Nope. It was Game Pass only
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Microsoft no longer offers a $1 Game Pass trial
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
So when Sony had that 30% PS Plus Extra for 1 year promo at the end of last year (or 50% off PS Plus Essential), and then that promo ended...does it mean that Sony increased price of their subscription?
That is some strange thinking man...
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Next:
- Closing the XBLG to GPU upgrade path
- Making MS rewards and Xbox challenges more difficult
- Game Pass price increase
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Yeah, I could see all of those in the future. Cost of games increased so, it would make sense for gamepass to increase but not until they have enough users I don't think.
Has Disney put the price up of Disney plus yet? I'm sure there's a team at MS constantly running the books to see what userbase they need etc before they do this.
Probably a good couple of years before they out the price up. Maybe next gen?
I think the only way they close the gold upgrade is getting rid of xbox live gold entirely.
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TheGodfather07
Member
Microsoft were never gonna allow people to play starfield for a $1. They know the game will bring in alot of new consumers to the ecosystem. Why would they let them sign up for a $1 when they could charge the normal cost or maybe even more? It's possible price goes up before starfield is out.
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The Pleasure
Gold Member
A few? I don't know anyone that paid full price. Everyone i knew with gamepass paramounted the fuck outta gamepass.
AV
We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Oh, I'll admit I didn't read far in the thread. Cool. Think I have another year or so left of this so we'll see if it lasts.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Yeah, and even apart from the increased cost of games, it was pretty evident that Microsoft has been subsidizing Game Pass to increase the userbase. It's the same with almost all subscription services. So things will be trimmed down at some point.
Disney Plus price was increased late last year. IIRC, it was around 27% increase, but not 100% sure. This article has the details though.
Disney Plus price is increasing — here's how to avoid it
Lock in your rates before the price increases
For Game Pass, I am expecting a price increase in 2023. But perhaps it could be delayed to 2024 if they stagger it by doing some of the other things I mentioned in my post. But there is no way in my opinion that they would not increase the price until next gen.
And I think they can easily get rid of the gold upgrade conversion without eliminating XBLG. I don't think XBLG is going anywhere soon, at least until they migrate almost all of them to GPU. They just need to update the number of months a user would get if they upgrade from XBLG to GP and made them equal, like Sony did with PS+ Essential cards > PS+ Extra and Premium.
xrnzaaas
Member
In my opinion it's already been going on for way too long. They've taught people to create new accounts for monthly trials or to wait for trial months for the existing accounts. Now I feel it's going to be harder to convince those people to remain subscribed long-term, even with the bigger titles like Starfield or FM coming up.
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Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Although every gaming website ran with that, it was never mentioned that it was for Game Pass only. It could be, but it could also be for GP + XBLG.
The document only said "Multi-Game Subscription Services." It's more likely referring to Game Pass, but we don't know if this definition internally fits XBLG or not. So we can't be 100% sure.
Besides, I had issues with these numbers as there were oddities. For example, it only says "for consoles" so it's possible that this did not count PC GP numbers? But that wouldn't make sense.
Also, at that point, Game Pass has 18 million subscribers. That means the ARPU was $161 per user per year. That's way too much. It assumes that the majority of GP users have GPU (which is likely), and almost everyone is paying the full $15 per month price (which is unlikely) -- especially if it's not counting PC Game Pass.
Based on that high ARPU, it is possible that:
- (1) it was GP + XBLG, or
- (2) it was GP revenue recorded at full price per user and any promotions and upgrade path discounts were later deducted as "discounts", which is a very common accounting practice. In that case, the actual revenue would be significantly less than $2.9 billion.
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Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
Assuming nothing else changes, stack XBLG and pay $15 (instead of $1) to upgrade all XBLG months to GPU.
Davevil
Late October Surprise
$15 in one solution or for every XBLG i stack?
cireza
Member
And people will have the choice to not pay for the service anymore.
Reizo Ryuu
Member
The amount of people calling the conversion a "trick" or "loophole" here, just shows how uninformed most people are; it's not a trick, ms literally outlines the procedure in the game pass terms and conditions and it had nothing to do with the 1 buck trial.
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It is "multiple game subscription services." Gold is not MGS. Unless somehow CADE had different definition of MGS. Which I doubt, but it is possible.Although every gaming website ran with that, it was never mentioned that it was for Game Pass only. It could be, but it could also be for GP + XBLG.
The document only said "Multi-Game Subscription Services." It's more likely referring to Game Pass, but we don't know if this definition internally fits XBLG or not. So we can't be 100% sure.
Besides, I had issues with these numbers as there were oddities. For example, it only says "for consoles" so it's possible that this did not count PC GP numbers? But that wouldn't make sense.
Also, at that point, Game Pass has 18 million subscribers. That means the ARPU was $161 per user per year. That's way too much. It assumes that the majority of GP users have GPU (which is likely), and almost everyone is paying the full $15 per month price (which is unlikely) -- especially if it's not counting PC Game Pass.
Based on that high ARPU, it is possible that:
I believe the 2nd scenario is way more likely.
- (1) it was GP + XBLG, or
- (2) it was GP revenue recorded at full price per user and any promotions and upgrade path discounts were later deducted as "discounts", which is a very common accounting practice. In that case, the actual revenue would be significantly less than $2.9 billion.
Also, Game Pass had 18 million subs in January 2021. Then Microsoft reported 25 million in January 2022. So you can't just assume, that Game Pass had 18 million for whole of 2021 and then it magically jumped to 25 million. That's not how things works. Number of subs probably gradually increased for whole year and then spiked in november thanks to Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite. So working with 18 million in context of revenue generated for whole 2021 is kinda misleading.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
The data was from 2021. So I think a mid-point of 25 million and 18 million would be a better way to do this.
So if we use 21.5 million subscribers, the ARPU still turns out to be $135 per user per year. That's way too high in my opinion, especially if this is only for consoles as the title implies.
Even if you use 21,5 million (which I think is low, because I think we can agree that Game Pass hit 25 million by end of 2021), it kinda makes a sense. Especially when you realise that Game Pass Ultimate is more prevalent than Game Pass for consoles as you can see in chart below.
And since standard ARPU if GPU per year is 180$, it's strange to think that 135$ is too high. Because it sounds pretty much right. And that's with caveat of using 21,5 million subs, which I don't think is correct.
It would probably squash a narrative that "everybody just uses 1$ promo" but...whatever.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
If anything, 21.5 million is a bit on the higher side.Even if you use 21,5 million (which I think is low, because I think we can agree that Game Pass hit 25 million by end of 2021), it kinda makes a sense. Especially when you realise that Game Pass Ultimate is more prevalent than Game Pass for consoles as you can see in chart below.
And since standard ARPU if GPU per year is 180$, it's strange to think that 135$ is too high. Because it sounds pretty much right. And that's with caveat of using 21,5 million subs, which I don't think is correct.
It would probably squash a narrative that "everybody just uses 1$ promo" but...whatever.
Microsoft revealed that GP had 18 million subs in January 2021 and 25 million subs in January 2022. Halo and Forza released in Q4 2021, so that's when the sub would have got a massive hike. For the rest of the 9 months, the would have fewer subs, so 21.5 million (which is a mid-point of the starting and ending values) is likely on the higher side in this context.
2021 was strong for Game Pass for a whole year. It was first time when MLB was on GP day one. Series X/S had relatively strong sales for a whole year and you also had several deals for third-party like Outriders. So I would not be surprised if those subs came during the year and not only at the end.
And as I said. 135$ ARPU sounds okayish since GPU have like 80+% share of all Game Pass subscribers on consoles according to CMA.
KungFucius
King Snowflake
No it is probably because of people like you who use an introductory offer several times. They will probably switch to a free week or something.
But seriously, why would anyone think that a merger that still has to clear the FTC and would take a year or more after approval to become fully complete would impact something so small now?
yurinka
Member
Considering it includes the Nintendo one, I'd bet it included PS Plus, PS Now, Gold, GP, GPU, NSO and EA Play. I mean, all the ones available 'in consoles' but listing the revenue they make in all platforms (outside consoles too because they don't differentiate it).The document only said "Multi-Game Subscription Services." It's more likely referring to Game Pass, but we don't know if this definition internally fits XBLG or not. So we can't be 100% sure.
Besides, I had issues with these numbers as there were oddities. For example, it only says "for consoles" so it's possible that this did not count PC GP numbers? But that wouldn't make sense.
As I remember the Sony revenue in all platforms for their different game subs was around $4B, that would match the 40-50% of the table.
But it would be hard to believe had MS would make these 2900 considering the $1 deals and free months deals they had while Sony and Nintendo had a way bigger subscription base with way less promotions. As I remember the table later was removed or modified, something was wrong there.
As you can see in the table, the main change in MS from 2020 to 2021 is that GP Console remains flat but 10% of Gold subs moved from Gold to GPU, which means $1 migration. In 2019 there was around 5% that migrated from GP to GPU and around 10% that migrated from Gold to GPU. During 2021 GP grew from 18M to 25M (I assume that mostly due to Zeminax acquisition + Halo + Horizon 5), number they have been reporting until now in recent reports to regulators so it's fair to assume that during the whole 2022 was 25M or around that (lower profile of day one games compared to 2021).Even if you use 21,5 million (which I think is low, because I think we can agree that Game Pass hit 25 million by end of 2021), it kinda makes a sense. Especially when you realise that Game Pass Ultimate is more prevalent than Game Pass for consoles as you can see in chart below.
And since standard ARPU if GPU per year is 180$, it's strange to think that 135$ is too high. Because it sounds pretty much right. And that's with caveat of using 21,5 million subs, which I don't think is correct.
It would probably squash a narrative that "everybody just uses 1$ promo" but...whatever.
In the Sony side they merged Plus and Now around mid 2022, which kept their userbase basically flat but highly increased their consumer spend by migrating existing subs to higher tiers. So I assume in 2022 or 2023 SIE Total pretty likely is back to 50-60%, or how knows if even higher.
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suspicious mind
Member
I ve always payed full price for gamepass. Where is my price increase???
TheGodfather07
Member
Yeah I'm expecting a free 7 day trial or something rather than an entire month for a $1. It will also be one time use per account and will never reset like the $1 deal did.
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Reizo Ryuu
Member
Ehh. What?
We were talking if 2,9 billion revenue per year is possible with 18-25 million Game Pass subs range in 2021. We did not talked about Sony one bit, so I don't understand why did you brought them here...
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
He is using Sony's data to understand what the table would have meant for Microsoft. It's easier to do it this way because we have Sony's data available from financial reports, so we can use what this data would actually be referring to.
yurinka
Member
The table that listed $2.9B was talking about GP+GPU+Gold in all platforms and was removed/modified shorty after.
I added Sony because I explained the evolution to 2022 of the table in the MS side, so wanted to add the main change to the table during 2022, which was the merging of the Sony subs and start the migration of part of their subs to higher tiers. Sony offers every quarter their game subs revenue and amount of active subs in their fiscal reports, so we know their real yearly revenue from game subs.
So thanks to these Sony numbers you can extrapolate that the $2.9B table lists the game subscription services available in console but lists the revenue they make in all platforms, and you can also make a close estimate of MS and everyone else in this CMA table.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Let's be honest, 90 percent of day to day game pass subscribers will be paying full price, probably monthly and just have a direct debit coming out. I doubt there's little chance that more than 3 million MAUs are doing swindles or 1 dollar new account sign ups. That's my stab in the dark anyway.
Kvally
Member
That is probably spot on.
Skifi28
Member
I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure it's coming at some point in the not so distant future.
suspicious mind
Member
And i would be fine with that. Not sure why you think that would be a problem. All MS, ABK, BETH games on day 1 + plus ea play. I still think thats a hell of a deal even at 15 or 20 euros a month.
Skifi28
Member
You asked where your price increase is, I said it's coming. Sit tight.
suspicious mind
Member
Someone was arguing that closing the loophole was a price increase.....
But i get its frustrating that you have to shell out 70 for every single game day 1.
Kilau
Member
Probably, since they only do monthly when paying directly.
FBeeEye
Banned
Stop lying. You're extrapolating Phil's comments about general price increases for Xbox.
This was a promotion, promotions end.
Skifi28
Member
I simply answered a question you posted. There's no reason to make assumptions about me and start console war shit. At ease warrior!
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Banjo64
cumsessed
They’ve done a few significant hikes in its short life. However their subscriber count literally sky rocketed from launch, as you’d expect for Disney.
My preferred option for a while has been for them to scrap Gold and roll online play in to the base Game Pass tier at £7.99.
That being said, I’m now nervous that they would be more inclined to change the current conversion rate to 2:1 (12 months Gold would give 6 months Ultimate).
StealthGoblin
Banned
Looks like they’ll get approval for the $70 billion deal.
Time to start pulling the rug!
Time to start pulling the rug!
Chukhopops
Member
My guess is it will be replaced by free access periods following game launches, to get people to try the game and (hopefully) stay subbed after.Confirmed:
Microsoft says it has stopped its Xbox Game Pass $1 trial offer
Microsoft is looking at different offers for new subscriberswww.theverge.com
Also shows that MS doesn’t feel the need anymore to keep the freeloader tier alive - either because it’s a very small segment or they don’t consider this tier necessary for their sub numbers.
suspicious mind
Member
Your answered a question i didnt ask..there is no price increase atm.
I dont need your salty predictions about what will happen in the future. I was talking about here and now there is no price increase.
Not gonna reply anymore. Have a nice day.
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Ellery
Member
Well that is bad news for me, but I am still going to sub for Starfield if it reviews well or other games I might be interested in.
Still a lot of games you get with gamepass, but between buying AAA exclusives I really want to play and having a gigantic backlog or other games I could play I don't see too much incentive for me at the moment.
Still a lot of games you get with gamepass, but between buying AAA exclusives I really want to play and having a gigantic backlog or other games I could play I don't see too much incentive for me at the moment.
