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[FullMetalx117]

People are wrong thinking prices only go up. There are industries that are deflationary. As there is just much supply, so much as already been made, plethora of creators, product essentially becomes commoditized. Eventually companies lose pricing power, which causes item to deflate in value. Microsoft is watching this - their pricing power. Tech industry exists to cause deflation, to make our lives easier and cheaper.

Contrary to Netflix argument, for legacy media streaming is deflationary for their earnings! YouTube caused traditional media to become deflationary as anyone can make content/be an actor.

Games are due for such a thing, more creators and tools are available than ever before and plenty of people are happy playing games 10 years ago

If oil actually kept up with inflation, we wouldn’t be using it any longer.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I wish I still needed haircuts.

LOL. I know tons of people who during covid bought those $30 hair cut kits and now do it at home! My bro laughs that he didn't do it before.

As for me, I cant. Impossible to give yourself a good haircut. I tried it during covid as every place was closed. I thought I did a good job on the front and sides. My nephew and nieces laughed their heads up how bad the back was. lol

 

[ArtHands]

Spoiler: Every company’s subscription/online paywall will see price increases.

People haven't learn from Sony recent increase to PS+?

 

[Dice]

"We’ve talked about how we’re experimenting with other models, like what does it mean for advertising in games which is more prevalent in mobile—are there models of that that work well in PC and console?"

No, Sarah. Most people play on PC and console specifically to avoid ad-infused entertainment.

I'm so tired of these psychopath execs pulling possibilities of new norms from the worst examples you can find in existence. Like how fucking inhuman do you have to be to not acknowledge just what a poison and how despised the amount of ads on mobile is? It's only like that because the oligarchy has had the entire cellular network by the balls since its inception and consumers have always hated it and many do everything they can to get around it.

Anyone pulling this bullshit will lose me. I am not going to pay money to watch ads. That is the dumbest thing you can do and it is incomprehensible to me that our parents did it with cable TV.

 

[kiphalfton]

Honestly, I'm betting that MS will soon introduce ads, and then people to upgrade to a more expensive plan to do without them.

That's what Amazon, Netflix, Disney, et al. have all done!

I'm afraid to say it, because "knock on wood"... but imagine ads popping up in games, during loading screens, or similar to achievements.

Ads are a fucking cancer, and it has seemed to get worse across different forms of entertainment / media over time.

Scary future.

 

[HawarMiran]

Lies of P DLC just dropped!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Eventually it will cost $4,000 a year and people will still claim it’s the greatest deal in gaming.

 

[T-0800]

At 56 I have a decent widows peak going on so weekly I just have it buzzed on the lowest setting

I'm 51 and I envy you.

 

[Robbinhood]

Between Rewards and Gold/Core conversion, getting GPU is extremely lite on the ol' wallet. And with the amount of games, and day 1 (both first and third party) content, it's almost essential in the xbox ecosystem IMO.

Not everyone lives in the US or want to “earn” their subscription service.

 

[Griffon]

Can't wait for some people to pretend 250$ a year is a great deal for renting a limited selection of games they don't even get to chose.

Whereas I just buy the games I want on Steam and I don't spend nearly that much per year.

 

[lmimmfn]

Not a surprise, $9.99 for Xbox Game Pass Core and $14.99 for Ultimate is already an insanely stupid value that should be deemed illegal. Raise it to $19.99 or $24.99, with more acquisitions coming and more games, it only makes sense for the price to go up.

The current price is only to get you hooked in, same as all those other As A Service(monthly subscription nonsense). Once they get their criminal mass, regular price increases.

It's wwhyi stopped subscribing a year ago, I don't like where all this is heading.

 

[adamsapple]

Not everyone lives in the US or want to “earn” their subscription service.

Good, don't do that if you don't want to, simple enough.

 

[Elder Legend]

The current price is only to get you hooked in, same as all those other As A Service(monthly subscription nonsense). Once they get their criminal mass, regular price increases.

It's wwhyi stopped subscribing a year ago, I don't like where all this is heading.

Welcome to business tactics 101. The inflation doesn't help either. Regardless it will still be a worthy service at $19.99 or even $24.99 thanks to all the 1st party titles and upcoming from the new acquisitions. Anything above that then I would start getting worried.

 

[pasterpl]

Not surprised. In September they offered £300+ in value in day 1 games, October looks equally good. And now with ABK acquisition it looks as there will be lots of games added to the backlog + even more day 1 releases. I am expecting that there will be some special deal in place with Ubisoft announced soon.
in 2021 gamepass games value was over $6000 in 2022 it increased to $7000 and 2023 seems to provide even higher number of great games and better value.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Not surprised. In September they offered £300+ in value in day 1 games, October looks equally good. And now with ABK acquisition it looks as there will be lots of games added to the backlog + even more day 1 releases. I am expecting that there will be some special deal in place with Ubisoft announced soon.
in 2021 gamepass games value was over $6000 in 2022 it increased to $7000 and 2023 seems to provide even higher number of great games and better value.

You should put that on one of those fancy graphics that supposedly fans make and share on social media.

 

[pasterpl]

I’ve not even accepted the regular price, I still use the cheap XBLGold and EAPlay conversion. $25/month is 1/3 of a game each month. The service would have to become insanely upgraded for me to accept any of that.

We will had 6-7 day day 1 releasess including starfield, payday3, cocoon and few other. October looks very strong with FM leading the way. I still haven’t play Elden ring that i have pre-order due to gamepass.

 

[pasterpl]

You should put that on one of those fancy graphics that supposedly fans make and share on social media.

Don’t like to make infographics of memes. Ain’t got time for that with gamepass goodness.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Don’t like to make infographics of memes. Ain’t got time for that with gamepass goodness.

Sure have time for the PR marths.

 

[Pimpbaa]

If they increase it again, I’ll probably just drop down to standard Xbox Gamepass. Already paying like $20 something canadian for Ultimate.

 

[pasterpl]

Sure have time for the PR marths.

I am just stating facts my friend. £500-£600 value I games in Sept + October This year. Not sure what in this triggers you except maybe you just being salty. Cheer up Spider-Man 2 is coming soon. You Will at least have 1 one Sony game to play this year.

 

[Topher]

Not surprised. In September they offered £300+ in value in day 1 games

Uh....ok, but that in itself doesn't really say anything. Gollum is a shit game but if it were on Game Pass that's $60 of "value".

 

[DeepEnigma]

I am just stating facts my friend. £500-£600 value I games in Sept + October This year. Not sure what in this triggers you except maybe you just being salty. Cheer up Spider-Man 2 is coming soon. You Will at least have 1 one Sony game to play this year.

 

[pasterpl]

Uh....ok, but that in itself doesn't really say anything. Gollum is a shit game but if it were on Game Pass that's $60 of "value".

yeah, and if someone had a gamepass could save money after testing Gollum on the service and spend money saved on other game. I am not saying that all GP games are AAA 10/10 bangers, but that GP offers tremendous value. The future price increase to e.g £19.99 will not change that especially with most games releasing now at £60.

September List

1. Starfield (September 6th)
2. Lies of P (September 19th)
3. Party Animals (September 20th)
4. Payday 3 (September 21st)
5. Cocoon (September 29th)

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox-gamepass-september-2023-games.1659750/

October list:

1. Lamplighters League (October 3rd)
2. Warhammer 40K: Darktide (October 4th)
3. Forza Motorsport (October 10th)
4. Cities: Skylines 2 (October 24th)
5. Mineko's Night Market (October 26th)
6. Headbangers Rhythm Royale (October 31st)
7. Jusant (October 31st)

News - Seven (7) games already confirmed heading to Gamepass in October

Another great month ahead of us; Lamplighters League (October 3rd) Warhammer 40K: Darktide (October 4th) Forza Motorsport (October 10th) Cities: Skylines 2 (October 24th) Mineko's Night Market (October 26th) Headbangers Rhythm Royale (October 31st) Jusant (October 31st) The Lamplighters...

www.neogaf.com

 

[Topher]

yeah, and if someone had a gamepass could save money after testing Gollum on the service and spend money saved on other game. I am not saying that all GP games are AAA 10/10 bangers, but that GP offers tremendous value. The future price increase to e.g £19.99 will not change that especially with most games releasing now at £60.

September List

1. Starfield (September 6th)
2. Lies of P (September 19th)
3. Party Animals (September 20th)
4. Payday 3 (September 21st)
5. Cocoon (September 29th)

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox-gamepass-september-2023-games.1659750/

October list:

1. Lamplighters League (October 3rd)
2. Warhammer 40K: Darktide (October 4th)
3. Forza Motorsport (October 10th)
4. Cities: Skylines 2 (October 24th)
5. Mineko's Night Market (October 26th)
6. Headbangers Rhythm Royale (October 31st)
7. Jusant (October 31st)

News - Seven (7) games already confirmed heading to Gamepass in October

Another great month ahead of us; Lamplighters League (October 3rd) Warhammer 40K: Darktide (October 4th) Forza Motorsport (October 10th) Cities: Skylines 2 (October 24th) Mineko's Night Market (October 26th) Headbangers Rhythm Royale (October 31st) Jusant (October 31st) The Lamplighters...

www.neogaf.com

Certainly is better to show a list of games than some ambiguous dollar figure. As for the "value", your mileage will vary from person to person.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

IMO
It's coming around the time they put cod on GP and it will be larger than the last increase.

 

[Fredrik]

We will had 6-7 day day 1 releasess including starfield, payday3, cocoon and few other. October looks very strong with FM leading the way. I still haven’t play Elden ring that i have pre-order due to gamepass.

I play Starfield on Steam.

But up until this point, what have you played this year?

I’ve played a couple hours of F.I.S.T, Loop Hero, Benedict Fox, Hi-Fi Rush.

Not exactly worth 8 months of full regular price imo but the current cheap deal $5/month I can accept.

 

[Heisenberg007]

The question that triggered the possible price increase was

――I think Xbox Game Pass is a very good subscription service overall, but as one of the users, I'm afraid of price increases. Is future price increases unavoidable or not? What are your thoughts on fees?

Phil Spencer: Thank you for saying that. First, we always want to give you choices about how to build your library. You can subscribe to Game Pass to play or purchase games. With millions of users currently subscribing to Xbox Game Pass and many of them using it with satisfaction, I think that although it is a major premise to provide more value than that, it is inevitable that the price will increase in the future. Recently, we raised the price once, but it was a decision after careful consideration. Even if the price is raised, we believe that it is important to provide services that are recognized as having sufficient value.

So yes likely sometime in the future the price will increase and people want to run with it like its happening tomorrow (which hell it might)

Just tired of some narratives

If a price change isn't imminent, Phil Spencer should have replied along the lines of:

"We recently increased the price, and unless something drastic happens, we don't plan to increase it again in the near future. But as inflation continues to rise, there may be changes to GP prices in the future -- obviously, as nothing is impervious to inflation -- but I'd not worry about that anytime soon. What's important is that, in the end, we'll always ensure that Game Pass value continues to exceed whatever price we're charging for it."

With the timing of ABK, and Microsoft's previous statements, his reply opens himself to valid criticism.

 

[Fishels]

$19.99 a month soon, then $24.99, then...

If the budget's of these games hold up 24.99 is really conservativ lol. I’m expecting 35-40 a month in two years If MS is actually putting out high quality assets

 

[Panajev2001a]

I still can see subscriptions inside of subscriptions like Amazon does

Main sub gets you Xbox game studios and for an additional fee you can get.
- Activision channel
- Bethesda channel

All these companies ruin good things eventually.

It is called enshittification .

[…] first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves.

Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

 

[Panajev2001a]

I wonder if they'll add tiers to GP, with Activision joining Microsoft (most likely) soonish.
Especially with how popular COD is, I wouldn't mind if that game were to be locked behind the "premium" GP tier for like 20€ and the rest or huge majority be in the current GP with a little bump up to 13€.
I'm already paying 10€ a month and 13€ would totally be okay for the amount of games one gets to indulge in.

It is shocking when an American company is recreating or trying to recreate the CableTV model and people are surprised it would recreate the same kind of shitty pricing and enshittification it got.

In your model the promise of first day on Game Pass is gone for some users, but then again this is partially why some people We’re saying this model was unsustainable… price increases and tiers to make it so may fix part of that while making a gatekeeper more powerful who is in charge of what programming you get to watch and what they want to incentivise (and games just meant to be enjoyed with no microtransaction by yourself without endless campaigns or season updates is not that).

 

[DenchDeckard]

I play Starfield on Steam.

But up until this point, what have you played this year?

I’ve played a couple hours of F.I.S.T, Loop Hero, Benedict Fox, Hi-Fi Rush.

Not exactly worth 8 months of full regular price imo but the current cheap deal $5/month I can accept.

I'd say drop game pass tbh.

It's been crazy value for me, but this year has been nuts for my tastes on game pass.
Hi fi rush, atomic heart, wo long, age of empires 2, starfield, lies of p, party animals.

Forza next month.

Good year.

 

[Duchess]

How does a video game subscription service work with ads? You accept a quest in Starfield and the game pauses mid-step and an ad plays, like you’re watching a TV show? That’s never going to happen.

You're playing a multi player racer, shooter, etc. Once you finish a match, you see a full screen, unskippable advert. This happens in the mobile space. Once the ad has finished playing, you are free to return to the game and play another match.

If you're playing a single player game, the same thing will happen, except it will occur after after a set period of time (say 20 minutes) and when you either lose a life, end a level, etc. Maybe even midway through a game when a cutscene kicks in.

[Tracking shot of pizza outlet, interior shot of workers preparing the food, putting it in the oven, boxing it, for delivery, etc]

"We'll return to your game in a moment! For now, why not consider ordering a pizza from Papa Johns? We've got loads of amazing toppings to suit every taste, from meat lovers or vegans. Don't want cheese? Just say so. Want extra pepperoni? We've got you covered. And right now you can get 10% off by entering the code FUCKUMS during checkout! Press X to begin your order journey, and you could be enjoying a piping hot, delicious pizza in under 30 minutes. Fuel for your gaming evening!"

 

[StueyDuck]

Yeah... we knew this didn't we.

You don't spend 70bil on cod exclusivity to give it away for nothing.

This was always the plan, own almost all the IP, force the competition to leave, then push up prices when there's no other choices

 

[Duchess]

but imagine ads popping up in games, during loading screens, or similar to achievements.

Don't forget about banner ads and thumbnail videos playing while you're queued up on XCloud.

 

[Majukun]

well, everything rises in price, sooner or later

hell we have seen console prices rise over time fot the first tftime ever in history

 

[Fredrik]

I'd say drop game pass tbh.

It's been crazy value for me, but this year has been nuts for my tastes on game pass.
Hi fi rush, atomic heart, wo long, age of empires 2, starfield, lies of p, party animals.

Forza next month.

Good year.

Yeah I consider cancelling once the sub runs out unless they start adding more big games. I play too few games and I lean toward Steam on PC too whenever I want to play the PC version.

Cancelled PS+ recently, the delays didn’t work for me, I had already bought the big games when they were added to the service.

Subscription services are great in certain scenarios but bad in others. Can always jump in for shorter periods if I feel like I need to.

Thanks for reminding me about Atomic Heart and Wo Long though! Don’t know why I haven’t played those, planned to do it.

 

[Banjo64]

Where does it stop really?

If they keep adding ‘value’ by stockpiling publishers they could easily try and argue that ‘paying £70 a month is fair considering that’s just the price of one new game per month’. That’s probably their wet dream and end goal.

 

[Valkyria]

???

How does a video game subscription service work with ads? You accept a quest in Starfield and the game pauses mid-step and an ad plays, like you’re watching a TV show? That’s never going to happen.

Before launching the game you see and add.
To launch games you have to enter a menu for those. An Add plays.
Think of YouTube.
Corporations are very imaginative with these things, they will find even worse ways.

 

[Esppiral]

Something tells me that they will end up making a new more expensive tier that will include day one releases and a cheaper one that will get them later on.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

 

[GHG]

Activision/COD tier incoming.

 

[KungFucius]

Starfield was a flop confirmed

Console ware bait aside, what is a flop on Game Pass? I am sure most people tried the game for a while so it had a lot of plays. The game is not without its flaws but it is reasonably entertaining so many of those people played for dozens of hours. The buzz is not good and people might not be coming to try it for months and months like they hoped, but a lot of people did try the game and many subbed to GP for it.

I'm going to go play FastTravel, I mean Starfield for an hour or so. I am starting to grow weary of the game and probably need to rush through the main quest now.

 

[deriks]

And I thought that GamePass was outside the rule of inflation...

 

[SSfox]

They’re gonna need a whole lotta bangers to justify $300 a year. Only way is if every Actvision-Blizzard title is day and date and they’re getting their 1 game per quarter out from internal studios.

This is the price of a console it's insanity, I always knew this was a big rat trap and is where it was going. No way i'm paying those prices for a subscription even if all the games in the market are available day one in a service.

 

[TheKratos]

As long as if the quality of the games improve, I'm ok.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

I'm afraid to say it, because "knock on wood"... but imagine ads popping up in games, during loading screens, or similar to achievements.

Ads are a fucking cancer, and it has seemed to get worse across different forms of entertainment / media over time.

Scary future.

That had been talked about for decades. The only reason it didn't catch on was because usually games that function as ads tend to suck and thus fail.

 

[pasterpl]

This is the price of a console it's insanity, I always knew this was a big rat trap and is where it was going. No way i'm paying those prices for a subscription even if all the games in the market are available day one in a service.

It is also price of 4 AAA games or 3 AAA Games Deluxe Editions, if you dont play more games than 3-4 per year then yes subscription with all of the games on the market for 300$ doesn’t make sense for you. If you play 20-30 games a year (mix of big AAA, AA, indie etc.) then it is actually cheaper to subscribe to that subscription.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

The 2 trillion dollar company is really hurting guys.

 

[Heisenberg007]

As long as if the quality of the games improve, I'm ok.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

Before launching the game you see and add.
To launch games you have to enter a menu for those. An Add plays.
Think of YouTube.
Corporations are very imaginative with these things, they will find even worse ways.

So we’re comparing a hardware-based ecosystem to an online-only streaming video platform? I don’t really see the connection.

The Xbox dashboard already has baked-in ads. And a lot of times I like that they’re there. Because I find out about deals or services I didn’t know existed, and it has zero negative impact on my console gaming experience. The Game Pass subscription is additive to the hardware ecosystem you’re using, and Xbox already has built-in ads based on the fact that you’re using their own hardware, so they push non-intrusive ads at you all the time, you might not even realize it. I don’t see that changing.