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VGPolyglot on 23 January 2018
adisababa said:
The games pass move is an exceptionally well-done idea, they are slowly moving towards a service where everything is available on one platform, all games are accessible for a monthly fee of 10 euros.

And with the release of killer exclusives in the coming years, the games pass will truly become the Netflix of gaming, all digital and accessible in a neatly ordered list for a cheap price, filled with niche indies, triple-A exclusives, and killer 3rd party content.

I'm obviously going to buy the games pass from March onwards, the all-digital age is fast approaching and I love it.

I don't think we'll get to an age where everything is on one platform, video games are much more complicated than films and albums, considering all of the hardware differences that cause numerous issues.



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smroadkill15 on 23 January 2018
Kaneman! said:
smroadkill15 said:

You really think MS would do something like this if there wasn't an obvious upside to it? They already have the numbers figured out. Just like Netflix, MS wants most of the revenue to their own games, so this will likely push them to release more first party games and 3rd party exclusives. 

If you don't want to get Game Pass, nobody is stopping you. You can still buy the games separately.  

I get that, and I'm not directing how Microsoft should do their business. But as a consumer of their electronics, I think I'm entitled to voice dissatisfaction when I dislike a buisiness decision.

This is the way all forms of entertainment has been going for about 10 years now. Music, Movies, tv, and now games.  HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Comcast, Xbox live, PSN, Spotify, etc., and now Game Pass. Even with all those services, physical releases will probably never go away. It's just another option. Plus look at the upside, Netflix has been releasing some great original content of their own consistently. Amazon and Hulu have started to as well. This can push MS to do the same. Even with Netflix original shows, they still will get physical releases of them. 



Kaneman! on 23 January 2018
Ryuu96 said:

Ah I see what you mean, sure, Microsoft very likely has to pay the 3rd parties to put their games on Game Pass (Exactly like they have to do with GwG)

As I said, I'm sure Microsoft has ran the numbers and It's likely even more profitable for them this way which is why they're doing it.

I understand your last part though, but physical will still be around for a long time This is all about giving consumers choice and let's hope it helps provide funding for future titles.

If it actually does, I will agree with the move.

shikamaru317 said:

Thing is though, the average Xbox gamer isn't getting anywhere near 3 Xbox exclusives a year, some years they might only get 1. Core gamers are a relatively small market, just look at how few of Microsoft's 55m active Xbox Live members buy Xbox exclusives (the biggest of which this gen, Halo 5, has likely only sold around 8m). Microsoft's goal here is to get as many of those more casual gamers as possible to subscribe to Game Pass. They're not too concerned about the core gamers I feel, most of those will keep buying their games instead of subbing to Game Pass because they prefer physical discs and/or the prefer to actually own their games. 

That is a fair point, I erroneously assumed that the game pass is targeted toward less casual users due to the narrative of the amount of games it has to offer. If it's actually targeted at casual users, then it makes more sense.



WoodenPints on 23 January 2018
Kaneman! said:
shikamaru317 said:

It will hurt game  sales, but it will significantly boost Game Pass subs which will make up much of that lost revenue, and it will get people to try games they might not usually try, which will be good for getting the stubborn Xbox fanbase to try the smaller exclusives they typically ignore.

Will it make up for the lost revenue, though? Just because all of the revenue of the game pass goes directly to Microsoft, who knows what percentage goes to game licenses that are on the game pass themselves? Somehow I imagine that a core Microsoft gamer would bring in more revenue by just buying 3 MS games per year than to be subscribed the whole year.

There will probably be an initial loss of revenue but that will lead to an increase in the long term in my opinion, You can't just look a actual sales as they will be getting are other bonuses to this in the fact they there will be less physical sales which in turn means there is less of a resale market on used games floating around as MS don't get a thing from 10 different users buying the same copy that gets traded in and there is also the physical production/shipping and retailers fee probably knocking $20 off before MS would even take any revenue  and then there is the question of how long it holds that price 2-3 months down the line it's probably already dropping to $30-40.

They will make a lot of revenue still from season passes, DLC packs and from REQ packs and other similar in game purchases still (this should increase revenue in this area due to higher game populations)  as they won't be included in the Game Pass sub and most big games these days have 2-3 expansions releasing throughout the games first year of release, You will still see people buying this content to go with their Game Pass sub and even if users sub for 1 month each time game they want releases they could very well buy the DLC and re-sub later on. I'd also argue that the majority of users who sub, cancel and re-sub constantly are likely the ones who buy the games cheap used or wait for sub $20 bargain prices before picking them up so with that in mind it becomes the whole is that a lost sale if that person wouldn't of bought it until a year or so after at which point the price is very low anyway.

Many people will also forget to cancel or leave the sub running and either not use it or barely ever touch it which becomes revenue from nothing I do it myself all the time unfortunately :( I would like to see 12 month codes for the service along the lines of 12 months for $100-110 which equals 1-2 months free and that also works in the favour of MS as it's locks in a sub for a full year. Lao combining a 12 month Game Pass/Gold sub for $150 could be a great idea to sell people on the idea.

Of course there will still be plenty of revenue from digital/physical sales as there is no doubt many who still want actual ownership of a game rather than a subscription service.



smroadkill15 on 23 January 2018

You also gotta look at the number of people who will double dip. Someone with Game Pass may very well still want a physical copy of Halo 6 or Gears 5. I certainly still want my copy of Halo 6.



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Kaneman! on 23 January 2018
WoodenPints said:

There will probably be an initial loss of revenue but that will lead to an increase in the long term in my opinion, You can't just look a actual sales as they will be getting are other bonuses to this in the fact they there will be less physical sales which in turn means there is less of a resale market on used games floating around as MS don't get a thing from 10 different users buying the same copy that gets traded in and there is also the physical production/shipping and retailers fee probably knocking $20 off before MS would even take any revenue  and then there is the question of how long it holds that price 2-3 months down the line it's probably already dropping to $30-40.

This is reasonable, especially looking that the price of game pass would mostly be cheaper than buying a used copy, in which case you wouldn't mind it being taken off, as you'd have traded it in yourself. Good point, I didn't think of that.

But I do wonder if the titles are going to be on Game Pass permanently or not. Looking as the games are Microsoft's property and on the service from the start, it would make sense to not take them off. What about older titles, though? Or in a few years time?



WoodenPints on 23 January 2018
Kaneman! said:
WoodenPints said:

There will probably be an initial loss of revenue but that will lead to an increase in the long term in my opinion, You can't just look a actual sales as they will be getting are other bonuses to this in the fact they there will be less physical sales which in turn means there is less of a resale market on used games floating around as MS don't get a thing from 10 different users buying the same copy that gets traded in and there is also the physical production/shipping and retailers fee probably knocking $20 off before MS would even take any revenue  and then there is the question of how long it holds that price 2-3 months down the line it's probably already dropping to $30-40.

This is reasonable, especially looking that the price of game pass would mostly be cheaper than buying a used copy, in which case you wouldn't mind it being taken off, as you'd have traded it in yourself. Good point, I didn't think of that.

But I do wonder if the titles are going to be on Game Pass permanently or not. Looking as the games are Microsoft's property and on the service from the start, it would make sense to not take them off. What about older titles, though? Or in a few years time?

Yea it's a good question they could stay in the pass forever as an incentive for people subscribe but they could put it in there for 3-6 months and remove it also but I don't think removing it after a few months would be a good idea as games would of already lost there high retail value and keeping people subbed to play online games and buy DLC for the games would eventually lead to more revenue from them.



KiigelHeart on 23 January 2018

Huge titles like Halo & Gears will still sell millions of copies. This service will significantly help titles like Sea of Thieves to be succesful imo. I like it. I like it alot.



WoodenPints on 23 January 2018
shikamaru317 said:

Yeah, I see no reason for MS to remove their own exclusives from Game Pass later on. Better to keep them on to drive subs rather than to drop them in the hopes of selling more copies, which will have already dropped to like $20 by that point.

3rd party games on the other hand will be dropped over time, supposedly MGS V and NBA 2K16 are leaving at the end of the month.

Yea 2 games are going MGSV and WWE2K16 are leaving on 31/1 you can see it on the Xbox One if you click on the Game Pass from the dashboard, WWE2K16 is leaving because WWE2K17 is arriving in February



jason1637 on 23 January 2018

Does Netflix remove their shows from Netflix?