Microsoft considered stopping "Day One" titles on Game Pass

Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member
In an email disclosed during the FTC v. Microsoft, Matt Booty, head of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios, encouraged Xbox CFO Tim Stuart to spend a large amount of money on acquiring gaming content in 2019, aiming to compete with Sony on subscriptions. The revelation comes from an exchange of emails that is part of the process.

The email is part of a discussion about Xbox Game Pass, with the rest of the message chain hidden. However, it looks like Microsoft has considered reversing the idea of releasing its own games on Game Pass on launch day, something Booty wasn't happy with. "If we go back to simultaneous releases, it's going to be hard to convince people that things like Mixer or xCloud have any chance of surviving either," he said

. The email reveals Microsoft's strategy and thinking around gaming content for its Xbox Game Pass subscription. Microsoft has since acquired Bethesda for $7.5 billion and is trying to complete the proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Both are much higher than the $2-3 billion estimate mentioned by Booty and

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Gone said:
That would've been a really dumb move.
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Yep. It's one of the services' best feature. Whoever told Booty no for that, have a pint on me.

edit: say it ain't so, it seems like the Booty is the savior and he's rebuffing Tim.
 
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Imo this is a rental service and should be treated as such. I'd use the movies strategy and have the new 1st party games go to game pass around 6 months later.
 
So one employee says "let's do it!", another employee says "no, we won't"... And thread title is "Company wanted to do it!". Ok.
 
"It's not the Netflix of gaming after all, we are considering to be the Disney Plus instead"
 
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They'll losing in millions with each game release. Yes. Microsoft can absorb the cost but XBOX like any other division, is tasked with making a profit.

They've essentially left their closest competitor, retail and digital sales, uncontested. And converted their instal into believing that "wait for it to come to gamepass" is the viable option. Their is a reason Sony is showing you that they've never had it this good in their quarterly reports while at the same time Microsoft obfuscates the stae of XBOX and instead talks about revenue, sandwiches, and the number of reloads in their quarterly reports.
 
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TLZ said:
Imo this is a rental service and should be treated as such. I'd use the movies strategy and have the new 1st party games go to game pass around 6 months later.
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If they had a less expensive plan that did this, I would potentially consider it. As much as I enjoy playing games Day 1, most games take a month or two before the game is patched anyways.
 
ReBurn said:
Not making people buy games to be able to play them is where it's going anyway. It's just a matter of when we get there.
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If that's what you really want then there's already a platform that will cater perfectly to your needs. It's called mobile.
 
But note how much public pressure they've given Sony to do the same...

They're such a disingenuous company.

They know it is a broken model and they know it isn't sustainable. They're just willing to absorb those losses today and try to pressure competitors into doing the same knowing that Sony wouldn't be able to sustain as long as Microsoft.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
But note how much public pressure they've given Sony to do the same...

They're such a disingenuous company.

They know it is a broken model and they know it isn't sustainable. They're just willing to absorb those losses today and try to pressure competitors into doing the same knowing that Sony wouldn't be able to sustain as long as Microsoft.
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The email is from 2019, GP launched in 2017.

It's been longer between that email and now compared to when GP started and when that email was written.

Calm yo chesticular area my man.
 
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ReBurn said:
No need for hyperbole. PS Plus Extra and a little patience will do just fine.
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Not every game is or will (at some point) be included in these subscription services.

If for whatever reason you're determined to spend as little money as possible to get access to the vast majority of the games available on a platform then consoles/pc probably isn't the place for you.

Just don't be surprised when you're struggling to find anything decent to play though.
 
A middle ground between what Xbox is doing and Sony is doing would have been the smart move for a business. (As a consumer I love what they do with day 1 releases though) but can't change course now without being catastrophic.

Release games on services a month or 2 after a game launches. Reap up the sales from hardcore gamers that are impatient and when sales start to dwindle, throw it on subscription. Too late now though (well for Xbox)
 
Mibu no ookami said:
What does the time of the e-mail matter?
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The "public pressure" you're speaking of is from a quote in the last couple of months. They had 4 years to stop the day 1 program if they wanted.

Equating something said in 2019 that hasn't happened in the proceeding 4 years to something that was in the last 6 months is wrong, mmmmkay.


Iced Arcade said:
A middle ground between what Xbox is doing and Sony is doing would have been the smart move for a business. (As a consumer I love what they do with day 1 releases though) but can't change course now without being catastrophic.

Release games on services a month or 2 after a game launches. Reap up the sales from hardcore gamers that are impatient and when sales start to dwindle, throw it on subscription. Too late now though (well for Xbox)
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Nah I hope they keep the day 1 program. If they want to introduce a cheaper tier without it, that's a different subject, but the day 1 aspect shouldn't be dropped.
 
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Seems like it would be hard to put that genie back in the bottle but I think they would get away with it. It's the ambassadors and influencers who are hell bent on day 1 and they would fall in line real quick if the policy changed. I don't think normie subscribers would freak out, either.
 
LostDonkey said:
I'll give them my money so I don't have to give them my money!!!

logique incroyable
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Or....

I spent $120 fpr 3 years of GP and get my money back from just playing 2 games in 3 years or, wait, hear me out, this gets better... try to follow along with me here.. I know, I know, reading is hard, buuuttt...

You don't even have to pay for the GP sub at all if you use MS Rewards $! Awesome, right?
 
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GHG said:
Not every game is or will (at some point) be included in these subscription services.

If for whatever reason you're determined to spend as little money as possible to get access to the vast majority of the games available on a platform then consoles/pc probably isn't the place for you.

Just don't be surprised when you're struggling to find anything decent to play though.
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Not every game needs to come to subscription services. Besides, I don't want to play every game. Nearly every game I have wanted to play for the past several years has come to either PS Plus or Game Pass, or has been available via a considerable discount at some point. Nintendo games are pretty much the only exception. With over 1,000 games to play between PS Plus and Game Pass the likelihood of finding something decent to play isn't an issue. So that's good enough for me.
 
Cornbread78 said:
Or....

I spent $120 fpr 3 years of GP and get my money back from just playing 2 games in 3 years or, wait, hear me out, this gets better... try to follow along with me here.. I know, I know, reading is hard, buuuttt...

You don't even have to pay for the GP sub at all if you use MS Rewards $! Awesome, right?
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You didn't get the updated playbook. You're supposed to be pushing how its a bargain even at X amount.
 
adamsapple said:
The "public pressure" you're speaking of is from a quote in the last couple of months. They had 4 years to stop the day 1 program if they wanted.

Equating something said in 2019 that hasn't happened in the proceeding 4 years to something that was in the last 6 months is wrong, mmmmkay.




Nah I hope they keep the day 1 program. If they want to introduce a cheaper tier without it, that's a different subject, but the day 1 aspect shouldn't be dropped.
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They bought Bethesda in September of 2020 and just over a year later tried to buy ABK...

This e-mail was dated December of 2019, meaning between December and September they pursued Bethesda, entered into agreement with them and acquired them...

Hilariously bad take on your part.
 
ReBurn said:
Not every game needs to come to subscription services. Besides, I don't want to play every game. Nearly every game I have wanted to play for the past several years has come to either PS Plus or Game Pass, or has been available via a considerable discount at some point. Nintendo games are pretty much the only exception. With over 1,000 games to play between PS Plus and Game Pass the likelihood of finding something decent to play isn't an issue. So that's good enough for me.
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Here's the thing, when I think about the best games I've played over the last couple of years the vast majority of them are not on a subscription services and haven't been since release (and will likely never be, in the case of TOTK).

So fundamentally it depends on what you want from all of this. Personally saving money on my hobby has never been a focus of mine, it's a cheap hobby (per hour) as is. I already have over 1300 games spanning most genres in my steam library alone, I don't need a rental service to duplicate what I already have access to. What I'm concerned about is making sure I can enjoy the best of what this hobby has to offer as and when I want to, subscriptions don't offer that.

A subscription only policy means missing out on (and/or indefinitely waiting for) Elden Ring, Diablo 4, Street Fighter 6, TOTK, Ragnorak, FF16. No thanks.
 
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Draugoth said:
In an email disclosed during the FTC v. Microsoft, Matt Booty, head of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios, encouraged Xbox CFO Tim Stuart to spend a large amount of money on acquiring gaming content in 2019, aiming to compete with Sony on subscriptions. The revelation comes from an exchange of emails that is part of the process.

The email is part of a discussion about Xbox Game Pass, with the rest of the message chain hidden. However, it looks like Microsoft has considered reversing the idea of releasing its own games on Game Pass on launch day, something Booty wasn't happy with. "If we go back to simultaneous releases, it's going to be hard to convince people that things like Mixer or xCloud have any chance of surviving either," he said

. The email reveals Microsoft's strategy and thinking around gaming content for its Xbox Game Pass subscription. Microsoft has since acquired Bethesda for $7.5 billion and is trying to complete the proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Both are much higher than the $2-3 billion estimate mentioned by Booty and

BCLJI9I.png
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Is this new or was it last week? Lol go spend Sony out of business. What happened to when everyone plays, we all win?
 
Mibu no ookami said:
They bought Bethesda in September of 2020 and just over a year later tried to buy ABK...

This e-mail was dated December of 2019, meaning between December and September they pursued Bethesda, entered into agreement with them and acquired them...

Hilariously bad take on your part.
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You've just completely upended the goal post and moved it across the planet with this post.

Your first post is about day 1 game pass content and MS putting 'public pressure' on Sony to do the same and that it's a broken and unsustainable model.

I don't think I can even call it any kind of a take considering how it's in a whole different hemisphere lol
 
adamsapple said:
You've just completely upended the goal post and moved it across the planet with this post.

Your first post is about day 1 game pass content and MS putting 'public pressure' on Sony to do the same and that it's a broken and unsustainable model.

I don't think I can even call it any kind of a take considering how it's in a whole different hemisphere lol
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We're talking about more than one thing here.

The public pressure that they're putting on Sony to go day and date doesn't have a deadline based on this e-mail.

The cost they've incurred by doing so has only increased since this e-mail was published with Halo, Forza, and soon to be Starfield...

They know it's an unsustainable strategy and they know it eats into B2P from their own internal docs.
 
Mibu no ookami said:
The cost they've incurred by doing so has only increased since this e-mail was published with Halo, Forza, and soon to be Starfield...
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So has their revenue, we know it made approx $3bn in revenue in 2021, so the idea that it's just burning cash is entirely inaccurate.

Mibu no ookami said:
They know it's an unsustainable strategy and they know it eats into B2P from their own internal docs.
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Yes, we've seen that statement, an undisclosed % decrease after 12 months of a game being on GP. Without knowing specifics we can't say if its 5% of 50%. But most games, unless you're R*, don't generally sell a lot after 12 months anyway.
 
adamsapple said:
So has their revenue, we know it made approx $3bn in revenue in 2021, so the idea that it's just burning cash is entirely inaccurate.



Yes, we've seen that statement, an undisclosed % decrease after 12 months of a game being on GP. Without knowing specifics we can't say if its 5% of 50%. But most games, unless you're R*, don't generally sell a lot after 12 months anyway.
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Revenue doesn't matter, profit matters.

We know that game sales on Xbox are drying up in every region. Microsoft has cultivated a culture of not buying games to their own detriment.
 
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