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Microsoft has apparently eliminated the $1 Xbox Game Pass trial once again, just before the release of Starfield
- Thread starter Thick Thighs Save Lives
- Start date
- News Rumor
Nah, because they're not actually giving it day one and trying to convince people to pay half the price of the game for actual day one. I predicted they would do this when people were predicting sustainability and the future of xbox:
A game's sales drops about 80% after the first week so trying to sell that extra week for more money is how they do "day one" without actually doing day one. Convince the FOMO people to pay more.
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Portugeezer
Member
It's all nicey nice, until the time comes when they can actually make money from one of their games. Even the early access is a way to get GP subs to pay more.
Edgelord79
Gold Member
I don’t think you would be a very good gambler.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Expansions have always been separate from the game on Gamepass.
I think the last Expansion for an SP game that was on Gamepass was Hivebusters.....and I think its actually the only one.
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
It can get tricky when bringing up those other services because it could be easily argued that Disney+, for example, is losing subs because the quality of the content itself has degraded pretty heavily. Not every Netflix show is Wednesday or Stranger Things-tier, and Amazon put out the disaster that was Rings of Power not that long ago. Seems like Spotify might be the only subscription service that can sustain quality, curious if their numbers have dropped or remained relatively stable?
Perhaps some of those arguments can also be held towards Game Pass; there haven't been a lot of big Day 1 AAA drops in the service in a long while, and some of the games put into the service Day 1 have been of questionable quality. People won't stick around if the quality isn't there, so sometimes I feel like a Catch 22 situation is created where a company puts out sub-par product and sees sub numbers drop, leading them to think the model itself can't work when it probably could if the content were better.
That's also why IMO it's so important Starfield be a high-quality game. It can't just be "decent" or serviceable, especially in the context of who's publishing it.
I think MS will eventually phase out Day 1 Game Pass for certain tiers, but depending on the game type.
-1P AA Games (Hi Fi Rush, Pentiment, etc.): Day 1 on all but Game Pass Core tiers
-3P AA Games: Day 1 Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate. Maybe Day 1 Game Pass Core depending on the game.
-1P AAA Games (Starfield, Forza, Halo etc.): Day 1 Game Pass Ultimate (Xbox and PC) only. Some games may have 1-week Early Access tied to Premium Edition preorders
-3P AAA Games: None because I still doubt 3P will want to put their AAA games in a subscription service Day 1
Lucifers Beard
Member
Not really surprising since their biggest studio are releasing their first new IP in forever. This is the kind of game I want to be able to play regardless of a sub, picked it up on Steam. It’ll be worth it with mods.
I can’t believe I’m just discovering that Microsoft is obligated to make profits for its shareholders, under an economic system called capitalism.
How am I just hearing about this? Absolutely wild.
Sushi_Combo
Member
Such anti-consumer, much praise.
SenkiDala
Member
I agree but then just don't release it on GPU on day one and do it in 1 year. If you're not confident in your economic model why keep doing that ? I mean the GPU will maybe never be profitable.
That move seems weird to me, I don't care I have GPU but that would have been a good way to bring people to try the game and the service. 14 days anyway isn't enough to finish the game, so people who would have been hooked would pay to continue. Now if those people are really not sure if they'll like the game or the service, they'll probably not pay 15€ or whatever it costs in USA to try a game.
I feel MS is figuring out that for indie games, little publishers with who they signed an agreement yes GPU in sustainable but for AAA $$$ games like Starfield... GPU won't be enough so they're trying different things, 30€ upgrade to play 5 days earlier, now removing the trial period... all that looks like a confession of failure.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
There is no doubt that Gamepass is unique compared to those other streaming services. They are the only AAA gaming based service. Gamepass is a GREAT deal for people who are just buying a console. I suspect MS will bundle a year to 6 months of the Core in XSX and XSS for black friday bundles. Then maybe have an upgrade option.
I certainl;y hope and expect Starfield to be a high quality game. However, I do not want to Gamepass to succeed as I believe it is long term bad for the industry and I also believe that it will require godly amounts of subscribers to be successful.
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Tommi84
Member
When you think about it, why not? He is a first party developer, bought for almost 8 billion. Having one of the highest expecting game this year, why not ask for something in return?
Evil Calvin
Afraid of Boobs
Not surprising. I would do that as well.
Hilarious to see people prophesy MS dropping Day 1 games from the service meanwhile MS is out there plotting to put Call of Duty there, day one.
The service is a gateway to XCloud and games show up there day one, so any talk of the service being scaled down is just crazy talk.
The service is a gateway to XCloud and games show up there day one, so any talk of the service being scaled down is just crazy talk.
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Heimdall_Xtreme
Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Today:
Earlier this month:
Con que muy listillos ehhh.
.They thought they could play it with 1 dollar
reinking
Gold Member
Damn, those poor people that were using just 1 dollar trials. They will not get to try the game unless they pony up for a full sub.
Heimdall_Xtreme
Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Did you really think Todd's gonna let you play his magnum opus for $1 ?
A dollar is worth a lot today, they sacrificed a bottle of milk for breakfast or a few apples to play Starfield.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Please give this two trillion dollar company more money.
reinking
Gold Member
profit > subscription count. I guess MS is starting to see that. At least in this case.
BossLackey
Gold Member
Honestly, you really can't. This has been the best deal in games for several years. They've gotta start making money on it somehow.
If you choose to. That’s how our economic system works - for better or worse.
Good lord, the sheer entitlement of expecting this service for $1.
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
. You’re entitled to nothing other than air. Games are an optional (very expensive) hobby. As they should be.
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Jeez. Not this shit again. That’s not how this works. They don’t need to make back the $70bn off GP subs…you’re essentially converting $70bn in the bank to assets worth that much.
You really imagine people buying $500k houses expect to break even with rental fees in 10 years?
Not to mention that a big portion of that cash goes to buy the King component of ABK which is purely mobile…so makes no sense even with your creative accounting to put that on GamePass.
Hmm. You may be on to something. Have you tried shouting out Apple’s market cap in an Apple Store and seeing if that makes them give you a free MacBook Pro?
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
IIRC Sony are planning to do something similar with future PS5 bundles, where they include 6 months or so of PS+. There was a leak for it months back, maybe they are just waiting for the new models before testing it out, probably around the holidays.
Microsoft doing similar for Game Pass & Series S/X bundles would be a good move, though probably more in favor of Series X. I just think the Series S has a hard limit on its appeal to the market and it's about saturated that; tons of promotions, sales discounts, free game promotion bundles etc. and tons of stock, not enough to stop slagging console sales though.
And also agreed on Game Pass as a model that ultimately isn't sustainable for the industry. Day 1 AAA game releases in such a model doesn't work for 3P which is why MS didn't get virtually any, and had to buy a couple 3P publishers to get that type of content. It's why they are now doing 1-week early releases for people who preorder the games. They'll have spent tens of billions of dollars in M&As of content and publishers just to get Game Pass to a point where maybe it can start generating real profit for them.
Microsoft's the only company in the industry with enough cash and market valuation to sink that type of money into something just to maybe finally have it pay off. That simply isn't sustainable for the vast majority of the rest of the industry.
COD is not going to Game Pass Day 1. Unless you mean Day 1 "for the service" when it otherwise is available a month ahead of that from Premium Access, like a supercharged version of what they're doing for Starfield. In which case, yes, I'd agree.
Otherwise there's 0% chance Microsoft gives up Day 1 B2P sales revenue for a game like COD for subscription revenue, when the former is much easier to project for, and has more favorable projections, based on past data.
DaGwaphics
Member
People do play non MS games on there. LOL
If you don't play enough from the library you don't stay subscribed, obviously they have millions of subscribers that are finding value in the service. The service likely has thousands of dollars of content added to it each year, I'm sure someone has done the math on that.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
What?
Flutta
Banned
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Wanted a reason to say Lying Todd
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When the deal clears, Call of Duty games from 2024 will appear on the GamePass service day 1.
Lol @ 0% chance. They’ll get their revenue boost from PlayStation, PC and Switch 2 retail customers…and then a significant Gamepass subscriber boost.
There were probably people like you doubting when MS killed their retail revenue from Office suite in favor of 365.
Makes zero accounting sense for you to put the billions they’ve spent on first party growth solely on GamePass. Especially when multiple revenue sources like retail and mobile exists.
They’re hardly the first publisher to offer premium Tier based early access for games.
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
Msoft knows people subscribe for big games and then unsub periodically. I’ve done it like a half dozen times myself.
Of course any company with a subscription wants people to stay locked in all year and never unsub, but the fact of the matter is I don’t play nearly often enough to justify the price most months out of the year. Msoft may not like it but they are keenly aware that a lot of Game Pass users sub in and out based on what’s added into the library or taken out. There is no benefit to staying subbed indefinitely outside of personal taste. Most of my precious time playing console games on Xbox or Switch is on owned games.
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
New COD releases? No, they will not be Day 1 in Game Pass. But if you're right and they do, I would personally say anyone buying those games Day 1 on the other platforms fools. COD isn't really the type of game that's timeless, or adds much to a collection, or something most people will replay multiple times years later.
It's not like a GOW Ragnarok or TOTK in that respect. So I wouldn't get the idea of buying them annually vs. just subbing to Game Pass for even a month to play the campaign and drop it after the month.
Good for Microsoft, bad for customers. Productivity software going to a sub-based model sucked because at least in the past you could buy versions of those products for sale, and sometimes older versions provided better implementation of features than newer ones. But again, at least with productivity software, the subscriber makes their own income off its use, so they're getting something back for their money that's material and useful elsewhere.
Subscription-based entertainment was always a weird idea in concept; you get entertainment in return, yes, but the rate of that depends on the medium. Multi-game subscription services genuinely don't make a lot of sense because the average game will take multiple hours to play through and with largely undivided time (you can't really do chores or cook while playing an intense AAA game, for example).
The average person may not even play through more than 3 AAA games a year. On the surface a gaming sub service looks like it'd cover that, but they could've just as easily bought those games on sale and played them throughout the year at a cheaper price. Multi-game subscription services are useful for people who probably just dip their toes into a lot of different games but don't really finish most any of them.
I know that. EA does for their titles, but it's just the first 10 hours of the games. Other 3P do things similar to what MS are doing, yes, but I'm just bringing up the fact MS are doing it because they realize Day 1 (actual Day 1) AAA game releases into a multi-game subscription service, at least with their current data, doesn't work.
Not if you want to maximize revenue off those games.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Once my 3 year sub runs out in 2025, I will not be resubscribing unless they have like a $100 a year rate. Otherwise, I will stay with Core at $60 per year and just buy games like I did back in the pre-GP days.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
You can still buy a lifetime Office license that is not part of a subscription. I use Office 365 because I like the Onedrive cloud storage.
ByWatterson
Member
I think subscriptions (including Disney+) work well as low-priced back catalog options. I don't think they're sustainable if driven by new content.
TheGodfather07
Member
Did you really think Todd's gonna let you play his magnum opus for $1 ?
I'll be playing it for $0 thanks to Microsoft rewards. I have almost 50k points to redeem.
bender
What time is it?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Awesome. I use MS reward points all the time so I won't fault anyone for using that at all. You're redeeming points for cold hard gift cards, so in their system, they're still getting the full price.
I've bought like 8 games just this year alone using them.
come on, try harder than this
Unknown Soldier
Member
This is the same issue all the streaming services have been having BTW
People will literally sub for a month, watch the 1 show they want to see, and then cancel and move on to the next one. Streaming has become such an existential threat to the traditional Hollywood business model that there is now an ongoing strike where the studios and creators are fighting each other for what remains of a rapidly shrinking pie.
This is the model MS wants for gaming because they can subsidize infinite losses forever, but Sony would go bankrupt. This is what they meant by "spend Sony out of business".
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This is terrorism! Contact your representative!
Rockondevil
Member
It’s better value at full price than any streaming service, so pay up.