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[The Pleasure]

Then Nacho went to the dark SIDE. JIM RYAN. It is forbidden! Playstation 5.

 

[On Demand]

Heavily inflated by XB1 consoles and $1 trials.

Wonder what it's going to look like for engagement after XB1 game support is over.

 

[sainraja]

Three months of GamePass for $1.

Stockpiling Xbox Live Gold service (up to 36 months total), then converting it all to Game Pass Ultimate for just $1 extra through this deal - three years of Game Pass Ultimate for $181.

I thought this was well known? Part of the reason the service is popular with gamers is because it's a massive loss leader.

They are trolling you. You gotta watch out for the game pass gang members here.

 

[sainraja]

Three months of gamepass works only for the first time.

You can't buy a year of gold for 60, expect if you're happy to find some very old stock somewhere. It costs 120 a year now. Besides, even if it was 60 a year, 180 USD is not something I'd consider to be dirt cheap.

You can still find $60 dollar XBL cards online. I helped my brother do just that to sign up.

------

I know many here take it as a negative that people are using the $1 trick ($180 or three years of Gold) or paying a $1 for game pass for 3 months or whatever but as long as Microsoft continues to do that, the service will keep growing and might even convince people that have been shy about subscription services to sign up and stick around (after getting use to it). But man some of you guys really are unwilling to discuss any other possibilities. If you want to have multiple threads about Game Pass, you should be willing to, you know, discuss it. lol

If you just want an echo chamber without any other type of comments, you have your general thread where you can keep the back and forth going without any other discussion.

 

[pasterpl]

iOS and pc streaming beta just started, when this opens it means that people with shit pc will be able to stream high quality games, this will be another couple million users. Then the exclusives will start to drop. I think they will reach 40 million before end of this year.

 

[Arkam]

Heavily inflated by XB1 consoles and $1 trials.

I would be very interested to know what portion of them went this route. From reading online it seems to have been widespread and in my real life experience it seems ~half of those who I know did as well. Be curious if that is representative of the user base or if skewed due to the "power user" data set.

Regardless 23m is a great number. And even if they are not making money yet, they will soon. Being able to offer "access" to 23m customers has real value if leveraged correctly.

 

[Ellery]

This forum puzzles me sometimes.

"Gamepass will be the death of gaming and is pushing a soulless subscription model that will degrade quality industry wide"
"Yes yes indeed. Agreed."
*also this sub*
*gamepass got more subs*
"YAAAAAAY WOOOOO GO MICROSOFT! YESSSS GAMEPASS!!"

Maybe, just maybe those are different people and not the entirety of the community ?

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Very impressive growth if true. I'll wait for official numbers though.

Also 23m subscribers = 23m dollars a month, amirite?

 

[Leyasu]

Heavily inflated by XB1 consoles and $1 trials.

Wonder what it's going to look like for engagement after XB1 game support is over.

Got some sauce for this?

 

[MadPanda]

But man some of you guys really are unwilling to discuss any other possibilities. If you want to have multiple threads about Game Pass, you should be willing to, you know, discuss it. lol

If you just want an echo chamber without any other type of comments, you have your general thread where you can keep the back and forth going without any other discussion.

If you're having me in mind, is like you to explain what do you exactly mean by quoted? I mean, I don't see how it can apply to me but I'm willing to hear it.

 

[Banjo64]

It could buy 2 and 1/2 sony first party titles.

Id rather have every EA game (give or take 6 months), Every MS game, every Bethesda game, and about half of the other relevant AAA titles a few months out of launch.

I’m in the UK and got 3 12 month Gold cards for £40 a pop. £121 for 3 years vs £70 a single PS5 game.

£121 for 3 years of entertainment vs £140 for 2 games with no online play.

 

[twilo99]

23m .. that's kind of low no?

 

[Unrivaledx88]

lol na man. is simply the best deal in gaming right now ...and it's exploding

its still a very young service i see that..

but as of now i dont see Gamepass expanding beyond xbox Fans and ppl that love to play BC games from old gens
like i said give or take a few cheap ppl that dont like spending money on games and see it as a great value for them.

23 million is just MS getting there fanbase that were already gonna buy or have had xbox in the past. or have xbox at the moment signing up for gamepass.

 

[sainraja]

If you're having me in mind, is like you to explain what do you exactly mean by quoted? I mean, I don't see how it can apply to me but I'm willing to hear it.

The pricing portion of my post was directed at you. The rest was just commentary on this thread. I've edited my post to indicate that.

 

[mckmas8808]

It'll probably come to a point where publishers will simply not pursue timed exclusivity or co-marketing deals, or where the price for doing them goes up so much that it won't be worth it for Sony to pursue them as much going forward.

This is essentially a new generation insofar as the consoles themselves, but things like subscription services are truly cross-generational. Basically that makes it harder for Sony to leverage install base for units but easier for Microsoft to leverage subscription service numbers as its own type of install base.

So, it'll be interesting to see how this all starts to really shape out over the next few years.

This is "IF" those 3rd party Publishers see extra value in their games being available as a subscription on Day 1. Many still might see value in actually selling the game the more traditional way.

 

[Negotiator101]

For not having gamepass

 

[Negotiator101]

Nothing stopping this train!

 

[mckmas8808]

they were only at 12 million subs in september last year. xsx launch has doubled those numbers.

their revenues were already very high at around 11-12 billion a year. we will find out next year if their revenues go up by another billion.

BF6 will be a big test. if they are at 25-30 million, they can easily afford to pay EA $300 million to buy it. thats 5 million copies which is what they would sell on xbox if the game was a 20 million seller. not to mention, they wont have to pay the 30% cut on those sales.

$300 Million to have BF6 on Gamepass is INSANE though. You can admit that right?

 

[arkhamguy123]

Maybe, just maybe those are different people and not the entirety of the community ?

Google "consensus"

 

[SlimySnake]

$300 Million to have BF6 on Gamepass is INSANE though. You can admit that right?

I am just saying they can afford it.

EA is not gonna let their biggest game go on gamepass if they werent guaranteed money so they would ask something insane like $300 million. But with 30 million subs a month, MS can afford to as long as they are willing to break even that month. Thats my point.

 

[Hitchyhero]

its still a very young service i see that..

but as of now i dont see Gamepass expanding beyond xbox Fans and ppl that love to play BC games from old gens
like i said give or take a few cheap ppl that dont like spending money on games and see it as a great value for them.

23 million is just MS getting there fanbase that were already gonna buy or have had xbox in the past. or have xbox at the moment signing up for gamepass.

That's quite an assumption. I havnt has an xbox console since the 360, some of my friends havnt even had an xbox console at all and now a few have an Xbox.

 

[Banjo64]

$300 Million to have BF6 on Gamepass is INSANE though. You can admit that right?

Depends how much it’s pulling in. 23m x $8 (figure plucked from my arse because some people are paying less, some people are paying for basic game pass, and some Ultimate) that’s nearly $200m a month of revenue for MS. Even if it’s only $150m, it’s still highly profitable. Halo is F2P, they need a huge killer app for Game Pass this holiday season.

 

[rapid32.5]

I'm concerned about the legality and Ms' pockets in all of this matter.

 

[Vestal]

If the rumors of Gamepass on Switch come to fruition. Hold on to your butts.

 

[Ellery]

Google "consensus"

I did and omg you are totally right !!!!!!1111

 

[Hezekiah]

23m is good but watch MS's earnings next week to see how much it's actually bringing in.

Realistically we'll never know. But Zhuge suggests MS needs 50m+ subscribers for GamePass to become profitable.

 

[Edgelord79]

II

100% of the “Gamepass is terrible” GAFfers will immediately change their opinions the minute Sony announces their equivalent service.

More likely they will attempt to justify it because the titles on their version of GamePass were obtained through "organic growth".

Either way Sony isn't getting a version of GamePass even remotely close without spending obscene amounts of money to begin with to lay the groundwork. That means being willing to suffer heavy losses at the beginning. I'm skeptical. In fact, I think this type of reactionary approach would likely end up being a bad business decision.

 

[SlimySnake]

23m .. that's kind of low no?

It's up from 10 million last April.

13 million new subs in a year.

23 million every month.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

they were only at 12 million subs in september last year. xsx launch has doubled those numbers.

their revenues were already very high at around 11-12 billion a year. we will find out next year if their revenues go up by another billion.

BF6 will be a big test. if they are at 25-30 million, they can easily afford to pay EA $300 million to buy it. thats 5 million copies which is what they would sell on xbox if the game was a 20 million seller. not to mention, they wont have to pay the 30% cut on those sales.

Trying to figure out what a reasonable offer to get a GP day one game is tricky as someone has to do the math on lost sales, MS cut, EA's net sales per copy, what the avg revenue per game is really for (front load sales balanced with bargain hunters later). Then factor in way more people joining in since it's on GP who contribute an avg amount of MTX money of X per user to soften the blow to EA. But then theres still disc sales, but disc sales should drop if some people GP it. But with GP, the total number of people playing it will be higher than straight up discs/digital, so the MTX money may or may not be enough to cover.

It can be a complicated calculation.

But it sure seems to work for F2P games. $0 price, tons of people play and the MTX seems enough to make giant profits.

 

[arkhamguy123]

I did and omg you are totally right !!!!!!1111

Good boy.

 

[Croatoan]

I feel like Halo hits hardest on console where subs are at a higher saturation already. Starfield will get PC players en masse.

PC players will not sub for Starfield unless MS allows mods for gamepass games. If things stay they way they are now most will purchase bethesda games on steam so they can mod them. Modding is HUGE in the skyrim, fallout communities, and starfield will be the same.

I love PC gamepass, even if we do get screwed out of games like Outriders, but I will purchase games on steam if I want to mod them. Gamepass isn't really for the big games for me anyways, its to play smaller games that I don't feel like paying a premium for.

 

[SlimySnake]

II


More likely they will attempt to justify it because the titles on their version of GamePass were obtained through "organic growth".

Either way Sony isn't getting a version of GamePass even remotely close without spending obscene amounts of money to begin with to lay the groundwork. That means being willing to suffer heavy losses at the beginning. I'm skeptical. In fact, I think this type of reactionary approach would likely end up being a bad business decision.

They might just wait a couple of years for around 10 first party games to launch before launching their own service with mostly first party titles and some indie and B games that dont cost that much. I think their service will be very popular simply because they have far more users and a more consistent first party output.

They are already pretty much giving away their entire first party lineup from the PS4 generation along with 10 other big AAA titles for free to all PS5 owners. I dont think these old games cost as much as you think. Gamepass didnt launch with big games either. You are seeing big third party games get picked up because their subscriptions have exploded since last year. Sony will do the same. First party only titles at the start then pay third parties for other months.

Also, Sony will ride on the goodwill generated from MS Gamepass. MS innovated yes, but they have shown even skeptical gamers like me that this thing is actually sustainable.

 

[twilo99]

PC players will not sub for Starfield unless MS allows mods for gamepass games. If things stay they way they are now most will purchase bethesda games on steam so they can mod them. Modding is HUGE in the skyrim, fallout communities, and starfield will be the same.

I'm a PC player and I will sub for Starfield without mods.

 

[nightmare-slain]

Nice. Well done MS. as soon as I can use xcloud on my iPhone + PC i’ll be joining. I could sub now but I ain’t downloading shit from the MS Store again.

 

[Croatoan]

I wonder how much they make off it with so many people getting a year for 1 dollar.

Ask this question again in three years...

Its all about getting people on that hamster wheel of payment.

I'm a PC player and I will sub for Starfield without mods.

Which is why I said "most". Which means not all.

 

[speedomodel]

I knew I'd get the "different opinions" rhetoric as soon as I posted. I get differing views but it seems like the whole consensus just blows with the wind based off the news of the day. Maybe it's just me.

What do you expect? You're on a gaming enthusiast forum! Of course people will get excited about rumors/leaks and megatons. It's why many people are even here.

 

[Hitchyhero]

PC players will not sub for Starfield unless MS allows mods for gamepass games. If things stay they way they are now most will purchase bethesda games on steam so they can mod them. Modding is HUGE in the skyrim, fallout communities, and starfield will be the same.

I love PC gamepass, even if we do get screwed out of games like Outriders, but I will purchase games on steam if I want to mod them. Gamepass isn't really for the big games for me anyways, its to play smaller games that I don't feel like paying a premium for.

I can mod skyrim that's on Xbox game pass. Can you not mod the PC version of skyrim that's on game pass?

 

[Edgelord79]

I can mod skyrim that's on Xbox game pass. Can you not mod the PC version of skyrim that's on game pass?

It has very limited mod support. A lot of mods can't be used (i.e. SKSE)

 

[NullZ3r0]

Disney Plus got to 100 million in 16 months. Content is king folks. When the real content starts coming, GamePass is going to explode.

 

[cromofo]

Damn. E3 gonna make it explode even more. 35mil+ by the end of the year.

 

[Croatoan]

I can mod skyrim that's on Xbox game pass. Can you not mod the PC version of skyrim that's on game pass?

By default games acquired through the Windows Store, including those on Game Pass for PC, install to unchangeable read-only directories, making them impossible to mod. However, some games have a toggle to alter this, meaning the Game Pass versions of FTL, State of Decay 2, and a handful of others actually can be modded. And so can Skyrim Special Edition, one of 13 Bethesda games recently added to Game Pass, and a game that's improved significantly by mods.


However, it's not all good news. The Game Pass edition of Skyrim Special Edition has a different executable to the Steam release, and is incompatible with the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE). Without SKSE, many of the most popular and ambitious mods won't work. According to the SKSE webpage, it may stay that way. "SKSE cannot support any potential Windows Store release of Skyrim", it says. "Windows Store applications are locked down similarly to consoles and do not allow the APIs necessary for script extenders to work."

So the answers is you can, kinda sorta, but it is way more limited than the steam version.

 

[Chukhopops]

PC players will not sub for Starfield unless MS allows mods for gamepass games. If things stay they way they are now most will purchase bethesda games on steam so they can mod them. Modding is HUGE in the skyrim, fallout communities, and starfield will be the same.

I love PC gamepass, even if we do get screwed out of games like Outriders, but I will purchase games on steam if I want to mod them. Gamepass isn't really for the big games for me anyways, its to play smaller games that I don't feel like paying a premium for.

I think it doesn’t matter that much as MS will make money on the sales anyway, GP or not.

I use both PC and console GP and while it’s nice to have both the console version is just better right now. I doubt there is a high proportion of PC-only GP users, it’s more of a secondary benefit.

 

[Andodalf]

PC players will not sub for Starfield unless MS allows mods for gamepass games. If things stay they way they are now most will purchase bethesda games on steam so they can mod them. Modding is HUGE in the skyrim, fallout communities, and starfield will be the same.

I love PC gamepass, even if we do get screwed out of games like Outriders, but I will purchase games on steam if I want to mod them. Gamepass isn't really for the big games for me anyways, its to play smaller games that I don't feel like paying a premium for.

Bethesda games even have mods on console. PC will have them for sure

 

[Alright]

100% of the “Gamepass is terrible” GAFfers will immediately change their opinions the minute Sony announces their equivalent service.

Sony have PSnow

23m .. that's kind of low no?

Microsoft aren't in the business of selling hardware.

If the rumors of Gamepass on Switch come to fruition. Hold on to your butts.

How will that make a positive impact for me, an Xbox console gamer?

Disney Plus got to 100 million in 16 months. Content is king folks. When the real content starts coming, GamePass is going to explode.

When. I've heard that since 2010. And when the content starts coming to Gamepass, it will be good for about 6 months, then we're all boned.

 

[CrustyBritches]

Game Pass is set for major growth beyond the console space with xCloud coming to iOS.

 

[Croatoan]

Bethesda games even have mods on console. PC will have them for sure

Look at my response a couple posts above yours.

 

[FunkMiller]

Is this just Xbox GamePass, or PC GamePass as well? Because I’m one of those cunts now, and want to be counted in, godsdammit.

 

[mckmas8808]

Depends how much it’s pulling in. 23m x $8 (figure plucked from my arse because some people are paying less, some people are paying for basic game pass, and some Ultimate) that’s nearly $200m a month of revenue for MS. Even if it’s only $150m, it’s still highly profitable. Halo is F2P, they need a huge killer app for Game Pass this holiday season.

But imagine MS instead spending that $200 million on creating 2 new AAA IPs.

 

[mckmas8808]

Either way Sony isn't getting a version of GamePass even remotely close without spending obscene amounts of money to begin with to lay the groundwork. That means being willing to suffer heavy losses at the beginning. I'm skeptical. In fact, I think this type of reactionary approach would likely end up being a bad business decision.

It would be a HORRIBLE business decision for Sony. You're right. They don't have to do this, in order to create revenue and profit. But they will have small baby version of GamePass. All they need to do is combine PS+ and PSNow and charge $12.99 a month. $15 a month, but at this price point they'd need to increase the quality of games on each service.

 

[MonarchJT]

Sony have PSnow

Yeah and after all this year's is still not working and being basically ignored by anyone.

How will that make a positive impact for me, an Xbox console gamer?

If the service continues to have the success it is having and if more users sign up, many more third parties will launch on Day One and Microsoft will feel incentivized to invest more. Surely a deal between Nintendo and ms would benefit GP and indirectly xbox users

When. I've heard that since 2010. And when the content starts coming to Gamepass, it will be good for about 6 months, then we're all boned.

You know acquiring studios creating new ones acquiring an entire publisher are not things you do overnight. The development times of the games are dilated and the covid has not helped anyone Once the first games will arrive with all the studios that Ms owns today will no longer have problems on releases, and we know that she is also investing in exclusive third parties. At most we will find ourselves discussing the quality of the titles but to date Microsoft has the largest First party portfolio of the big 3.