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Gears 5 breaks records - three million players in its opening weekend

DanielsM

Banned

I would think anyone heavily invested in the product/service. Who would buy games from Steam, if word got out Valve was losing a billion a year on the service? Sustainability should be very important depending on what you are buying, of course, a rental service like Game Pass or say Netflix does less harm... as all they are is a rental service. Doubt many people cried when Blockbusters and Family Videos started closing though.

I think it depends on what it is, as to importance of whether the company is making money on the product/service. I mean people buying shitty Teslas right now are betting that the company doesn't go under and their warranty doesn't go with it, if it enters bk.
 
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pr0cs

Member
I meant the fact that big part of these players just started their gamepass for 2$ to play this game.
And that's relevant how? There is no question that Microsoft used gears to try and reel in new users, 3million seems like a great first start. Now they'll have to figure out how to keep those players subscribing.
Gamepass thus far from a consumer point of view has been very good.
barring the horrible fact that gamepass for pc still uses the terribad Windows store as the back-end
 
Gamepass is a good deal. Get as many people as you possibly can to play the game. Then flooded with microtransactions. That's how you make money, good job MS. Another thing gamepass does is make average to below-average games much more enjoyable when you don't have to pay $60 for them.
 

MadYarpen

Member
And that's relevant how? There is no question that Microsoft used gears to try and reel in new users, 3million seems like a great first start. Now they'll have to figure out how to keep those players subscribing.
Gamepass thus far from a consumer point of view has been very good.
barring the horrible fact that gamepass for pc still uses the terribad Windows store as the back-end

I have an impression some people say that number of players doesn't translate to real sales (at all it seems) in this case, and I think it is not true, not entirely at least. What you said really, the question is how many of them will stay and for how long. And I gave example of myself, that I stayed despite siging to play one game. And I will stay for some time at least.

Also I do agree gamepass is very good.
 

Palliasso

Requiescat In Pace
Staff Member
Look I don't want to have to be the parent here but this is getting out of hand kids.

Stay on topic. This isn't a thread about Netflix's profitability, movie rentals, Death Stranding, ban bets, or anything else besides Gears 5. If you want to argue about whether or not Game Pass is a good value or is hurting Microsoft's brand (or whatever your stance on the subject may be) there are plenty of other threads for that discussion - or feel free to make a new one.
 

CeeJay

Member
I would think anyone heavily invested in the product/service. Who would buy games from Steam, if word got out Valve was losing a billion a year on the service? Sustainability should be very important depending on what you are buying, of course, a rental service like Game Pass or say Netflix does less harm... as all they are is a rental service. Doubt many people cried when Blockbusters and Family Videos started closing though.

I think it depends on what it is, as to importance of whether the company is making money on the product/service. I mean people buying shitty Teslas right now are betting that the company doesn't go under and their warranty doesn't go with it, if it enters bk.
This is an interesting take. So you are suggesting that because you think the business model is not sustainable then there is some kind of risk (albeit less) to customers subscribing? What exactly are customers going to lose if in a couple of years MS decide GP is not sustainable and shut it down?
 

GC_DALBEN

Member
Im really liking the game, i liked act1 of the campaign, im on act2 and i didnt like the Protagonist KAIT, im playing a lot of horde and escape atm, these modes are really good.
 

sendit

Member
It was going to hit 3 mil regardless. I know I would have bought it if I didn’t already have Gamepass.

We don’t know the spilt between Gamepass and retail. Once NPD comes out we can discuss this further.

Until then this is all conjecture and you are assuming the worst, when Ms told everyone to get Gamepass to play it early.

Given that a highly more anticipated game came out on the same week, I highly doubt that.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Let's let the accountants in charge of the company worth more than any other in world decide what's good and bad for business sha'll we. They've built a trillion dollar company on subscription services, they continue to outgrow any analysts predictions every quarter. They know what they're doing to get gamepass running at a profit.

Running at a profit? Tell us how much money they're making.
 
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DanielsM

Banned
Removed from thread. Ignored warning to stay on-topic.
This is an interesting take. So you are suggesting that because you think the business model is not sustainable then there is some kind of risk (albeit less) to customers subscribing? What exactly are customers going to lose if in a couple of years MS decide GP is not sustainable and shut it down?

I actually said the opposite, its simply a rental service. Its probably not sustainable, meaning when Satya grows tired of the losses i.e. Groove Music shutdown. Of course, I would say we're many years from now as Satya gave Phil additional money. I don't see a big risk for consumer, as its just a rental service.... kind of like when Block Buster or Groove Music shutdown.

Gamepass is a good deal. Get as many people as you possibly can to play the game. Then flooded with microtransactions. That's how you make money, good job MS. Another thing gamepass does is make average to below-average games much more enjoyable when you don't have to pay $60 for them.

Oh I don't think Game Pass is a bad deal.... I mean they're giving it away.

But if you were correct, logic would be the revenues would be staying steady or going up - although last quarter is just one quarter, my bet you are (or will be) completely wrong and you will see Microsoft gaming revenues in services and software actually drop, let alone the whole Gaming pie. We'll see in about a month or so. Every area of the gaming revenue appears to be dropping. I mean at some point, they are going to have to gain revenue, and eventually margin to fund game development either through sales or subscriptions... neither seems to be happening right now.
 
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DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
XboxGAF: GP is going to the biggest thing going forward. More companies are taking note and they will soon follow MS lead. This is the Netflix of gaming.

Me: We dont know how well its doing. This is a risky move and they clould lose a lot of money. A high player count doesnt mean its successful.

XboxGAF: You're jealous Sony has nothing similar to offer. Why are you worried about how they make money.

See, this is the stuff you have to put up with. Can't even be a bit skeptical how this will work out in the long run.

You guys complain about everything.. My god.
 

demigod

Member
XboxGAF: GP is going to the biggest thing going forward. More companies are taking note and they will soon follow MS lead. This is the Netflix of gaming.

Me: We dont know how well its doing. This is a risky move and they clould lose a lot of money. A high player count doesnt mean its successful.

XboxGAF: You're jealous Sony has nothing similar to offer. Why are you worried about how they make money.

See, this is the stuff you have to put up with. Can't even be a bit skeptical how this will work out in the long run.

You guys complain about everything.. My god.

Selling a quarter of your previous game is a SUCCESS!!!
 
Explains why they had server issues during that weekend. Trying to find full lobby is becoming an issue though. The other day I tried to do a round but the lobby bugged out and was stuck validating while trying to find a 5th for each team and kept putting bots in so after like 5mins of waiting I just turned it off and played the new RDR Online update instead.

Selling a quarter of your previous game is a SUCCESS!!!

I gotta tweet this shit!
 
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DanielsM

Banned
XboxGAF: GP is going to the biggest thing going forward. More companies are taking note and they will soon follow MS lead. This is the Netflix of gaming.

Me: We dont know how well its doing. This is a risky move and they clould lose a lot of money. A high player count doesnt mean its successful.

XboxGAF: You're jealous Sony has nothing similar to offer. Why are you worried about how they make money.

See, this is the stuff you have to put up with. Can't even be a bit skeptical how this will work out in the long run.

You guys complain about everything.. My god.

I would say most of this is pretty obvious, at best Microsoft or any other rental/streaming service (Sony, EA, Google,etc.) has a tough road.

I remember the days of Game Pass is a system seller, I remember the days of UWP is a game changer, I remember the days of infinite power of da cloud, I remember the days of Game Pass increases games sales, I remember the days that game streaming will take over, etc. (rinse and repeat into a new thread)
 

Mattyp

Gold Member
Running at a profit? Tell us how much money they're making.

Where did I say right now they’re making money? Am I misreading my own message? because I never said that.

At the start the millions of subscriptions didn’t make them money for Office either but now it’s making absolute bank for the company.

I really don’t know what’s so hard to understand, you entice customers at low rates $1 or free (like Netflix) then start to make that money back the moment that trial period is over.

But we just sign up for one month then cancel haha! Oh, new game we make a new Xbox account to get another month free haha! This is what dilussional people actually believe is happening when in truth the far majority of people stay on after a month it offers way to much value not to, you couldn’t find one person say $10 a month isn’t amazing value for what is on offer you just need the fence sitters through the door to realise that.

They have a several million subscriptions at the moment, we have no idea how many just it’s in the millions. You start attaching the service to gold which they’ve done, you want as much penetration as you can get on the small market you hold and hope the launch for next gen goes smoothly compared to last. You get to the moment you have 10 million subscribers paying $10 a month, then 20 million when you reach half your install base. Then you throw in cosmetic DLC that younger people eat up and you start to see continual constant revenue that companies love.

If Sony could launch this service tomorrow with a guarantee $10 a month from half their install base for 1 AAA game a year and a few AA they would in a heartbeat. Subscription services work so much better for a company when the numbers get high enough and every one chips in their tiny part with millions of others who wouldn’t of bought the games releasing at full retail anyway.

I personally don’t know a person with an Xbox without it now, no I’m not saying the uptake is that big but it’s gaining. And that’s all they need to do, keep gaining members and in the long run the returns will outweigh any game sales.
 

sendit

Member
Where did I say right now they’re making money? Am I misreading my own message? because I never said that.

At the start the millions of subscriptions didn’t make them money for Office either but now it’s making absolute bank for the company.

I really don’t know what’s so hard to understand, you entice customers at low rates $1 or free (like Netflix) then start to make that money back the moment that trial period is over.

But we just sign up for one month then cancel haha! Oh, new game we make a new Xbox account to get another month free haha! This is what dilussional people actually believe is happening when in truth the far majority of people stay on after a month it offers way to much value not to, you couldn’t find one person say $10 a month isn’t amazing value for what is on offer you just need the fence sitters through the door to realise that.

They have a several million subscriptions at the moment, we have no idea how many just it’s in the millions. You start attaching the service to gold which they’ve done, you want as much penetration as you can get on the small market you hold and hope the launch for next gen goes smoothly compared to last. You get to the moment you have 10 million subscribers paying $10 a month, then 20 million when you reach half your install base. Then you throw in cosmetic DLC that younger people eat up and you start to see continual constant revenue that companies love.

If Sony could launch this service tomorrow with a guarantee $10 a month from half their install base for 1 AAA game a year and a few AA they would in a heartbeat. Subscription services work so much better for a company when the numbers get high enough and every one chips in their tiny part with millions of others who wouldn’t of bought the games releasing at full retail anyway.

I personally don’t know a person with an Xbox without it now, no I’m not saying the uptake is that big but it’s gaining. And that’s all they need to do, keep gaining members and in the long run the returns will outweigh any game sales.

Agreed. This is why I put a 2 month reminder on my phone to cancel my sub. Never again...I had a sub for Crunchyroll for three years not knowing I was subscribed.
 

Vawn

Banned
Agreed. This is why I put a 2 month reminder on my phone to cancel my sub. Never again...I had a sub for Crunchyroll for three years not knowing I was subscribed.

Yes. Microsoft knows how to make money. Don't doubt that. If they don't have the best software, they'll find other ways to get your money. Finding ways to get people to pay for stuff they don't really want. If you can hook enough people in to sign up for a membership, tons of them will keep paying even if they don't use the product - often without even realizing it.
 

Vawn

Banned
Hi Vawn, I like new friends and to believe people on the internet so can I get your gamer tag timestamped on your One or X and then I’ll be able to change my post.

Thanks.

d6b142a0939540ef95cd22124bdaca9e-610xh.jpg
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Where did I say right now they’re making money? Am I misreading my own message? because I never said that.

At the start the millions of subscriptions didn’t make them money for Office either but now it’s making absolute bank for the company.

I really don’t know what’s so hard to understand, you entice customers at low rates $1 or free (like Netflix) then start to make that money back the moment that trial period is over.

But we just sign up for one month then cancel haha! Oh, new game we make a new Xbox account to get another month free haha! This is what dilussional people actually believe is happening when in truth the far majority of people stay on after a month it offers way to much value not to, you couldn’t find one person say $10 a month isn’t amazing value for what is on offer you just need the fence sitters through the door to realise that.

They have a several million subscriptions at the moment, we have no idea how many just it’s in the millions. You start attaching the service to gold which they’ve done, you want as much penetration as you can get on the small market you hold and hope the launch for next gen goes smoothly compared to last. You get to the moment you have 10 million subscribers paying $10 a month, then 20 million when you reach half your install base. Then you throw in cosmetic DLC that younger people eat up and you start to see continual constant revenue that companies love.

If Sony could launch this service tomorrow with a guarantee $10 a month from half their install base for 1 AAA game a year and a few AA they would in a heartbeat. Subscription services work so much better for a company when the numbers get high enough and every one chips in their tiny part with millions of others who wouldn’t of bought the games releasing at full retail anyway.

I personally don’t know a person with an Xbox without it now, no I’m not saying the uptake is that big but it’s gaining. And that’s all they need to do, keep gaining members and in the long run the returns will outweigh any game sales.

You said thet knoe what they're doing to get them to make a profit.

You dont know that.

Know one knows how it will play out so dont pretend like you know whats happening.


Before you say "You said its bad fir business to put spiderman and tlou on ps now day one" thats because theyll make a lot more money selling it at full retail.

Netflix is in dept.. The continue to stay there, so go ahead, conpare them to netflix. You dont take into account how much devs have to make and how much it will cost to put aby game on their service.. Including their own.


You guys have no problem tell anyone how it will work, but as soon as someone hss doubts, you guys start complaining.

Its an open discussion. No one is saying it will fail, but people shoutibg that its a major sucess and it will be successful seriously need to calm down.
 
I have a feeling this thread will be locked soon, or become a giant graveyard.

Anyway, OT:

This news raises a few points:

  • If MS have 50 million Xbox's in the wild, Less than 10% of the users played a game that could be 'purchased' for £1/$1
  • Gears is no longer the top 3 heavy-hitting titles that it used to be and it could be argue that the series has reached saturation point.
  • Without Game Pass, would this game have bombed completely? Is Game Pass a saviour to titles that will or have bombed?
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I have a feeling this thread will be locked soon, or become a giant graveyard.
This isn't OldGAF. People are allowed to discuss things and have opinions. Even the mod's wrath so far has been just to remove one guy from the thread.
 
Nice player numbers, i guess. Since game is out on Sep. 10, so 3 mil. players in 7 days, bunch of people rent a game for 2$.

It will be hilarious if TLOU 2 will sell in more than 3 mil. copies at 60$ in one week. Like GOW did in first three days in 3.1 mil copies at 60$

What a fucking difference in revenue will be. LOL
 

Outrunner

Member
I don't think this is surprising since 1) Xbox gamers have been kind on a drought of first party games; 2) the game is practically free; 3) the game isn't exclusive to one platform.
 
Nice player numbers, i guess. Since game is out on Sep. 10, so 3 mil. players in 7 days, bunch of people rent a game for 2$.

It will be hilarious if TLOU 2 will sell in more than 3 mil. copies at 60$ in one week. Like GOW did in first three days in 3.1 mil copies at 60$

What a fucking difference in revenue will be. LOL

TLOU2 will sell a shit load of copies.

The difference is that Sony have maintained their label of quality from their first-party offerings. Combined with almost double the player-base, it's hardly suprising that their first party games sell by the millions.

How many games have Microsoft released this gen, that have flopped? How many games have Sony released this gen that have flopped?

Which company would you feel more comfortable buying a £40 game from?
 

McCheese

Member
It's the 11th most streamed game on mixer right now with 1200 viewers, sea of thieves has some serious competition.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
I don't think this is surprising since 1) Xbox gamers have been kind on a drought of first party games; 2) the game is practically free; 3) the game isn't exclusive to one platform.
Oh, well shit! I thought the number one reason was because its a great fucking game!

Someone needs to call Microsoft, stat!
 
Nice player numbers, i guess. Since game is out on Sep. 10, so 3 mil. players in 7 days, bunch of people rent a game for 2$.

It will be hilarious if TLOU 2 will sell in more than 3 mil. copies at 60$ in one week. Like GOW did in first three days in 3.1 mil copies at 60$

What a fucking difference in revenue will be. LOL

It's almost like MS are using great games like Forza Horizon 4 and Gears 5 for a reason other than just to generate revenue in the immediate term.

If only I could work out what that was. Damn. There has to be a reason ....

TNRWLhu.gif
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Only in the case of this thread, we have 100% bona fide Sony-ettes expressing deep concern about Microsoft's business model, because, like, they know better.

And how does XboxGAF know it will be a huge hit and it will gain MS so much profit going forward?

Thats right, you dont know.

Like i said before, xbox fans on here can praise this service all day and say nothing bad about it. When someone express theyre skeptical, you guys start getting annoyed.


If you dont know if it will be a huge success, you guys shouldnt complain whenever someone has some doubts.



And people are not worried ans MS's money, its just that the xbox fans brag about it like its the greatest thing every.
 

BigLee74

Member
its just that the xbox fans brag about it like its the greatest thing every.

Really? This in your head? I haven't seen anybody brag about the numbers. Maybe some bragging about how they got to play a great game for peanuts thanks to Gamepass (which is fantastic), followed up by lots of deriding from the forum unsavouries.

Ain't it funny how all the Borderlands 3 threads remain untainted, despite its performance issues and low numbers compared to 2? It couldn't be because its a multiplat could it? Surely not...
 

gatti-man

Member
This argument is going to come up every time Microsoft releases a first party game on Game Pass, isn't it?

Microsoft benefits more from selling subscriptions than it does selling individual games.
And yet we have no metrics to prove this. I can tell you for me MS lost $55 since I would have bought digital and instead paid for a month of cheap gamepass and cancelled since it didn’t hold my interest.

If MS actually broke that down (they won’t until it benefits them) I’d believe you.

The chances people stay subscribed is high after they use it to play Gears 5 as Gears 5 alone will push those users to start downloading and trying other games they normally wouldn't and thus the cycle continues until they pay $9.99 a month. They sucked me in with Gears 5 quite honestly. Now I'm playing Void Bastards, Hellblade, Gears 5 and I may also download Forza Horizon 4, Metro, and maybe even try out Crackdown 3. On top of that Halo Infinite and TMCC will be on there too so it's a non-stop win in my book.




Netflix makes it's own shows and movies for what reason again? Oh that's right. RMR. If they were to sell this service to 1 person, you'd be right. But they can rake in millions or even billions a month and consistently make money on games they've created instead on relying on the first 12 months of sales and then sales beyond that. Not to mention, people can still buy the games if they chose to and in the future, stream the games they bought and/or subscribe to.
Netflix loses money by the millions. Not a good example. They’ve shown that this model isn’t profitable and are praying they eventually get big enough they can sustain their own debt. No such luck yet.
 
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DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Really? This in your head? I haven't seen anybody brag about the numbers. Maybe some bragging about how they got to play a great game for peanuts thanks to Gamepass (which is fantastic), followed up by lots of deriding from the forum unsavouries.

Ain't it funny how all the Borderlands 3 threads remain untainted, despite its performance issues and low numbers compared to 2? It couldn't be because its a multiplat could it? Surely not...
Yes people brag about GP all the time. Even stating Sony is in trouble if they dont follow.
 
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