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Rumour: Microsoft Might Permanently 'Combine' Xbox Live Gold With Game Pass

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I found another one. They don't have to RECOUP ANYTHING. Activision/Blizzard isn't suddenly worth ZERO dollars. Now if you mean, they're trying to increase revenue, sure, so is every company in the history of man, but it has NOTHING to do with Activision/Blizzard.
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even.
Just for laughs, out of the 25million subs on Gamepass, how many (Do you think) are using this 1$ trick.
The majority.

Ran some numbers in the other thread, and the GP ARPU turns out to be ~$35 per person per year, instead of $180 or $120 per year.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Some people think when you buy something (company or house), the value goes to zero and to break even you need to make it back in full.
I agree with you on that. The value doesn't go to zero.
So if Activision is bought for $70 billion, MS has to make $70 billion in profit to break even.
But that does make sense, doesn't it?

MS is spending $68 billion in addition to bearing all the operating expenditures of Activision. That's a separate acquisition cost that needs to be recovered in additional profits. Is that not the case? I'm open to having a discussion about it and looking forward to hearing your opposing point of view.
 
Playing online should never have been behind a paywall, that’s the first thing that should change.

I totally agree Microsoft should be looking to simplify their offerings. Parents don’t have a clue what Gold is or what it even does. Just give us a few gamepass tiers with different offerings and keep it simple.
 

Shmunter

Member
Making online free on Xbox would be a killer move. Would remove a major barrier of entry for multi system owners. Heck, I’d even pickup an x knowing I can put a game in and get on with things without worrying about taking out a sub.
 

Helghan

Member
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even.
That's what people were saying when they bought Mojang... The revenue and profit margins will indeed grow substantially, if they didn't believe that, then they wouldn't have bought them.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Topher Topher
This guy has 3 entries in the first 8 replies 🤭

Damn.....you are right. I could have easily edited my first post to include the second since it wasn't a reply to anyone.

walter white GIF
 
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Robb

Gold Member
Sounds too expensive, if they do this I hope they don’t lock it to a monthly payment and let us purchase a year or 6 months for some kind of discount as well.
 

reksveks

Member
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even.
$2bn a year?

CY20 - 2.2bn net
CY21 - 2.7bn net

Ran some numbers in the other thread, and the GP ARPU turns out to be ~$35 per person per year, instead of $180 or $120 per year.

  • That’s $3.7 billion, compared to nearly $81 billion generated from other spending on games, including the sale of discs, downloads and in-game add-ons.
  • Microsoft’s disruptive Xbox Game Pass, launched in 2017, has 25 million subscribers who pay up to $15 a month. It has about 60% of the subscription market, according to Harding-Rolls.

Piers isn't including PS+ in his numbers btw so you would need to drop that from your calculations. I think the VGC article is just badly written, there could be the crazy possibility that Piers is including ps+ in one definition of subscription service and not another.




I agree with you on that. The value doesn't go to zero.

But that does make sense, doesn't it?

MS is spending $68 billion in addition to bearing all the operating expenditures of Activision. That's a separate acquisition cost that needs to be recovered in additional profits. Is that not the case? I'm open to having a discussion about it and looking forward to hearing your opposing point of view.
No cause MS assets would effectively grow by 68 billion, also the operating expenditure of Activison is being covered by Activision (cause they are stupidly profitable). The only reason that they might need to cover $68bn is if for some random reason, they want to write off a chunk of the asset.
 
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DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
I have Gold and I never use it. That being said I am not interested in Gamepass cause I have enough games to play TBH.

So if they combine something whatever I get should be max 60 a year, if not ill just cancel it.
 

reksveks

Member
Millions of people who only want to play their sports games and Cowadoody online and nothing else are gonna be pissed.
Why I don't think it's a smart movie unless those games go f2p, I know there has constantly been rumours of fifa but still not looking likes it's happening soon.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Nah I don't see that, if it would be, it would be for like 10 bucks and it will combine GP+Gold, but not Cloud and PC GamePass or something like that. But even then, I doubt, that it would happened, because pay for a thing which isn't available in your country, sure as hell not going to fly well.

My 2 cents.
 

LNXD

Neo Member
I already said it, xbl gold would have to become a lower tier of game pass, it could be called game pass lite.
They would throw away the GWG, it would have a smaller selection of games than Game Pass and no day one game.
 
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even.

The majority.

Ran some numbers in the other thread, and the GP ARPU turns out to be ~$35 per person per year, instead of $180 or $120 per year.

Candy Crush alone makes like over $500 million per month, also Warzone 2 releases next year. Microsoft will gain back the money spent on Activision Blizzard in no time. Not 34 years...
 
Xbox Live Gold is, effectively, free money. Combining it into the default Game Pass sub, raising the baseline price, would push more people away.

Keeping Xbox Live Gold "as is" and increasing the base Game Pass sub price once Activision's games - including Call of Duty - are all Day 1 with a full back catalogue seems more likely, to me. And, frankly, far easier to justify.


:Yep, there's really no reason to make any changes to Gold, the "casual" gamers aren't going to want to pay more and will just move to Playstation if it happens. Like I get it for "COD bros" because they wouldn't have to buy COD every year so that could be factored in, but Gold is such a huge moneymaker and just massively increasing the online multiplayer access cost almost certainly won't lead to an increase in revenue. If they do anything to Gold I'd think it would be moving GwG and the Gold sales/discounts into the basic Game Pass tier and just have multiplayer access in Gold. Hopefully if they did that though they'd start increasing the quality of GwG as it's been absolute garbage for a few years now
 
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even.

.


At no point did Microsoft lose $68 billion, they don't need to "break even" because all they did was transfer $68 billion in cash on hand into $68 billion in assets. they obviously expect a substantial ROI but they don't need to"make back" the cost they spent on Activision because they still value them as roughly worth $68 billion
 

Zannegan

Member
Just make online play free and roll the other Gold perks into Gamepass. Then upgrade all current Gold members to Gamepass for the remainder of their subscriptions.
 
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LNXD

Neo Member
What I meant is GWG becomes a small version of GP with old first party games and some third party games and not xbl Gold disappears.
I already said it, xbl gold would have to become a lower tier of game pass, it could be called game pass lite.
They would throw away the GWG, it would have a smaller selection of games than Game Pass and no day one game.
 

Relique

Member
It's too early to fuck with the price at this point. They haven't shown a steady and solid output of first party releases to overwhelmingly entice people to stay subbed, never mind forking out even more for the service. Yes, Gamepass is great value for a particular type of consumer but to keep 70-80 million+ users around after a price hike I think they will need 2-3 big exclusives from their first party before they can convince everyone to pay up. Release Starfield, a Call of Duty, and a couple more games on the service then it will be hard for anyone to say no.

Merging Gold and Gamepass CAN work now if they include Gold in the $10 console tier and convert everyone's Gold time to Gamepass. They will lose some money in the short term by letting people load a year or two of gamepass for cheap but will get everyone to pay double what they are paying now in a few short years. People are short-sighted so most won't complain about getting free gamepass for the price of gold even though they will effectively pay more in the long run if they want to play online.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I have Gold and I never use it. That being said I am not interested in Gamepass cause I have enough games to play TBH.

So if they combine something whatever I get should be max 60 a year, if not ill just cancel it.
Why would you pay for something you never use?
 

FeldMonster

Member
As someone who has happily paid fof Gold for 16 years and hates GamePass with a passion, if they merge Gold into GamePass, it will be a tough decision for me.

Do I stop playing the games I love (Halo 5/MCC Destiny 1, TitanFall 2), losing Gold, or am I forced to fund games that I neither care about nor will ever play, forced into fucking GamePass. Uggh.

If they want more money from me, offer me a Gold+ that guarantees no crossplay with PC.
 

AllBizness

Banned
Sony did right by making multiplayer a part of PlayStation +, Microsoft doesn't give a discount for buying Gamepass for 1 yr for a reason, they cant profit from Gamepass as it is and need to include multiplayer to get more revenue. It is what it is don't know why yall didn't see this shit coming.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
As someone who has happily paid fof Gold for 16 years and hates GamePass with a passion, if they merge Gold into GamePass, it will be a tough decision for me.

Do I stop playing the games I love (Halo 5/MCC Destiny 1, TitanFall 2), losing Gold, or am I forced to fund games that I neither care about nor will ever play, forced into fucking GamePass. Uggh.

If they want more money from me, offer me a Gold+ that guarantees no crossplay with PC.
If paying a few dollars more a month to get what you already have plus access to hundreds of games including all first first party day one doesn't appeal to you, then you are probably not a customer MS cares about.
 
They are in a bit of a mess, they are trying to get everyone on gamepass Ultimate, but its a large increase in price for many, they should just get rid of xbox live and add xb live to gamepass base, give 12 months free to everyone that was on xblive. Also add more perks to Ultimate. bring back annual sub for gamepass so it don't feel like big increase in price for xbl users
 

Dick Jones

Gold Member
They are in a bit of a mess, they are trying to get everyone on gamepass Ultimate, but its a large increase in price for many, they should just get rid of xbox live and add xb live to gamepass base, give 12 months free to everyone that was on xblive. Also add more perks to Ultimate. bring back annual sub for gamepass so it don't feel like big increase in price for xbl users
Was there a reason given for getting rid of annual subs digitally?
 

Metnut

Member
So it begins. Will be far from the last time they do something like this. I just didn’t think it’d happen so fast.
 

Shmunter

Member
The 3 tier Sony sub restructure is certainly much cleaner. Each stacks on top. Ms now twisting themselves into a pretzel trying to figure out their delivery.

Rolling online cost into gamepass basic all of a sudden makes the price much less appealing pr wise. And then what of ultimate, bump it up the road even further?
 
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MScarpa

Member
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even.

The majority.

Ran some numbers in the other thread, and the GP ARPU turns out to be ~$35 per person per year, instead of $180 or $120 per year.
Is this a joke post? Break even?😂 Did they lose 68 billion and it just vanished into thin air, or did they purchase something of value?

As far as your breakdown. 😂 That's all I got to say. Can you preface your posts with " I don't own an XBOX, I'm not subscribed to Gamepass and I don't like Microsoft" at least THAT would be honest.
 

MScarpa

Member
Good luck trying to convince people who don't understand asset value. These kinds of discussions were had when MS bought them.

Some people think when you buy something (company or house), the value goes to zero and to break even you need to make it back in full. So if Activision is bought for $70 billion, MS has to make $70 billion in profit to break even.

That's how you can tell who owns and home and who rents.
I feel like I'm in a crazy house sometimes. It's insane. This heisenberg guy responded to me, with the most crazy take I've ever seen. 😂
 
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Jaybe

Member
We're reporting anything anyone says as rumors and dedicating threads now?
He’s a well respected reporter on Microsoft business overall particularly on technology. He rarely wades into gaming, but most notably reported mid/late 2020 that Halo Infinite Multiplayer and Singleplayer being considered to ship separately, and that Multiplayer would be delayed. Halo community manager attacked his reporting at the time as false but Brad was clearly proven right.
 
Gold has an annual option that costs $60 a year which comes down to $5 a month. To play online, those XLG members (which would probably be the vast majority I would think) would be paying $10 more a month. 300% increase.
get gamepass for free through ms points.
 

kingfey

Banned
They are spending $68 billion on Activision Blizzard. And ABK nets $2 billion per per year. So unless they grow substantially (magically), they will be waiting for roughly 34 years to break even
They own assets. Plus it brings more than 2b a year, or else they wouldn't have been valued at $68.7b.

Activision brings like $8b a year. They will need this gen, to get all the money back. You also have mobile, gamepass which will increase the process way faster.

That is if they want their money back.
 
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kingfey

Banned
MS desperately wants to end the buy 3 years of Gold for $180, convert to Gass Pass Ultimate offer. They are looking at every avenue to end the $60 a year Gold subscription.
The 3 year gamepass is not an easy trick. And most consumers won't be able to figure it out, due to complicated it is.
One mishap, and you lost your money to 1 year gamepass.

Plus Gold makes them tons of money. Did you see Gold offers? That is alot of money in their pocket.

Their major goal is to increase gamepass numbers. Getting rid of gamepass is the 1st step. They tried 1st by making it expensive, and turned it back.
 

Saucy Papi

Member
MS desperately wants to end the buy 3 years of Gold for $180, convert to Gass Pass Ultimate offer. They are looking at every avenue to end the $60 a year Gold subscription.
Absolutely. I'm sure they're trying to increase their cash flow after their acquisition in order to build their cash reserves back up.
 

Daytonabot

Banned
Gold has an annual option that costs $60 a year which comes down to $5 a month. To play online, those XLG members (which would probably be the vast majority I would think) would be paying $10 more a month. 300% increase.
That's a 200% increase for the record. $15 - $5 = $10. $10 / $5 = 200%.
 

FeldMonster

Member
If paying a few dollars more a month to get what you already have plus access to hundreds of games including all first first party day one doesn't appeal to you, then you are probably not a customer MS cares about.
They should, considering how much money they currently get from me in terms of the number of consoles, controllers, accessories, and games I purchase at full price. Those things cost me more than the few dollars per month that the difference between Xbox Live and GamePass Ultimate costs. It isn't that I can't afford it, it is the principle of the thing.

People say "vote with your dollars", and then get upset that I do exactly that?
 
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Topher

Gold Member
get gamepass for free through ms points.

Preaching to the choir there, bud. I've been evangelizing MS Rewards for some time now.


I've been subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate using Rewards points since middle of last year and am good through the end of May. I have enough points to take me to the end of the year. By then, I expect to have enough points for yet another year. That's a lot of Game Pass Ultimate for $0.00.

Someone whined about me "bragging" about MS Rewards so I didn't mention it this time. Glad you brought it up though.

That's a 200% increase for the record. $15 - $5 = $10. $10 / $5 = 200%.

You are correct. Thanks.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
They should, considering how much money they currently get from me in terms of the number of consoles, controllers, accessories, and games I purchase at full price. Those things cost me more than the few dollars per month that the difference between Xbox Live and GamePass Ultimate costs. It isn't that I can't afford it, it is the principle of the thing.

People say "vote with your dollars", and then get upset that I do exactly that?
Who's upset? I'm simply stating that you aren't their target consumer right now. And let's be honest. If you have so much invested in Xbox, you aren't going to just abandon it when they convert your membership.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Who's upset? I'm simply stating that you aren't their target consumer right now. And let's be honest. If you have so much invested in Xbox, you aren't going to just abandon it when they convert your membership.

That's easy for someone to say on a forum, but Microsoft isn't going to take that attitude. That was evident when they reversed course on their attempted XLG price hike. So whether or not guys like FeldMonster FeldMonster are the "target consumer" or not, he is still a consumer and part of a significant revenue stream for Microsoft. I don't think Microsoft can be heavy handed with this and force XLG folks to convert to Game Pass Ultimate.
 
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