CrustyBritches
Gold Member
From what I've seen, MS is heading a direction where Game Pass is Xbox. A hardware-agnostic gaming platform that runs on PC, Phone, and MS Consoles. MS will still make both the most powerful and most affordable gaming consoles with X and S series consoles. This is the cross-platform, cross-play future where everybody has access to the same games and play together for an affordable monthly fee.It's a great service for gamers period. My guess those numbers will double in the upcoming gen. Some interesting titles coming from their studios will bring in more subs I'm sure.
From my perspective, Microsoft is going all in to make Xbox as enticing a platform for new/former customers. The big key is the games as always.
PC Game Pass is still in Beta, but I'm sure the numbers are rapidly growing, and Gears Tactics will not only sell a shitload of copies on Steam, but also drive more users to Game Pass PC. xCloud is going to take Game Pass to whole new level when it finally goes live. I've been in the beta since it started, and it's improve greatly over time. In the future, you just subscribe to Game Pass and you can play right on your phone without ever having to own a console or PC. They'll virtualize the streaming interfaces and we'll see people just using their phones and tablets to do live streaming with overlays utilizing front-facing cams on phones.
Game Pass and cross-platform releases with PC also allows freedom to experiment with new game styles because it removes the requirement of making X amount of sales. The Coalition talked about this in a recent interview...
This game will not only drive Game Pass PC subs, but also sell quite well due to Steam support. Just making exclusive games to drive console hardware sales is so last-millennium thinking.And in talking to Decker and Crump, they make it clear that this game exists in part because of Xbox Game Pass. That Netflix-like subscription service provides some creative slack and empowers creators to take chances — especially for first-party Microsoft studios. And instead of only thinking about making games that sell units, The Coalition can build something with the purpose of expanding the reach of the Gears universe. That's why the game is hitting Game Pass for PC as well as Steam on the same day.
"Players should be able to play our games wherever they are," said Crump. "And we want to reach them on any of the platforms that we're on."
P.S.- MS will also profit from hosting PSNow with their recently announced partnership.
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