I am really passionate about this topic. I'm just going to discuss how I personally feel about it.
I am a MLB the Show fanboy. It started with MLB 2006 the Show. I have always bought a PlayStation day 1 since MLB 2006. Up until this point, I had no desire in the Xbox. I have a nice PC, and didn't see the value in the latest Xbox.
This changes that. MLB The Show 21 is not coming to PC. If this happens again next year, I will add the latest Xbox to my collection. Xbox will just become a subscription service machine. I will be buying less games in the hopes that they eventually come to Game Pass... I will never buy a Bethesda game day one again. I will wait for the eventual GamePass release.
I personally will spend less money on gaming. My gaming habits will change. Based on my own reaction, I do not understand how this is good for the industry.
I think that last point is a very good point, but at the same time we have to realize that the games going to gamepass wouldnt have been big sellers. Outriders was never going to do Destiny numbers. No one had even heard of this game until the Digital Foundry faceoffs were posted. At best, it wouldve sold 1 million each on both consoles lifetime. maybe more if the world of mouth had been good. MLB sells a million every year. That's $60 million. Not really that much money for someone like Microsoft.
We are seeing Netflix, Amazon, HBO and Disney get into massive bidding wars on mediocre stuff like Knives Out sequels. I mean I like the movie but someone spent $450 million on two sequels for it. Why? I was reading an article about how these big streaming services HAVE to spend so much money because they HAVE to keep their subscribers from cancelling their subs. So in a way, its good for consumers and developers because companies will end up in a bidding war just to get content on their platforms. Its really no different from producing expensive exclusives like TLOU2 to sell playstations. The only difference is that now you have to dramatically increase your content production because instead of offering a few exclusives over a 7 year console cycle you now have to do it on a monthly basis.
If MS paid $60 million for MLB The Show which they probably didnt, but lets assume they did, they can literally write it off as part of their content production budget. Gamepass has 18 million monthly subscribers. Thats a $180 million being made every month. They can easily afford MLB The Show.
Netflix plans to spend $19 BILLION on new content in 2021. Thats almost $2 billion a month. They also have 200 million subscribers so their budget is around $2 billion. Guess what they are spending all of it on new content because THEY HAVE TO. If they dont disney, hbo and amazon will steal their subs.