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GamePass isn't for everyone and that's something alot of people don't get

KAL2006

Banned
Watching IGN reaction to the event, or Alannah and etc. They all big up GamePass like the lack of decent exclusives don't matter.

But GanePass isn't for everyone. This is coming from someone who loves Netflix and Spotify. With those mediums I can plow through a ton of music and TV shows. My wife also uses these accounts. However with games it takes longer to play games which means you can't play a ton of games to make it worth your subscription fee. Also there are many games that are long or have online modes so your focusing on one game alot. Finally there are a ton of games that just never come out on GamePass.

I'll give you a example last year I bought Monster Hunter Iceborn which coated me around £35. I played that game exclusively for 2 to 3 months straight and nothing else other than a few sessions if Street Fighter V here and there. I also purchased God of War which was on sale for £10. I also picked up Mario Maker for the Switch which costed me £40. Also received Sonic Mania from Plus and TitanFall 2 which I played. With those 6 games that was enough games for me for a year.

If I paid for Gamepass without those £1 deals id spend around £130 for a year without choosing what games I want to play.

So this is why Gamepass don't interest me. I'd rather buy games I love day 1, and grab games I am half interested in on a impulse sale price, instead of paying for a sub and be limited to games their. The fact is I only play upto 6 games a year for me it's about quality over quantity and alot of the time the 6 games in that year are Sony exclusives. None of the games from Microsoft interest me other than Forza Horizon and Ori.

And I don't see Gamepass working with the masses. I have a ton of casual friends who only play FIFA and COD and grab the occasional other game like GTA, Red Dead and Spiderman that you wouldn't see in Gamepass. They don't play a ton of games a year. That model for many only works for Netflix and Spotify as those mediums you can go through more content quicker.
 
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turtlepowa

Banned
What lack of decent exclusives? Sony and Microsoft both showed some interesting games, i don't see any advantage for one of the two. Btw GTA V and RDR 2 are/were on Game Pass. You get a full year of Microsoft exclusives for the price of 2 Sony exclusives and you also get hundreds of other games + online gaming + xCloud + Pc games. Game Pass Ultimate is a no brainer.
 
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M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
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Jigsaah

Gold Member
Gamepass is already a great value and will only continue to grow. I don't agree with the argument that Xbox needs to have great exclusives in order for Gamepass to be worth it because they also have A LOT of other games to discover that I would have never thought to buy on my own. Mind yo, this is for Xbox and PC games.

I've saved so much money this year just from Gamepass. I easily buy 20 games a year at least, both exclusive and 3rd party. Not to mention all the indie games I pick up on impulse.

Certainly great exclusives day and date help the value even more, but Gamepass is worth it even if they never put another exclusive on there.
 
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Pallas

Member
It’s actually a very good value if you enjoy a lot of indies and first party games. You end up playing games you normally wouldn’t play because you didn’t want to buy it, or didn’t think it would be any good. Gamepass pretty much gives you the chance to try those games out without shelling out $$$ to own the game. In turn, you end up discovering games that you might end up enjoying. If I recall, you can get them discounted too if you end up buying them.
 
It’s actually a very good value if you enjoy a lot of indies and first party games. You end up playing games you normally wouldn’t play because you didn’t want to buy it, or didn’t think it would be any good. Gamepass pretty much gives you the chance to try those games out without shelling out $$$ to own the game. In turn, you end up discovering games that you might end up enjoying. If I recall, you can get them discounted too if you end up buying them.
I am sure there are people who enjoy gamepass. The question is, are there enough such people for Xbox to live off of them?
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
It’s actually a very good value if you enjoy a lot of indies and first party games. You end up playing games you normally wouldn’t play because you didn’t want to buy it, or didn’t think it would be any good. Gamepass pretty much gives you the chance to try those games out without shelling out $$$ to own the game. In turn, you end up discovering games that you might end up enjoying. If I recall, you can get them discounted too if you end up buying them.

It is good value now (still in the selling the service to consumers phase, not reaping the returns yet) and it has not affected AAA games development yet, but I am unconvinced this would not be the $1/99c moment for console games if it took hold. Not convinced that it all Xbox users were on GamePass and accustomed to get most AAA games for free that they would still end up buying them, especially at full price (which would further move more and more games into GaaS/live services territory to extract revenue over long periods of time).

We have seen the real effects of such a shift before, we have seen the real effects of the loss of games’ perceived value and thus acceptable price in the mobile market. The people it helped the most in the end were not gamers (now enjoying being tracked and sold micro transactions to up the wazoo) nor publishers, but Google and Apple.
 
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Rac3r

Member
I agree. Video games aren't a passive interest and require dedicated amounts of time. You can't multitask during a video game like you can when you watch movies/tv shows or listen to music. Most people know exactly what games they want to spend their time on.

Gamepass seems like a good deal if you already own an Xbox, but I don't see how it's a selling point if you're a casual gamer. I know a bunch of people who only play Cod/Fifa/Madden/2k/etc, and Gamepass wouldn't be a good deal for them. Conversely, people who play more games likely wouldn't be able to get them all on Gamepass. Why would anyone want to subscribe to Gamepass when they're already buying games that the service doesn't offer.

I think Xbox is screwed. Their strategy would've made a ton of sense if they put in the legwork 10 years ago to acquire top tier studios/talent which they could've used to market the service. Instead, unless you only play games way after their release date, there's no reason to pick up an Xbox just for Gamepass (which still doesn't make sense because most third party games are highly discounted by the time they hit gamepass).
 
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RoadHazard

Gold Member
These games were not on Gamepass day 1 and 1 was on there for a limited time.

How does that work (haven't used GP)? Is it like PS+ where if you get it while it's there you keep it, or can you only play it during the limited time it's up?
 
I signed up for a month yesterday because I was going to buy Carrion, but saw it was on GP. May as well pay the same price and get access to a bunch more games. Unfortunately, only 3 other games on the service interest me at the moment but hey, I saved some money I guess.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Its a secondary service if i can afford it.

You end up not owning anything, id rather save up for the games I love.

Great for people who can afford it and play random games they Wouldnt buy
Thing is MS lost money with me, since they keep giving me games I would have bought.

I didn’t sign up for Gamepass as soon as it came out because I owned almost everything they offered, but as time goes on they keep offering more and more that I would have bought and don’t have to now.
 
Gamepass isn't for everyone, just like Netflix isn't for everyone, just like Spotify isn't for everyone.

... but, it's good to have choices.
But for those who DO want Gamepass, is there enough of them to keep the lights on at Xbox Division? No one is claiming that it is a dead service, but if Xbox is expecting Gamepass to be the linchpin of the entire division then they are going to have to get a LOT of people subscribed. As in, PAYING.
 

Roufianos

Member
It's of no interest to me either. I'm not big on indies and not interested in most MS 1st party games. I usually play big games like RDR2 on release, I'm not gonna hold off playing them a year in case they make it to GamePass.

Also, time is a greater currency than money, I'm not gonna play all of these B games like The Surge 2 regardless of them being free.
 
It's of no interest to me either. I'm not big on indies and not interested in most MS 1st party games. I usually play big games like RDR2 on release, I'm not gonna hold off playing them a year in case they make it to GamePass.

Also, time is a greater currency than money, I'm not gonna play all of these B games like The Surge 2 regardless of them being free.
Yeah, I have multiple games I bought on Steam that i haven't even played it. If i was still a teenager then sure, i have freetime to go nuts playing everything. But now that I have money to buy games, I also have less time playing them. So quality over quantity is what I expect now.
 

KAL2006

Banned
Also the argument that you would try out games you wouldn't have bought if it weren't for GanePass in in the same boat. But for me I try out games when they are heavily discounted, there are massive sales on PSN I have bought a ton of indie games and AAA games for £10 and under as a impulse purchase. In the age of Let's Plays, forums, Twitch, Metacritic majority of the time I know exactly what I want to play and don't even have time to play all the games I know I want let alone games I didn't know I want. Again it depends on the gamer and how many games they play. For me personally it's quality over quantity, I'd rather buy games I know I want day 1 like Monster Hunter and spend a ton of hours on it, and then get games I'm half interested in on sale. Also with physical I can even resell the games I'm done with.

So GamePass won't make me save any money in comparison to my spending habits now. And I know a ton of people are similar to me who don't play more than 6 games a year.

However I know a ton of people who can plow through a ton of Netflix shows, docus, and movies but I just have a huge doubt this would translate into games due to the difference of the medium. Monster Hunter just 1 game took me months to finish. Where as I finished Money Heist TV series in Netflix within a week. The difference in the media is too different.
 
I get that it sounds like its not for you but some people burn through games quicker than you.

I myself have probably finished upward of 20 games this year. So someone like myself would benefit from the gamepass catalogue of games.

I say all this as a ps4 owner. I'm going ps5 again for the exclusive single players but gamepass certainly has me considering the XSX as well.
 

KAL2006

Banned
I get that it sounds like its not for you but some people burn through games quicker than you.

I myself have probably finished upward of 20 games this year. So someone like myself would benefit from the gamepass catalogue of games.

I say all this as a ps4 owner. I'm going ps5 again for the exclusive single players but gamepass certainly has me considering the XSX as well.

Yes I understand this. But my argument is there are more people who are like me than you. This is why I think Gamepass isn't a selling point for the masses.
 

Freeman

Banned
What lack of decent exclusives? Sony and Microsoft both showed some interesting games, i don't see any advantage for one of the two. Btw GTA V and RDR 2 are/were on Game Pass. You get a full year of Microsoft exclusives for the price of 2 Sony exclusives and you also get hundreds of other games + online gaming + xCloud + Pc games. Game Pass Ultimate is a no brainer.
If you don't see it you don't see it, that's why you are probably the target audience for gamepass.

I see a huge diference in the games that MS has published and those that Sony has published. I would trade every single Xbox published game in the last 20 years for God of War or TLoU (sorry Alan Wake).
 
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mcjmetroid

Member
I think it depends on how serious you are about owning games and how fast you complete a game and whether you want to return to it or not.

These days I play a single player game once and it's one and done and move on so it's perfect for me.
 

farmerboy

Member
I have reservations about it from a philosophical standpoint and it doesn't interest me at all.

Its designed from a consumerist viewpoint. As such, software will be designed to be consumed instead of enjoyed. What devotion will a game get, when you can just move to the next so easily? MS has already declared their GaaS motivations.

We'll end up with shoddy product designed to fill a content list so consumers can justify a subscription. Everything will be geared towards pay, play, microtransactions, etc. Because it simply won't make sense to spend 100 million on a 1 time playthrough game, that will have to share $15 month with 100 other games.

There'll be no innovation and games as an artform will almost disappear, if not entirely.

Sorry, not for me.
 

Freeman

Banned
I would much rather had received $15 each month the past 3 year than 3 years of gamepass subscription, to me that's all I have to think about.

Once you realize you don't have to buy everything day one it costs a lot less to play everything you want.

If you are really broke there is something better than gamepass, it's called selling your physical games. Buy used and sell it after you play(on ebay or something like that, not to gamestop), it's almost free, you only pay for how much the game devalued while you had it with you (some old games don't even devalue anymore and a few go up in value).
 
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Kev Kev

Member
I think it depends on how serious you are about owning games and how fast you complete a game and whether you want to return to it or not.

These days I play a single player game once and it's one and done and move on so it's perfect for me.
and i think microsoft realized that, either with the conception of game pass or during the process.

used game stores give people dog shit for trade in, and you can forget about getting cash instead which they give you even less than trade in (it's basically be robbery lol... but i've done it before so 🤷‍♂️). and people, like myself, got really tired of that shit. so when game pass came around we said fuck used game stores and never went back.

at least that's what happened for me, and i'm sure many others. i'm now pretty much over owning any games bc i know game pass and waiting for digital sales is actually going to save me more money in the long run. and i save the tine and frustration of going back to trade everything in ever 6 months only to find out there going to give me $60 trade in for like a dozen games lmao

fuck you used game stores.
 
I have been able to play more games I NEVER would have been able to without game pass. It has actually save me more money in the long term considering the amount of different games I have tried out and games I found out that I didn't like so much that I was considering buying before. So I really disagree with you on this one. Once MS beefed up the quality of the Library it has been a game changer for me literally lol
 

Goalus

Member
I am sure there are people who enjoy gamepass. The question is, are there enough such people for Xbox to live off of them?
They announced over 10 million subscribers in April, and a few days ago Satya reported "record growth" in the past quarter.

What do you think, if mobile phones are added in September as a means to subscribe to Game Pass and consume its content, will the subscriber numbers shrink or grow?

If Instagram integration via web browser is eventually added as a means to subscribe to Game Pass and consume its content, will the subscriber numbers shrink or grow?
 
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FunkMiller

Member
I have to confess I have zero interest in GamePass. I don't buy or play tons of games. I'll buy a game, play it to completion, and then move on to another. I doubt I get through more than ten to twelve games a year. I see no point in having access to hundreds of them, when I just won't get around to playing them. I may spend more on individual games than I would on a subscription service, but I can then sell them on second hand. And I certainly wouldn't drop hundreds of dollars on a new games console just to have access to a subscription service.

It's totally the wrong business model if you care about new video game consumers.
 
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Why would they put you in that number if you have never played an Xbox game?
Because technically I played Minecraft.
Also, i am used to MS using technicalities to fluff numbers. i was one of the people who personally got burned when Microsoft advertised "Windows Vista Capable" stickers. Microsoft got literally sued for that. Make no mistake, I am no fan of Apple, but Microsoft is no friend of mine.
 

Pantz

Gold Member
If you would buy 2 games per year that are on Game Pass, you already might as well have bought a year of Game Pass and get those 2 games plus all the others. Or Ultimate if you wanted Live too.
 

turtlepowa

Banned
If you don't see it you don't see it, that's why you are probably the target audience for gamepass.

I see a huge diference in the games that MS has published and those that Sony has published. I would trade every single Xbox published game in the last 20 years for God of War or TLoU (sorry Alan Wake).
It's a matter of taste. I am completely fed up with story driven cinematic 3rd person action adventures. I prefer gameplay focused games and could name hundreds of games that i would choose over games like TLOU or GOW, even smaller Indies. Astro Bots is Sonys best game by far.
 

Goalus

Member
I may spend more on individual games than I would on a subscription service, but I can then sell them on second hand.
You can only sell them as long as you can buy them on a disc. This option will only exist for another three or four years.
It's totally the wrong business model if you care about new video game consumers.
I wonder how you came to that conclusion. It's quite the opposite.
 
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Freeman

Banned
It's a matter of taste. I am completely fed up with story driven cinematic 3rd person action adventures. I prefer gameplay focused games and could name hundreds of games that i would choose over games like TLOU or GOW, even smaller Indies. Astro Bots is Sonys best game by far.
Both games I mentioned have great gameplay. Indies I get free from Epic Store and I'm sick of most indie games at this point, gimme them AAAAs.

You can only sell them as long as you can buy them on a disc. This option will only exist for another three or four years.

I wonder how you came to that conclusion. It's quite the opposite.
So the PS5 will be dead in 3 or 4 years?
 
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FunkMiller

Member
You can only sell them as long as you can them on a disc. This option will exist only for another three or four years.

I wonder how you came to that conclusion. It's quite the opposite.

...well, you might possibly be right on the three or four years, but three or four years is a looooooong time in the games industry.

GamePass is a GREAT business model for existing customers, but not for customers who currently - and overwhelmingly - chose to buy a rival product.
 

KAL2006

Banned
I have reservations about it from a philosophical standpoint and it doesn't interest me at all.

Its designed from a consumerist viewpoint. As such, software will be designed to be consumed instead of enjoyed. What devotion will a game get, when you can just move to the next so easily? MS has already declared their GaaS motivations.

We'll end up with shoddy product designed to fill a content list so consumers can justify a subscription. Everything will be geared towards pay, play, microtransactions, etc. Because it simply won't make sense to spend 100 million on a 1 time playthrough game, that will have to share $15 month with 100 other games.

There'll be no innovation and games as an artform will almost disappear, if not entirely.

Sorry, not for me.

We have already seen this with Halo Infinite. Apparently it's a platform and will last 10 years. So if Halo Infinite is part of the GaaS and we get stuff like Ray Tracing as post support. Then quite frankly I'm not interested. I'd rather have a quality product like Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima then look forward to the next game. I gave a hard time believing GanePass can fit that model of having multiple high quality AAA games on the service.
 

Great Hair

Banned
preface (imho)

PS4 1.3billions software sold (3x more money generated for 3rd parties)
XB1 0.4billions software sold (+gamepass at $1.8bill ($15/mo *10mill. subs)

Gamepass is for those

a) who wanna play everything
b) can not afford or are not willing to pay full price for The Medium, Scorn
c) don´t care about retailers, relying on selling physical copies (in the EU there are too many)

IF Gamepass was this lucrative, why are the EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Take2, Rocksteady, Bungie and all the other games not available day 1? Hmm...maybe it´s not in their best interest? They don´t wanna give up their games for $1?

You will never see EA giving up their game catalogue, nor Activisions, or Ubisoft and these cover the market (pretty much). All you gonna get are MS games and outdated 360games to inflate numbers + no name studios The Medium or Scorn like.

To convince EA and Co. they need at least 30? million subs, paying $15 each. And then, this whole "services" would fall flat anyways ... as more publishers come, more need to get paid. As more people sub, more bandwidth is generated, the higher the cost for Microsoft. Getting new games will rise the costs ...

Netflix gaming is not sustainable, streaming a movie over at Netflix versus streaming/downloading a 50 to 200GB game is an entirely different magnitude (of costs, infrastructure, problems, rent-ability etc).

Also to make this very lucrative, the games need to be designed for gamepass. Heavy focus on GAAS and microtransactions.
no thank you

Why EA has the Origin Premier then?

Because the cheaper option (EA Access) wasn´t doing so well after all, after 2 years on the market trying to "beat steam". Add a more expensive tier and hope for most to upgrade, newcomers to pick the higher end tier option.

$5 for PS+ or $0 if ya F2P
$5 for EA Access Basic
$15 for EA Access Premier (+microtransaction&gaas)
$15 for Gamepass Ultimate (+microtransaction&gaas)
$10 for Uplay

$40 for services + $100 for the iNet + $30+ VODs = $150+ per month
 
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KAL2006

Banned
It's a matter of taste. I am completely fed up with story driven cinematic 3rd person action adventures. I prefer gameplay focused games and could name hundreds of games that i would choose over games like TLOU or GOW, even smaller Indies. Astro Bots is Sonys best game by far.

It's a matter of taste yes but this thread is about the masses. And factually Sony first party are critically acclaimed by the masses, not only reviewed well, nominated for game of the year and but sell a fuckton. The last Spiderman has outsold the last Halo.

And to disregard Sony games as having shit gameplay just because of production values, cinematics and great great graphics and focusing on story. God of War is a great action game with nice RPG elements, using the axe is so satisfying it's a joy to play. Spiderman people love swinging about with the character the mechanics are so good. I have not played Last of Us 2 or Ghost of Tsushima yet but I'm sure people love the gameplay in those games. These games are all varied. And the developers have just paid the groundwork all those studios have expanded since imagine there next game.
 
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