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[FunkMiller]

If you only pay for the months that have games on GP that you actually want to play, even with this increase it's still a bargain.

Starfield and Lies Of P for a month for eight quid is stupidly low. I'd be happy to fork out a couple more quid.

 

[systemr123]

I'd say drop game pass tbh.

It's been crazy value for me, but this year has been nuts for my tastes on game pass.
Hi fi rush, atomic heart, wo long, age of empires 2, starfield, lies of p, party animals.

Forza next month.

Good year.

I wish I had low standards like this. Then every year would be a great year

 

[Topher]

If you only pay for the months that have games on GP that you actually want to play, even with this increase it's still a bargain.

Starfield and Lies Of P for a month for eight quid is stupidly low. I'd be happy to fork out a couple more quid.

That's pretty much my approach going forward. Even though I'm paying with GP with MS Rewards, I'm wasting points staying subscribed all the time. I'll stockpile points going and subscribe only when there is a game I really want to play.

 

[IDKFA]

That's obvious. It's not going to stay the same price forever.

The question should be when will it increase and by how much.

 

[jonnyp]

Everything seems to be increasing in price, expect this product.. not only its maintaining its price, but the quality has gone up as well. I wish they could do the same with gamepass

Just a small sprinkle of fentanyl on it these days though:

 

[Drew1440]

I still can see subscriptions inside of subscriptions like Amazon does

Main sub gets you Xbox game studios and for an additional fee you can get.
- Activision channel
- Bethesda channel

All these companies ruin good things eventually.

Don't they already do that with EAPlay and Ubisoft+?

 

[BlackTron]

When my sub runs out early next year, I don't see myself renewing it, other than maybe one month at a time on occasion, as a big wall of game demos. In that light, it can't cost much more than it would to go out and rent a game IRL in the past for me to care. $25 for a month is too high, for what to me is just a glorified rental service. It's just a convenient way to sample many games, not a replacement for buying them, so it doesn't make sense to do both all year.

 

[CLW]

Guys don’t worry the egg head economists in Washington say this inflation thing is transitory and prices will go back to normal soon

 

[drotahorror]

$20/month seems obvious at this point. I mean YouTube premium is like $18 and $24 or something for a family plan. Netflix is fucking $20

Hulu went to $16 a month I think, atleast in the states. I cancelled.

For gamers (lul) a price increase is still worth it.

 

[adamsapple]

If a price change isn't imminent, Phil Spencer should have replied along the lines of:

"We recently increased the price, and unless something drastic happens, we don't plan to increase it again in the near future. But as inflation continues to rise, there may be changes to GP prices in the future -- obviously, as nothing is impervious to inflation -- but I'd not worry about that anytime soon. What's important is that, in the end, we'll always ensure that Game Pass value continues to exceed whatever price we're charging for it."

With the timing of ABK, and Microsoft's previous statements, his reply opens himself to valid criticism.

Let's be honest Heis, even if he said exactly what you wrote word for word, you were still gonna post the gifs and his quotes from earlier in the year

The other HeisenbergFX4 was pretty spot on with his points earlier, they asked him a yes or no question about something being unavoidable and he answered thusly.

To that effect, what he said is practically the same thing with some translation foibles.

Phil Spencer: Thank you for saying that. First, we always want to give you options in how you build your library. You can subscribe to Game Pass and play, or you can purchase the game. Currently, millions of users have subscribed to Xbox Game Pass, and many of them are satisfied with using it.Although the main premise is to provide more value, the price is I think it is inevitable that it will rise in the future. We recently raised our prices once, but the decision was made after careful consideration. We believe it is important to provide services that are recognized as being of sufficient value even if prices are increased.

 

[simpatico]

The price of a haircut used to be $12 ten years ago. The same exact place now charges me $24.

Bro you were really walking around the real world with a $12 haircut?

 

[Heisenberg007]

Let's be honest Heis, even if he said exactly what you wrote word for word, you were still gonna post the gifs and his quotes from earlier in the year

Anyway, to that effect, what he said is practically the same thing with some translation foibles.

I don't have any problem with his current statement - it's only logical that GP price will go up in the future, as most of us have been saying on this very forum. I do have problems with his misleading statement that "GP price will not increase after/because of ABK."

And these 2 statements do not go well together.

 

[adamsapple]

I don't have any problem with his current statement - it's only logical that GP price will go up in the future, as most of us have been saying on this very forum. I do have problems with his misleading statement that "GP price will not increase after/because of ABK."

And these 2 statements do not go well together.

They got ahead of that one and increased the price before the acquisition closes lol

Anyway the price just increased like a month ago, I don't see it increasing for at least one or two more years.

 

[Heisenberg007]

They got ahead of that one and increased the price before the acquisition closes lol

Anyway the price just increased like a month ago, I don't see it increasing for at least one or two more years.

2 years might be pushing it. I'm very confident that we'll see a bump within the next 24 months. Maybe not in the next 12 months, but between 12 and 24 months. Just guessing.

 

[FunkMiller]

That's pretty much my approach going forward. Even though I'm paying with GP with MS Rewards, I'm wasting points staying subscribed all the time. I'll stockpile points going and subscribe only when there is a game I really want to play.

I always have to roll my eyes at the people who used the old trick to get years of GamePass for very little thinking they'd got one over on Microsoft - when what they'd actually done is ensure that they got so used to having a service that they automatically paid full price for it next time, because they couldn't be without it. That's how these things get you!

 

[Heisenberg007]

I always have to roll my eyes at the people who used the old trick to get years of GamePass for very little thinking they'd got one over on Microsoft - when what they'd actually done is ensure that they got so used to having a service that they automatically paid full price for it next time, because they couldn't be without it. That's how these things get you!

More importantly, paying in advance for years without knowing what you'll get and when is even worse.

Microsoft advertised games like Hellblade 2, Perfect Dark, Fable, State of Decay 3, Everwild, etc. in 2020 (?), implying that these games will be launching soon into the next generation. Many people converted to 3 years of Game Pass, paying MS in advance, to play these games.

None of those games have even been released yet, and those 3 years of GP have expired.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I love how when many of us say gamepass will increase in price, we're accused of console warring and when Phil Spencer says it the response is of course it is going to go up...

It's not going to stop at 20 dollars either... Microsoft wants to create a scenario in which the subscription takes over the current model (one in which they're failing to compete with).

So the content will be less 3rd party as Microsoft buys more publishers, but the content continues to get less in size and scope, while you're asked to pay more for it. Ultimately, it will still reduce the revenue for the entire industry at great cost to the consumer.

 

[FunkMiller]

More importantly, paying in advance for years without knowing what you'll get and when is even worse.

Microsoft advertised games like Hellblade 2, Perfect Dark, Fable, State of Decay 3, Everwild, etc. in 2020 (?), implying that these games will be launching soon into the next generation. Many people converted to 3 years of Game Pass, paying MS in advance, to play these games.

None of those games have even been released yet, and those 3 years of GP have expired.

Subscription services in general are the big winner for corporations, because they create very high retention (both deliberate and accidental) and a degree of sunk cost fallacy for the consumer.

You're conned into thinking you're getting an awful lot for very little outlay, but as the months and years go by, you're ROI drops off a great deal.

There's a reason why media has gone to a subscription model in the last decade - and it ain't for the benefit of the consumer.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I am just stating facts my friend. £500-£600 value I games in Sept + October This year. Not sure what in this triggers you except maybe you just being salty. Cheer up Spider-Man 2 is coming soon. You Will at least have 1 one Sony game to play this year.

Uh....ok, but that in itself doesn't really say anything. Gollum is a shit game but if it were on Game Pass that's $60 of "value".

Going the "muh value" route will eventually kill the service. Focus on quality not filler.

Case in point:

 

[ByWatterson]

Report: Costco co-founder told CEO he'd kill him if price of hot dog combo went up

The deal has been $1.50 for decades — and it sounds like it's not going away anytime soon.

www.today.com

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Let's be honest Heis, even if he said exactly what you wrote word for word, you were still gonna post the gifs and his quotes from earlier in the year

The other HeisenbergFX4 was pretty spot on with his points earlier, they asked him a yes or no question about something being unavoidable and he answered thusly.

To that effect, what he said is practically the same thing with some translation foibles.

The receipts people keep on Phil and the way they try to use them is hilarious. Why are people trying to turn checkers into chess. He was asked if the service will go up in price in the future, it’s inevitable that it will. So will games and gas and rent and a can of Coke and pretty much literally everything else.

I’m glad he doesn’t concern himself with linguist specialists on the internet.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Where does it stop really?

If they keep adding ‘value’ by stockpiling publishers they could easily try and argue that ‘paying £70 a month is fair considering that’s just the price of one new game per month’. That’s probably their wet dream and end goal.

I can see it tbh but it will be down to what other sub services charge. I think it has to be relevant to the market so they can't be like 2 to 3 times more than netflix etc. I do think they will get every last penny they can eventually though.

But shit, if they are dropping 2 x absolute banger 90 plus mc games a month then maybe they can try it. I just don't think the average person has the time to see it as a good investment.

 

[adamsapple]

I love how when many of us say gamepass will increase in price, we're accused of console warring and when Phil Spencer says it the response is of course it is going to go up..

Do you really have to wonder why? One example of 'many of us' from this very thread.

“Game Pass is totally sustainable, let us just increase the price over and over and over…”…

Versus Phil's answer of someone asking him if it's unavoidable in the future. If you can't tell the two apart, no one can help you.

 

[Sleepwalker]

The receipts people keep on Phil and the way they try to use them is hilarious. Why are people trying to turn checkers into chess. He was asked if the service will go up in price in the future, it’s inevitable that it will. So will games and gas and rent and a can of Coke and pretty much literally everything else.

I’m glad he doesn’t concern himself with linguist specialists on the internet.

Thankfully not wages though.

 

[Slicker than your average]

More importantly, paying in advance for years without knowing what you'll get and when is even worse.

Microsoft advertised games like Hellblade 2, Perfect Dark, Fable, State of Decay 3, Everwild, etc. in 2020 (?), implying that these games will be launching soon into the next generation. Many people converted to 3 years of Game Pass, paying MS in advance, to play these games.

None of those games have even been released yet, and those 3 years of GP have expired.

It's okay those blind faithful have been rewarded with many old games, indie games and redfall in the meantime.

 

[adamsapple]

I always have to roll my eyes at the people who used the old trick to get years of GamePass for very little thinking they'd got one over on Microsoft - when what they'd actually done is ensure that they got so used to having a service that they automatically paid full price for it next time, because they couldn't be without it. That's how these things get you!

Between the 'tricks', rewards and the like, getting game pass has been incredibly cheap regardless if it's for $8 a month for Lies or P and Starfield like you said earlier, or just to have something for all future and past first party catalog and all the other assorted new and old games, and yes even Redfall.

TBH I did feel like I got one over on them when they had the Rewards glitch a few months ago. Upped to 2026 for nothing out of pocket.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Between the 'tricks', rewards and the like, getting game pass has been incredibly cheap regardless if it's for $8 a month for Lies or P and Starfield like you said earlier, or just to have something for all future and past first party catalog and all the other assorted new and old games, and yes even Redfall.

TBH I did feel like I got one over on them when they had the Rewards glitch a few months ago. Upped to 2026 for nothing out of pocket.

Speaking of, I dont see gpu in the redeem catalogue anymore, only core and pc gamepass. lol I wanted to redeem a month.

 

[adamsapple]

Speaking of, I dont see gpu in the redeem catalogue anymore, only core and pc gamepass. lol I wanted to redeem a month.

It's showing up on my rewards redeem page, try clearing cache or use incognito to login.

PS, they've finally added auto redeem options on the web version of the redeem page too, previously you could only do it via the console Rewards app.

 

[Sleepwalker]

It's showing up on my rewards redeem page, try clearing cache or use incognito to login.

PS, they've finally added auto redeem options on the web version of the redeem page too, previously you could only do it via the console Rewards app.

Apparently they don't have it in canada lol.

Amazon it is for my points ugh.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

Between Rewards and Gold/Core conversion, getting GPU is extremely lite on the ol' wallet. And with the amount of games, and day 1 (both first and third party) content, it's almost essential in the xbox ecosystem IMO.

I'm so happy that many are spending so little on GPU, this will only seal the grave in 2027. When new comers wanna hop in and word of mouth is that it was near-free a year ago, most of them won't bother and that's why it's stagnant at 25Mil with a large portion using loopholes and conversion tricks. Please continue doing what you're doing, you're a beacon of the cause.

 

[StereoVsn]

The question becomes really pertinent with price increases if the service is worth it. Microsoft output has been subpar, and you can get Day 1 indies elsewhere for not that much money. At say $240/yr you are talking 3-4 full priced games and frankly MS has not delivered that for years.

So it’s a dangerous game for them. Much like Sony they will jettison some users but increase per user spend on the remainder. We shall see what happens.

 

[Bo_Hazem]

The price of a haircut used to be $12 ten years ago.
The same exact place still charges me $12.

What now?

Jokes on you, I used to have both my head and beard for 1.5 OMR ($3.9) 20 years ago, now it's 1.4 OMR ($3.64). Deflation is here to stay.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Do you really have to wonder why? One example of 'many of us' from this very thread.



Versus Phil's answer of someone asking him if it's unavoidable in the future. If you can't tell the two apart, no one can help you.

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding here of what console warring is.

Quantity doesn't equate with console warring. That many people are giving you a warning about a future that they do not want, does not constitute warring.

I could tell you back when the Wii came out that I did not want the future of gaming to be motion controlled.

I could tell you back when the PS2 and Xbox came out that I had deep seated concerns around hard drives and how it could result in lazy game development and by lazy I mean games being released with the idea that they could be fixed or improved after release day or at least have the option for that, giving publishers the means to decide whether it was worth allocating resources to fixing things or not.

I could have told you that having to pay for online play was a slippery slope.

None of these things are tied exclusive to one platform or another.

Similarly, I can tell you that subscription gaming is going to push the MTX era into the MTX steroid era and that gaming revenue could be forever transformed into a more monopolistic form factor, where we don't get high quality content because there is no reason to push for high quality content and that quantity becomes more important and that with gaming could drive developers out of the industry basically resulting in a soft crash of the industry.

Microsoft has decided like Nintendo and Sega before them that they can't compete head to head in the market, so they're looking to use their vast funds to disrupt the market, and not in a way that is pro-consumer or organic.

Phil Spencer saying that is sustainable is has no merit. He is no more an expert on sustainability in the market than any poster on this forum.

It's time for gamers who are fans of any platform (i.e. people who are just fans of gaming) to say enough is enough when it comes to GamePass, and drop the tribalism. Had we rejected many of the bad behaviors in advance we wouldn't get so many broken day 1 games today or so many MTX traps. Monetization has gotten entirely out of hand.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Amazon Prime launched in 2005 for 80 dollars a year with free (no added cost) 2-day shipping on qualified orders.

It's now 140 dollars a year (almost twice as expensive) and the 2-day shipping is wildly inconsistent, but now you have access to shitty amazon prime video content (which is about to add ads) and other equally worthless goodies.

Meanwhile, Amazon has put most of its competition out of business, making it difficult to order anywhere else for similar costs. Bed Bath and Beyond for example is going out of business.

Why anyone thinks they should defend GamePass because of their love of Xbox is beyond me.

 

[pasterpl]

Going the "muh value" route will eventually kill the service. Focus on quality not filler.

Case in point:

cherry picking I see, but let’s look at the whole picture, you know, a proper way to look at the data and not focus on your edge cases

also useful link for gamepass stats https://gamepassnews.com/

 

[adamsapple]

The question becomes really pertinent with price increases if the service is worth it. Microsoft output has been subpar, and you can get Day 1 indies elsewhere for not that much money. At say $240/yr you are talking 3-4 full priced games and frankly MS has not delivered that for years.

So it’s a dangerous game for them. Much like Sony they will jettison some users but increase per user spend on the remainder. We shall see what happens.

There have at least been a dozen or more full priced day 1 games on game pass released this year whether first or third party.

Amazon Prime launched in 2005 for 80 dollars a year with free (no added cost) 2-day shipping on qualified orders.

It's now 140 dollars a year (almost twice as expensive) and the 2-day shipping is wildly inconsistent, but now you have access to shitty amazon prime video content (which is about to add ads) and other equally worthless goodies.

Meanwhile, Amazon has put most of its competition out of business, making it difficult to order anywhere else for similar costs. Bed Bath and Beyond for example is going out of business.

Why anyone thinks they should defend GamePass because of their love of Xbox is beyond me.

Having a bit of a hard time understanding the point you're trying to make here. 2005 was 18 years ago. Everything has increased in price since then. Except that one guy who still manages to give $12 for haircuts somehow.

Game Pass will increase in price in the next 18 years, PS+ will increase in price in the next 18 years, Switch online will increase in price in the next 18 years. People "defend" game pass because it offers a good value for the asking price, the moment it stops being a good value for the asking price, people are free to stop subscribing to it.

You're actively making a console war pun then wondering in your previous post why you were called out for console warring. Come on now.

 

[MagnesD3]

It needs to die, im hoping the increase dips the sales.

 

[Harlock]

Can just cut 80% of shit indie titles?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

There have at least been a dozen or more full priced day 1 games on game pass released this year whether first or third party.



Having a bit of a hard time understanding the point you're trying to make here. 2005 was 18 years ago. Everything has increased in price since then. Except that one guy who still manages to give $12 for haircuts somehow.

Game Pass will increase in price in the next 18 years, PS+ will increase in price in the next 18 years, Switch online will increase in price in the next 18 years. People "defend" game pass because it offers a good value for the asking price, the moment it stops being a good value for the asking price, people are free to stop subscribing to it.

You're actively making a console war pun then wondering in your previous post why you were called out for console warring. Come on now.

I think you're having a hard time because you're not looking at the big picture. Everything increases in price, absolutely, but look at gaming. Games are 70 dollars now.

In the early 90s, SNES games cost 60 dollars. PS1 games reduced the price because of CDs and cost 50 dollars in the mid-late 90s and despite being on carts N64 games matched them.

Adjusted for inflation, games SHOULD cost 100 dollars a pop easily if not more, but they're 70 dollars.

I'm not advocating for PS+ or Switch Online either.

I'm telling you that if you continue to allow a subscription model to take over the traditional model, the cost of gaming will continue to rise astronomically as the quality of content plunges and there will be little anyone can do about it after it replaces the model.

80 dollars for 2 day shipping was great value, but you have to look at the long term costs of putting companies like Bed Bath and Beyond out of business and seeing the costs of Amazon sold products increase as well as their subscription price increase as well as the quality decline.

You say they're free to stop once the value is no longer good, but that isn't the case if that is the only model available to the consumer.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Can just cut 80% of shit indie titles?

Those aren't the primary drivers of the operating cost though. Big 1st and 3rd party releases are.

There's a reason why Netflix makes movies like Extraction but not movies like Mission Impossible or Oppenheimer.

 

[adamsapple]

You say they're free to stop once the value is no longer good, but that isn't the case if that is the only model available to the consumer.

Good thing then that isn't the only model available to the consumer and everything on the service can also be separately bought on retail if someone wants to.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Good thing then that isn't the only model available to the consumer and everything on the service can also be separately bought on retail if someone wants to.

Again, that isn’t the case today but it would be in the future.

Seems like you’re having a very difficult time assessing future states. Even with plenty of examples.

 

[adamsapple]

Again, that isn’t the case today but it would be in the future.

Seems like you’re having a very difficult time assessing future states. Even with plenty of examples.

No, you're just making FUD out of nothing.

Game Pass is 15% of the divisions content and services revenue. You're using flawed examples of services like Prime and Netflix which rely 100% on sub services for their revenue stream.

It's a bad faith argument through and through.

 

[El Pistolero]

$0.00

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Microsoft has said they want to turn Sony into Blockbuster.

They've said they want to change the role publishers play in game publishing and have them conform to Microsoft's new model based on subscription revenue.

The only way they can effectively do this is by eliminating Sony as a competitor because publishers do NOT want this.

Subscription revenue in gaming will never equal B2P revenue, so someone has to take a loss in revenue. Who is it going to be?

For example, if I paid 160 dollars a month for cable, but now pay 60 dollars a month for subscription video services... who eats that 100-dollar difference in the industry's model?

It would be the publishers and by that extent the developers and other employees of game studios, and ultimately the consumers who end up paying more for less because the amount of time gamers spend gaming isn't likely to increase, so the number of games they play isn't likely to increase.

So you have to look at Gamer X who buys 3 games at full price a year (70 dollars) and 3 games at reduced price at year (40 dollars) for a total of 330 dollars a year.

Now for a 20-dollar-a-month subscription, they're going to spend 240 dollars...

That's a loss in revenue for the industry of 90 dollars or 27%... And that's with me raising the price to 20 dollars a month.

Let's take a look at Gamer Z who buys 2 games at full price a year (70 dollars) and 1 game a year at reduced price (40 dollars) for a total of 180 dollars.

Now let's take a look at 15 dollars a month, that's 180 dollars and we're even.

So look at how casual a gamer you have to be to make the 15-dollar model make even the slightest sense and the more casual the gamer, the less interested in a subscription they'll be.

Fortunately, I think this model will collapse on itself, but in the meantime, Microsoft will buy up as many publishers and studios as they can to bolster the model. The end result will be studio closures and layoffs just like with Embracer.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No, you're just making FUD out of nothing.

Game Pass is 15% of the divisions content and services revenue. You're using flawed examples of services like Prime and Netflix which rely 100% on sub services for their revenue stream.

It's a bad faith argument through and through.

You seem to have a really difficult time understanding past state, current state, and future state.

Also, Amazon doesn't rely only on Prime membership for their revenue. They did however use that membership to beat down competitors.

Microsoft has also conditioned many of their userbase not to buy games, which is why B2P revenue on Xbox is so low relative to their userbase. Again, the only thing preventing this model from taking over is healthy B2P sales on PS5 which is selling significantly better than the Xbox Series.

So again, Microsoft's goal is to buy as many publishers as they can to force consumers into buying Xbox Series and then GamePass as a clear obvious value (today, but not tomorrow).

You want to play CoD? You'd be dumb to buy it by itself instead of GamePass. You want to play Elder's Scrolls, you'd be dumb to buy it on it's own instead of GamePass... as it continues, they're shifting people to the new model as they slowly but surely increase the price and can do so because of their userbase.

If you're a CoD fan, you'd be foolish to buy on PS5 if you can get CoD significantly cheaper on XS and as I mentioned you'd be foolish to buy it rather than play it on GamePass. So you're enticing people to shift to a model that they don't understand that tomorrow will be less beneficial to them and you do it in large numbers to shift the industry model.

 

[FullMetalx117]

No, you're just making FUD out of nothing.

Game Pass is 15% of the divisions content and services revenue. You're using flawed examples of services like Prime and Netflix which rely 100% on sub services for their revenue stream.

It's a bad faith argument through and through.

It’s not…people have been seeing what’s coming with Gamepass literally the day it was announced. The business world knows the end game of subscription models now.

 

[Sleepwalker]

cherry picking I see, but let’s look at the whole picture, you know, a proper way to look at the data and not focus on your edge cases

also useful link for gamepass stats https://gamepassnews.com/

I didn't show a gamepass image, I was talking about gold as a cautionary tale, whose undead corpse gave us many "big value dollar months" that consisted of endless trash. Taking full MSRP at face value when talking about subscription game content "value" is super disingenous, I know this and you know this. The main reason you are on a sub is to not pay that MSRP value in the first place.


All that was meant with my post is that should MS and fans start focusing on the dollar value of the content instead of the quality, the service will go down the gutter. I'm not saying it is there now, I'm saying it COULD get there, it COULD also get better or stay the same.


Your image or site do not impact my argument lol.

 

[adamsapple]

You seem to have a really difficult time understanding past state, current state, and future state.

No, I'm just telling you the plain fact that everything on game pass can be bought on retail and game pass is, currently, 15% of their content and services revenue. There is no danger of it eclipsing the retail revenue model, even on the platform which touts it the most, any time soon.

Microsoft has also conditioned many of their userbase not to buy games, which is why B2P revenue on Xbox is so low relative to their userbase. Again, the only thing preventing this model from taking over is healthy B2P sales on PS5 which is selling significantly better than the Xbox Series.

See above.

You want to play CoD? You'd be dumb to buy it by itself instead of GamePass. You want to play Elder's Scrolls, you'd be dumb to buy it on it's own instead of GamePass... as it continues, they're shifting people to the new model as they slowly but surely increase the price and can do so because of their userbase.

This is an interesting point to make in a topic where almost all the detractors are making arguments about how it makes no sense to sub when you can just buy the game you want.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

It’s not…people have been seeing what’s coming with Gamepass literally the day it was announced. The business world knows the end game of subscription models now.

I don't know why he and others are pretending like the end game isn't clear as day...

Are the console wars that important?

I remember when I bought a game gear, because it was so much more technologically advanced than the GameBoy (i didn't care that it required 6 batteries, until my dad refused to provide additional batteries). I wanted so much to be right about the GameGear, but I was wrong. I eventually got my brother's gameboy and then eventually a gameboy color and pokemon, but had missed out on years of great games.

I feel like people want to be "right" so badly, that they'll walk all of gaming off a cliff in order to be "right"

GamePass is a clear and present danger to all those who love gaming and even I've considered dabbling in it to play a few games before canceling. It's hard to argue with the value it presents today, though I think it's directly responsible for how shite Microsoft has been in game development the last 2-3 years. They're even worse if you remove Zenimax entirely.

So please, take a look at the long term ramifications of GamePass as well as Microsoft buying literally the largest 3rd party publisher in the business, along with their e-mails that make their strategy clear that this isn't the end of their buying spree.

They're investing in a future where you HAVE to subscribe to their games in order to play the games you want to play. Either because they're only available on gamepass or that you'd be foolish not to get GamePass in order to buy them.

As fewer publishers are available on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, you'll be forced to buy Xbox to play your favorite franchises like Elders Scrolls or Doom. Eventually, they'll charge massive premiums in order to buy these games via B2P sales if they're even available via B2P. Look how many studios used to release their content on physical media, but now have them exclusive to streaming services. Fortunately, Disney is reversing that.

Eventually, they won't even sell GamePass monthly, and they'll only sell it annually, to better lock you in to the service.