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[Schmick]

For sure, but I'd still pay it, regardless of what they hiked it up to.

Even £40 per month would be incredible value.

Woah.... dont give MS any ideas.

 

[Blond]

I can foresee a price hike soon : P

Same, this shit ain’t free.

 

[Heisenberg007]

For that subscription model to survive, this is Microsoft's Gamepass endgame :

• Less quality / quantity of games
• Increasing price of subscription
• Day and date first party releases are still sold for subscribers, but at a reduced price, like Disney still sells its big releases even for Disney+ subscribers (example : Mulan)
• Emphasis on "games as a service" or large open-world filler type games that try to make people play and stay subscribed for many months, eventually making them pay more than if they bought it full price at release
• Emphasis on sold microtransactions / DLC
• Emphasis on episodic, smaller releases with cliffhanger endings to give the impression that there's periodically new content added, and keep people subscribed longer
• Making some content exclusive to Gamepass subscribers, to try to drive the subscription numbers

It's quite clear that we are in the "honeymoon" phase right now.

Studies show that once someone is subscribed to something, they are less likely to unsubscribe for fear of "missing out".

Reality will start kicking in at some point, and some of the points highlighted above will start happening.

If Microsoft plays it's cards right and do it gradually, they might be successful in making it profitable.

Consumers, not unlike frogs in water gradually heating to boiling point, won't have a clue what happened until many years later.

I agree with many of your points. However, I think, we will:

• #1 -- Still see a large quantity of games, mainly because of how many studios they have. MS won't have them sit idle. The scope of said games, however, can be smaller, considering the development cost and Gamepass revenue at that point of time
• #3 -- MS will continue offering day and date releases for first-party games. Backtracking on that will destroy their gaming division now. They can, however, reduce the number of deals they are making for third-party games on day one.

I totally agree with you on the "honeymoon" phase. Will be interesting to see how MS plays it out -- especially if they don't hit their desired Gamepass subscriber count -- now that they have already incurred huge yearly operating costs.

 

[Kilau]

The drama mamas need to make up their minds, are they concerned that Gamepass is not making money or MS wants to make money off Gamepass?

Idk what is EA Play, but anyway, just do the XBL Gold to Gamepass hack. Stat! The 'hole' is still open. Newegg is selling 1 year Gold for $50, omg

Cant wait for more drama should BF6 arrives Day 1 on Gamepass®

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tip: Get 2 years of access for dirt cheap

Currently, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $17 per month. But with this trick, you can get it at over 50 percent off for up to two years.

www.pcworld.com

Yeah that’s the best method for when you first join. Many of us did that like 2 years ago so converting EA to game pass was a good way for current subscribers to add time.

As pointed out though, using eneba for adding weeks at time for under a $1/week is the cheapest way and how I topped up recently.

 

[yamaci17]

DLC point is spot on. They will be abusing DLCs in their upcoming games.

 

[NickFire]

The people who stacked up or just recently bought EA Play cards for the purposes of converting them to Gamepass Ultimate subscription would care.

Just because something didn't affect you, it doesn't mean it wouldn't have affected anyone else either. There are people other than you in this world.

I'm having a tough time understanding the criticism over this. I obviously have no information, in any respect, as to whatever deal EA and MS had for these conversions. But ultimately, from MS standpoint, aren't they just giving EA customers a deal to jump in with MS directly? From that vantage point, I fail to see why anyone would have a legit beef with MS if they decided to pay EA for something they didn't really want in hopes of taking advantage of a loophole. IMO, its common knowledge that loopholes can close at any time.

 

[Kilau]

DLC point is spot on. They will be abusing DLCs in their upcoming games.

Its the same with ps plus games. You never get the “complete” game. It’s just a gateway to spend more money.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Didn't know that was a thing. Makes sense to phase it out though.

Not converting something that's already in place.

 

[skakmk]

If 10 bucks can ruin you financially, gaming should be the least of your worries I think.

Uff mate, that is such disgusting elitist rhetoric. You are born in privilege, It’s not as easy for people living in third world countries like us!

I was born in a poor family where my parents struggled to put food in our plate. We had to plan and account for every rupee so that we had food at the end of the month.
Only when you come from such humble beginnings do you realize how important a dollar is.

I have learned to be frugal from circumstance and experience and I am proud of the fact that I have successfully lifted my family out of poverty by being frugal and working my ass off. I am a qualified US - Certified Public Accountant now mate.

There is more to life than Xbox.

 

[SomeGit]

I don't think it is fair to call them "loopholes". Microsoft set this model and encouraged people to upgrade to GPU with the $1 deal. It was a "deal" on offer to increase Gamepass subscribers. This conversion rate of 1-year EA Play : 4 months of GPU was also set by Microsoft and Xbox. Aaron Greenberg even tweeted this conversion rate last year.

Right, and I don't disagree at all with your point nor am I defending MS for that matter. My point was that a lot of people "console warring" actively obscure the actual price of GPU behind deals that honestly will only last as long as MS wants to build Gamepass and to no one surprise these "loopholes" will start being patched up as Gamepass matures, only the most blind Xbox fanboy would think that the 1$ deal and the EA conversion deal which was essentially GPU for 50% less would stick around forever.

GPU is 15$ per month, it's not 1$ nor "free".

 

[Fredrik]

Phew, I pushed it up to 2024 a few weeks ago

 

[BusierDonkey]

I love how everyone "knows" that everything about Gamepass is going to get worse in every way.

Why aren't you all buying lottery tickets if you can predict the future so well? About half the posts here are literal FUD.

 

[MOTM]

Uff mate, that is such disgusting elitist rhetoric. You are born in privilege, It’s not as easy for people living in third world countries like us!

I was born in a poor family where my parents struggled to put food in our plate. We had to plan and account for every rupee so that we had food at the end of the month.
Only when you come from such humble beginnings do you realize how important a dollar is.

I have learned to be frugal from circumstance and experience and I am proud of the fact that I have successfully lifted my family out of poverty by being frugal and working my ass off. I am a qualified US - Certified Public Accountant now mate.

There is more to life than Xbox.

Sorry you took it that way. Don’t worry, I’ve had the exact same upbringing you had. However that’s not the case for 99.99% of people in this thread extremely “concerned” and we both know it.

 

[MOTM]

I love how everyone "knows" that everything about Gamepass is going to get worse in every way.

Why aren't you all buying lottery tickets if you can predict the future so well? About half the posts here are literal FUD.

Remember they all did the “$1” trick, have no idea what they’re so worried about.

 

[skakmk]

Its the same with ps plus games. You never get the “complete” game. It’s just a gateway to spend more money.

Hmmm We had days gone, wonder what dlc days gone has? How about Horizon Complete Edition given for free this month? Or ratchet and clank? Or control ultimate edition for that matter?

 

[Heisenberg007]

Right, and I don't disagree at all with your point nor am I defending MS for that matter. My point was that a lot of people "console warring" actively obscure the actual price of GPU behind deals that honestly will only last as long as MS wants to build Gamepass and to no one surprise these "loopholes" will start being patched up as Gamepass matures, only the most blind Xbox fanboy would think that the 1$ deal and the EA conversion deal which was essentially GPU for 50% less would stick around forever.

GPU is 15$ per month, it's not 1$ nor "free".

Yeah, I don't think we are in any disagreement here.

I also believe that these incentives and deals aren't sustainable and, therefore, can't be offered forever. You agree that an announcement should have been made. We're cool

 

[Zoro7]

But it would still be amazing value.

Think about it. The cost of a brand new game is now £70. I can either spend £40 pm and get my hands on 100s of games, or drop £70 for one game?

I know what I'd rather do.

Of course, to do this MS would need to make some changes. If every AAA game was on day one on GP and never left the service, then £40 is a bargain.

That one game you could complete and sell for 60 vs the subscription you pay at 40? Hmmmm

 

[Captain Toad]

I can foresee a price hike soon : P

Not yet. The price hike is getting rid of these new subscription service deals. I paid $1 for 2 years of GP. Going from that to $15 a month will be a huge price spike - one which I'll probably not take.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I'm having a tough time understanding the criticism over this. I obviously have no information, in any respect, as to whatever deal EA and MS had for these conversions. But ultimately, from MS standpoint, aren't they just giving EA customers a deal to jump in with MS directly? From that vantage point, I fail to see why anyone would have a legit beef with MS if they decided to pay EA for something they didn't really want in hopes of taking advantage of a loophole. IMO, its common knowledge that loopholes can close at any time.

First, it wasn't a loophole. It was a policy that MS initiated when they started offering EA Play with Gamepass Ultimate. They said that 1 year of EA Play can be converted into 4 months of GPU.

The criticism isn't that MS changed that conversion ratio. I have said it multiple times in this thread that it is Microsoft's right however they price their product. The criticism is that they should have announced this change properly, instead of quietly changing the text on one of their web pages.

Many people who doesn't know about this would still be using EA Play cards to recharge their Gamepass subscription. Now they will get only 2 months, instead of 4 months like previously. A simple announcement that this policy is changing soon would have been perfect.

 

[FoundryMusic]

That one game you could complete and sell for 60 vs the subscription you pay at 40?

We're told on here that "no one" buys physical any more so this is a moot point.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Not yet. The price hike is getting rid of these new subscription service deals. I paid $1 for 2 years of GP. Going from that to $15 a month will be a huge price spike - one which I'll probably not take.

I feel that. My plan is to let Xbox games accumulate as backlog. Subscribe for 3 months of Gamepass at the end of the year for $45 (or less in a deal), and play all the games I actually want to play, and then end that subscription. Next year, same thing. Rinse and repeat.

Moreover, those $45 can easily be accumulated via Bing rewards in 9 months. So I won't be paying anything at all really.

 

[Faithless83]

Sustainable AF, they said.

 

[Bernkastel]

All that effort and energy to be so concerned over this. If they announced it publicly people will stock up years of EA Play cards and redeem them. Many console warriors finally found a place to hangout and put forth all their "Xbox doomed" theory templates. Expect all those "tricks" people figured out to get Game Pass for cheap to be slowly phased out.

First, it wasn't a loophole. It was a policy that MS initiated when they started offering EA Play with Gamepass Ultimate. They said that 1 year of EA Play can be converted into 4 months of GPU.

1 Year of EA Play costs 30 USD, which is the same as 2 months of GPU. Its possible that MS saw people exploit this too much to get GPU for cheap. Maybe they didn't think so many people will use it.

 

[Zoro7]

We're told on here that "no one" buys physical any more so this is a moot point.

I still buy the majority of my games physical. I thought the split was 60/40 in favour of digital? That’s still a shit tonne of people to be a moot point my friend.

 

[Corndog]

And here we go. Few more months, maybe a year/two, and there'll be no conversion.

I’m surprised they give any.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

I felt they were going to do something like this before E3 so that's why I did the 3 years trick using foreign key sites for cheap. I'm good until 2024. Still have a couple of codes left. They were just giving it away, desperate to inflate the GP numbers as much as possible lol

 

[xellos2099alpha]

Did anyone test if the converion changed yet? I am still good till november of 2023 but would lvoe to reup for a little more

 

[Bernkastel]

People have had a full on meltdown about a $10 increase on PS5 games.

Definitely not you through.

Spoiler

I mean if you can barely afford a game then no chance you’ll afford the console.

I find it really odd how $60 is ok but $70 is not affordable. Surely if you are counting your dollars you shouldn’t be buying a next generation console.

Cannot wait for this!!! But but but $70!!!!

And then you wish a full meltdown over this same as that. Simply because they can't use this exploit of getting GPU cheaper.

You’re right it is a bit different. Sony came out and said it in advance. Xbex edited the small print.

Xbox also announced the Gold price hike. Assuming you buy EA Play for full price, this allowed you to get 4 months of GPU for 30 USD. If people used exploited this loophole using CD Keys ofcourse they will remove it. Instead you now get a one to one conversion of EA Play to GPU.

 

[Corndog]

First, it wasn't a loophole. It was a policy that MS initiated when they started offering EA Play with Gamepass Ultimate. They said that 1 year of EA Play can be converted into 4 months of GPU.

The criticism isn't that MS changed that conversion ratio. I have said it multiple times in this thread that it is Microsoft's right however they price their product. The criticism is that they should have announced this change properly, instead of quietly changing the text on one of their web pages.

Many people who doesn't know about this would still be using EA Play cards to recharge their Gamepass subscription. Now they will get only 2 months, instead of 4 months like previously. A simple announcement that this policy is changing soon would have been perfect.

Sure. That’s your only problem.

 

[pasterpl]

All things aside, should announcement like this be in the gamepass thread?

 

[megreotsugua]

Consumers, not unlike frogs in water gradually heating to boiling point, won't have a clue what happened until many years later.

Does this really happen to frogs?

Why would anyone do that to frogs?

 

[FoundryMusic]

I still buy the majority of my games physical. I thought the split was 60/40 in favour of digital? That’s still a shit tonne of people to be a moot point my friend.

I buy physical too but some on here would have you believe its 99:1 in favour of Digital

 

[Iced Arcade]

Not yet. The price hike is getting rid of these new subscription service deals. I paid $1 for 2 years of GP. Going from that to $15 a month will be a huge price spike - one which I'll probably not take.

If so... You would pay $120 US + $1 to upgrade. Not $1 lol


Also you can only do the $1 upgrade promotion once. So if someone wants to stack, make sure you get the 3 years of Gold because it's a 1 time deal.

 

[Rossco EZ]

Is this just your auto reaction to anything xbox related @Bo_Hazem ?

hey if you are gonna call people out why not call someone like riky out? he’s always on that triggered or laughing reaction to anything playstation related. biased mofo

 

[Hitchyhero]

Sustainable AF, they said.

Those 'sustainable' comments you get from fanboys usually refer to the standard price of gamepass... Not the conversion deals. Deals always end or its not a deal is it.

Still, these price GPU price hike predictions are always laughable. They almost always never have a time frame attached, therefor if a price hike happens in 3,5, or 10 years you can say "I told you so" and you'll never be wrong.... As if no subscription service has never gone up in price.... ever.....

 

[Zoro7]

Definitely not you through.
And then you wish a full meltdown over this same as that. Simply because they can't use this exploit of getting GPU cheaper.

Xbox also announced the Gold price hike. Assuming you buy EA Play for full price, this allowed you to get 4 months of GPU for 30 USD. If people used exploited this loophole using CD Keys ofcourse they will remove it. Instead you now get a one to one conversion of EA Play to GPU.

Oh you one of them ones with so much free time you search through peoples post history. I could have told you I don’t have a problem with the new price if you asked.

 

[Ezekiel_]

Does this really happen to frogs?

Why would anyone do that to frogs?

I guess it's an urban myth

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

The metaphor is still useful though :

The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly.

 

[jaysius]

Honestly I just wish I had topped up before this changed.

 

[skakmk]

Remember they all did the “$1” trick, have no idea what they’re so worried about.

True! The problem here is that MS should have informed us in advance so that we don’t end up buying EA play expecting to convert to 4 months of GPU and end up with 2 months.

I currently have a series S and I am in love with the console and gamepass(3 year 1$ trick, which I will definitely renew for 15$. I will definitely be getting the series X first and PS5 later but I too feel MS should communicate any such change which can effect end consumer decision.

 

[Faithless83]

Those 'sustainable' comments you get from fanboys usually refer to the standard price of gamepass... Not the conversion deals. Deals always end or its not a deal is it.

Still, these price GPU price hike predictions are always laughable. They almost always never have a time frame attached, therefor if a price hike happens in 3,5, or 10 years you can say "I told you so" and you'll never be wrong.... As if no subscription service has never gone up in price.... ever.....

It isn't sustainable right now with zillions subscribers. It will take a while to be and once people are hooked you'll see a price increase.
They are aiming for the long run, but how long will they be able to bleed money is the question. People said that Bethesda games will be xbox/pc exclusive but I really doubt that.

 

[Banjo64]

Once they promos end they really need to roll Gold in to basic Game Pass. £7.99 I can stomach but £10.99 I’d rather just grab a cheap £35 Gold sub and buy the games I want on sale.

This is well overdue.

 

[Kilau]

Hmmm We had days gone, wonder what dlc days gone has? How about Horizon Complete Edition given for free this month? Or ratchet and clank? Or control ultimate edition for that matter?

Some games with either free or no dlc don’t negate my point. Horizon, btw wasn’t a ps plus game. Control was a rarity, I’ll give you that.

 

[Sealord of Braavos]

All things aside, should announcement like this be in the gamepass thread?

Oh, there’s no problem with “bad” Game Pass news cluttering up the main page.

 

[TKOFromTokyo]

Thankfully, I got my $1 year 1 GPU a month ago and added two years through this conversion a week ago. I’m set for 3 years.

 

[D-Dott]

I’m glad I bought and redeemed 3 years worth the other day.

 

[SupremeHoodie]

This is an issue for a very small minority no? Most people just buy game pass ultimate off the bat to get game pass and ea ultimate.

 

[DaGwaphics]

From what I can see 12 months of EA Play costs the exact same as 2 months of GPU. It's a 1 to 1 conversion.

I'm surprised they do this conversion at all, so 1:1 is fair. The EA Play cards are EA money, so it's a bonus that they bother with offering you anything for these. Of course there is probably some arrangement between EA and MS about absorbing these things.

I figured users that had these laying around would need to sell them on Ebay to non GPU members.

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Did anyone test if the converion changed yet? I am still good till november of 2023 but would lvoe to reup for a little more

Yes. See the general Xbox thread in Communities I posted a screenshot.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Every company does stuff like this. First XBLG price hike. Now this quiet change in conversion ratio. There is just this false perception of MS being super pro-consumer, but that's not always the case.

It is just important to call out and look out for our gamers' brotherhood when companies do.

Some have this notion that MS will just eat losses forever just because they're a trillion dollar company...

 

[Heisenberg007]

This is an issue for a very small minority no? Most people just buy game pass ultimate off the bat to get game pass and ea ultimate.

Not necessarily. Using EA Play cards to top up GPU was 50% cheaper than buying GPU at $15 per month. Now it's the same price.