| the-pi-guy said: |
I do agree on certain aspect but he's view is limited to Xbox and MS in a post Activision buyout without factoring in the broader industry wide contraction that's happening.
His assumption on gamepass is also a tad contradictory.
Like "every game badly misses it sales goals" which sales goals is he referring to?
"Why pay full price when you can play the game for "free" as part of your subscription" but if this was on everyone minds Steam sales of Xbox software would be abysmal and on the contrary they are quite good.
It also would make no sense for MS to attribute revenue only to top-performing title, they have all the data so they can attribute revenue share on the prorata of title time played / overall time played on every title not just top performers.
Also, yes a game like Hi-Fi rush would see a revenue spike first month and quickly drop on the following but it would not be any different in a traditional scenario.
"Gamepass growth slowed way down and it's revenue is not keeping up with budget requirement"
But it should be a good thing considering he just identified Gamepass cannibalising game sale as an issue. If gamepass growth stagnate so should its adverse effect. This point to a wider growth issue than just a gamepass one.
I agree that MS have increase scrutiny on Xbox after the ABK acquisition but considering it's also happening industry wide make the cause to effect not as direct as it seems. IMO, in early 2022 when MS announced the ABK buyout, the industry was in full acquisition/investment mode due to covid and it's effect on the market. Early 2023 investor completely changed stance as the effect of covid did not linger but MS needed to pursue an acquisition which they would not necessarly pursue in this context(ask elon musk why it's a bad thing to try rescind an offer XD). That's what increase MS scrutiny, over-investment on a context that did not materialize.
