Ask yourselves this.
Would Xbox be having layoffs and closures this year if Game Pass didn't exist? That's a rhetorical question though because the answer is obviously YES.
Game Pass is the easy thing to blame but Xbox growth would be poor even without Game Pass, Hi-Fi Rush isn't suddenly becoming a 10m seller because it launched as a paid title. Lets also remember Starfield is the only new IP that charted last year in SALES. Game Pass is profitable but the ENTIRE INDUSTRY has slowed down, including subscription services.
But yes a price increase is likely coming to Game Pass and Game Pass will likely change but not because Game Pass is to blame for Xbox's current struggles but because THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY IS STAGNANT. 
All these moves were meant to avoid that, they didn't work out, but without them we'd be in an even worse position than we are now.
Even if Game Pass didn't exist, Microsoft isn't looking at Activison's profit margins and going "Well, Hi-Fi Rush sold 1m so lets keep it alive" instead of "Fallout will sell 20x the amount of Hi-Fi Rush, lets get Bethesda on that, lay off Tango and put the extra resources towards spamming out Fallout" We'd be in the exact same situation with or without Game Pass.
Activision has acquired Xbox.
Profitable is never good enough for these corps, it has to be REALLY profitable and INFINITE GROWTH and the profitability can't just be an increase of 1% YOY it has to be 200%. PlayStation has a profit margin of under 10% and they have a console which doubles the sales of Xbox, have multiple IPs which sell tens of millions, have 3rd parties selling millions, and they laid off and shutdown.
ABK has a profit margin of 30%
The money-suits are asking "Why doesn't XGS/Zenimax?" and it ain't because of Game Pass, Lol.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 11 May 2024
