| Ryuu96 said:
Microsoft never claimed to have all of the data of every single person's purchasing habits on every single device, nobody would believe they have that data, they aren't speculating on limited data, they're posting facts about their own ecosystem, folk in the Xbox ecosystem spend and play more via Game Pass, they have the only relevant data needed, data from their own ecosystem. It's not incomplete data, that's just...they're talking about their own ecosystem dude. Why are you talking about entirely different countries? a good comparison would be a country talking about something specific to only it, which benefits its own citizens and causes them to try/spend more over a traditional method. More to the point, how the heck is Microsoft meant to make data for it unless Game Pass is also on Playstation, Nintendo? "According to MS, GP subs spend 20% more time playing games, play 30% more games, 40% more genres, and spend around 20% more on gaming overall than users who aren't subbed to the service." How will they know all these stats, what stats will they be using? There's no Game Pass on these consoles to say folk play more games, more genres, spend more than those who aren't subbed to the service, what service? It doesn't exist there |
If Sony talks about their ecosystem do they also need to know all of Xbox's financials to be allowed to do so? No, they don't give a shit, they aren't making money off Xbox players All those stats say is that those that spend more time playing games, play more games and spend more on games, are more likely to subscribe to gamepass. Which makes perfect sense. As a metric on the effect of game pass, it says nothing. For all we know they could be spending less than before subscribing to gamepass, just on average still more than those that don't subscribe.
| JWeinCom said: Hate to break it to you, but however you're buying games, the deck is stacked against small developers. Retail is way worse in that regard than subscription services, because you have to physically manufacture them, ship them out, and convince retailers to stock them. And if you're making a smaller kind of game that you can't charge full price for, your margins become razor thin once those costs come into play. There is a reason that most indie games do not have a physical version at all, and if they do, it usually only comes after the digital version has launched successfully. And there's a reason why indie games really weren't even a thing until gaming went digital. So, if that's your argument for why subscription services are a bad thing, then it's not very strong. If the term true gamer sucks, then why not use the term collector, since that's what we're talking about. And like with Runa, if you like collecting games then, yeah, you probably shouldn't get gamepass. But that's just personal preference. If subscription services become the predominate form of gaming and physical games go byebye, then that just means not enough people care about collecting. That's just the way the world works. A lot of things I like aren't made anymore because they just weren't popular enough to be profitable. That's a bad thing for you, but not necessarily a bad thing for the industry. |
I said it many many years ago, the shift to digital is a slippery slope, and now with the rise of subscription services we're halfway down the slide. Digital was/is great for indies, however they also devalued the A game developers who have pretty much all disappeared, closed down. It's either blockbuster or low budget nowadays. And while there certainly are many gems among indie games, there is also a ton of half baked ideas.
But yep, for collectors that like complete games, times are getting tougher. Whether it's a bad thing for the industry, depends where you are in the industry. It's not a great place to be to begin with. What effect the loss of retail will have, I don't know. When I worked as a developer it was extremely satisfying to see the stuff I worked on on store shelves, all over the world. Very rewarding. Engagement numbers, not so much. It was also a real break, finished product launched, pause and recoup. I'm glad I'm out of the industry as nowadays there are no more breaks. Code to release day on the day one patch, then straight on to the next update. Anyway that's up to the people working in the industry.
Subscriptions are simply not for me. Not a problem I guess as I have plenty to keep me entertained. Today my youngest dug out the WiiU to play Super Mario 3D world. Still great.
