. So we might end up with MS going full steam ahead trying to force GP on every device, or they might slowly try to wind it down with fewer day one releases and more price hikes.

I love how clear, precise and easily digestible all the messages from MS have been lately. ...then having shills trying to decipher it with the most positive spins imaginable ...and then having distractors easily pick it apart. All because a trillion $ company can't land on a strategy or afford a good PR company. 😅
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
Jez weighs in

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"The concept of repeating lies until they are believed, often referred to as the "big lie" or the "illusory truth effect," is a propaganda technique with historical roots. It suggests that a falsehood, if repeated frequently and presented with conviction, can be accepted as true, especially if it is a grand or emotionally resonant claim."
 
Topher said:
He didnt said Game Pass made up for lost sales so no, that is not necessarily true
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Yes, he didn't say that Game Pass "makes up" 100% of lost sales. The point is that the service still turns a profit even after accounting for those losses.

Also, remember that every game carries the risk of flopping. But with Game Pass, the failure of one game doesn't bring everything down, because subscription revenue keeps flowing, bringing security and predictability to the ecosystem. That's an important point to consider, instead of focusing only on how subscriptions might cannibalize the sales of successful titles.

In the end, if all of this is true, then Game Pass makes a lot of sense. It may not maximize profit for every individual title, but it lowers risk and ensures consistent income.
 
HeisenbergFX4 said:
If it truly was profitable and MS spoke to him about it being so we wouldn't have needed the essay response he put out, other factors came into play
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Here's another thought - if it were truly profitable then Xbox wouldn't be porting everything to other consoles along with the fact that they wouldn't be shutting down studios, cancelling games and making layoffs across the board.

Actions speak louder than words.
 
Now the question is what kind of hit will Gamepass take next generation with Microsoft not having a tradition console. Us PC gamers are used to buying games for cheap through sales and getting new games for cheaper prices through key resellers.
 
How can they even calculate the cost of gamepass? I'd be interested to see how they get that number. Does the Acti acquisition count toward it?
 
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