Yup, PSNow has ways to go to improve quality, but I think the most important issue is lag. All the streaming services have shown that having the best quality isn't the most important part, convenience and price is. Quality just needs to be acceptable (but PS Now still isn't there in most areas). But like I said, a model that combines both streaming capabilites and offline capabilites would be ideal.

Well lets do some math and make some arguments why this could be a good idea...

This year it includes enough content to justify a year of Gamepass. I assume it will get Sea of Theives, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, maybe another Forza, and maybe other surprises.

Its worth noting MS and other companies don't actually get $60 when they sell a game in retail. The return is probably closer to $30 based on estimates we hear. While Gamepass is money coming directly to them, and someone subscribing for a year is a lot more money from the consumer directly.

Not everybody is going to subscribe to Gamepass given they won't actually own the game and many still want physical copies.

The only announced MS games I'm excited enough to buy at launch is Crackdown 3. But if I can play all of their releases with Gamepass, then that's a very appealing reason to subscribe and stay subscribed.

I think this is an awesome idea, it will encourage a lot of avid gamers to subscribe, and that will increase 1st party revenue.

I was ready to say “meh, cool” until I saw Papa Phil had said day one release on Game Pass. I mean, unless they’re talking trials or something... this is megaton for Xbox consumers. Holy shit.

One more thing about Game Pass--the titles don't stay there forever. The game may be there day one but it could be gone in a month. Then, you can buy it at a discount. If the game is good enough, people will want to own it.

Sound pretty good.

MS is really going for Games-as-a-service then? :/

It’s true that their 1st party schedule might be weak right now but if they can follow Netflix, rely heavy on 3rd party games and the odd 1st party game at first then eventually turn it into more 1st party focus (like Netflix did with ‘Netflix originals’) then I think this could be huge. 

They’ve got something good here let’s just hope they don’t screw it up. 

Well they got my sub. And they'll get one from my gf if gamepass works for play anywhere and she can play them on the pc.

Given this is 1st party content I find that highly unlikely, it would even encourage people to unsubscribe.

I looked up what games have been removed from the service since it launched, all I see is a couple 3rd party games.

Maybe MS will invest less of the Gamepass revenue getting major 3rd party content, because their new 1st party games will push more subscriptions.

Meanwhile Gold subscriptions can still give out major 3rd party games.

Awesome deal.
Phil u did it right.