I think the worst comment I've ever read about MS non disclosing sales was "it's too complicated for a such big company to know exactly this kind of figures"

No one seemed to mind at all when Sony started combining sales numbers of their consoles in order to hide poor handheld sales. That's not even what is happening here with MS, it's a legitimate shift of focus away from console sales and towards user engagement. That's not to say that they don't still try to sell consoles and want to sell as many consoles as possible, but their philosophy regarding software has been for awhile, very obviously not one with an emphasis on locking people to their hardware.

Yet, MS is also not disclosing subscriber counts... It has been a shift into meaningless stats with hours played and what not.

If something is worth bragging about, they would be bragging about it! Momentum generates more momentum, same with sales numbers. FOMO is a primary marketing tactic, not disclosing numbers only means they're not big enough to generate more momentum.

Same reason why Sony lumped sales together. Underperforming sales don't generate momentum, yet pretending PS4+Vita are in great shape can help out sales of the under performer. Same reason why MS comes with engagement numbers.

It's been slim pickings for a site based on sales numbers. We just get some physical software sales numbers now and then, digital sales also seem to be a well kept secret in most cases. Anyway, no numbers, just some vague growth percentage without really knowing what it was based on. Which is probably why this thread keeps derailing into list wars lol.

Meaningless stats like hours played, yep that’s exactly what engagement is ?

Context helps, this is the post he was replying to, a user who admits that he is afraid of GamePass and despises the service. Per usual, downplays anything remotely positive about the service, dismisses quality games that have released on the service as mobile games that no one cares about.

Now are you actually going to try and say that a strong list of 12-13 titles, the lowest meta one seeming to be Back 4 Blood which is high 70's IIRC, and none of them being mobile quality games, doesn't prove his point that quality titles come to GamePass?

Here you are praising Forgotten City as an amazing game, but here in this thread it's "repetitive and short". What is it about GamePass that makes people say silly things? And as someone else pointed out, you're always the first in line to speak about the merits of metascores and yet when presented with a long list of only three months worth of GamePass titles that all scored well to amazing, suddenly it's "meh, other game did it better" or "only on PC!" or "last years game". Who gives a shit, lol. I'm currently watching Godless on Netflix and it came out four years ago. I also watch Seinfeld, and guess when that came out? I bought Hades last year on Switch and guess what? I still eagerly awaited the Xbox version and got it on GamePass day one.

We get it, you aren't a fan. No need to jump through hoops to provide commentary.

That's not even true. I am a fan of the concept, but I hate when people say "that's the best thing in human history". No, it's not, sure it's great, but when I see this kind of comment, I'm just like "ugh". It's not as perfect, with a "huge variety of quality game dropping day one into the service". When I give examples of why the list of games doesn't necessarily appeal to me, "yeah we get it, you're not a fan". Nope, you don't "get it", I just don't like religious praise. And giving me a "hater" flag to stop any debate doesn't help the discussion actually.

It's easier to be a Nintendo fan actually, cause they're selling low-budget half-assed stuff with a big price point, so they don't get religious praise and you can defend your shit.

And for The Forgotten City, I said it was amazing after just finishing it, and after some days, I was thinking that maybe it wasn't that great after all. Got the same feeling about Super Mario Galaxy actually, loved the game at my first play, my favourite game ever, now I can't even get through the second galaxy.

No one said it’s the best thing since religion and again the list posted was in response to a post minimizing GamePass games as mobile games that launch and are immediately forgotten. Your opinion on the quality of the games is irrelevant. Are they mobile games you’ve never heard of? No. That’s all that matters.

In regards to quality, that’s why he put the MC scores, so that our opinions are irrelevant. You can minimize Flight Sim all you want, it’s still obviously a quality game. Etc etc. No one is surprised that you’d see a long list of quality games and dismiss them. But he didn’t say they were games Blake would love ?

I've been asked to define why these games aren't quality, so when I did, I got "yeah but that's you opinion". Really ?

Anyway, the problem with game pass is still the same: you cannot discuss it without getting a "hater" stamp.

For the last 6 months, several people criticized the lack of attractive games in the service, they've been called hater. And then we got a close estimation of the subscription numbers. And then the people praising the GP were like "that's normal, we need to have attractive games into the service - being Halo and Forza for starters.

So thank you for giving me the usual "hater" stamp, still shows that as of today, we cannot discuss game pass.

Let's try in 2 years.

Missing their projection (purposely set high because it’s tied to bonuses) because Halo got delayed certainly doesn’t mean the service is lacking in attractive games. Per usual you’re generalizing and pulling comments out of your butt.

If it bothers you that you get labeled a hater in GamePass threads, maybe stop shit posting about GamePass so much ?‍♂️

I'd say most of us are just confident of what the future will look like on Gamepass, rather than super analyzing the present. Presently, most of the new games releasing on it are more like AA budget games, or older AAA games. But then when you look at the full catalog and realize how many series are represented by older games, and then when you look at all the studios they own, the vast majority of which were purchased in the last year or two, you get excited about all the day 1 exclusives it's going to get in the coming months. Already this has begun somewhat, and with each passing quarter we will get closer to the point where the studios are organized enough and running efficiently enough that they are pumping out a new AAA exclusive every month. I predict within the next 2-3 years we will be seeing this, and it will be a build up in the mean time to get to that level.