Well, you're discussing something that hasn't happened. The $10 game pass option is there just like it was since 2017. Microsoft simply added a higher value offering for $5 more. So long as they continue to tie any price increase to increased value that presents no obstacle to casuals.
$5 more got you Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass on PC and Xbox, EA Play and Xcloud.
You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you the amount, but I'm a regional manager based in New York for a major technology company. Companies we work with include Apple, Sony, Adobe, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and many more. We don't just work big company contracts, but smaller companies too, and we work with individuals also if they can afford us. But since I've been in my new position we regularly sponsor or donate some of our services free of charge to local business owners or smaller establishments to demonstrate how we can help improve their operations. It's a good way to advertise what we do for folks who don't know, and our referrals went through the roof afterwards. So there's room for growth there.
I always thought I made good money, but last year just right before COVID the company got hit with a major emergency endangering not only some of our bigger fortune 500 clients, but our government ones as well. Management was on a warpath, pissed off at why the guy they put in charge didn't plan for such a situation. I won't say he didn't have a plan, but he was already dealing with a ton of shit when he was hit with that clusterfuck, and then in that position with everybody looking to you for direction he kinda started looking at all the worst case scenarios and it stressed the guy out to the point that it was a mess. Management got upset at a seeming delay and fired him. Me being next in their crosshairs as the most senior person after him kinda didn't want that pressure all on me, so I appealed to have him reinstated. They did so at my urging, but two days into working on the issue his worst fears were kind of realized, and so he just decided he needed to step away because it was too much stress. Left to me I kinda took a "well fuck it, if they're gonna fire me, they're gonna fire me. I can only work so fast" approach and just organized the staff and people on hand to just straight up ignore certain things and focus instead on what I felt was more important. We worked for nearly 2 weeks, only going home 3 days, rest of the days were spent dealing with the emergency, sleeping next to servers, outside server rooms, in hallways and offices lol, and we got it fixed. By the end I was given a higher role and increased pay matching their appreciation I guess (kinda still deserve more for what I did though
) Also got management to agree to pay raises for everybody who helped me do what I did since I felt they deserved it too.
The main work aside, I also maintain many private contracts relating to radio stations (only one big, rest small no name stations), recording studios, hospitals, universities, hotels and even clothing stores. I personally consulted on and helped design a key part of Chase bank's network security back in 2007-2008 that I'm proud to say has remained flawless even when other things around it didn't meet the same standard. That same work with Chase landed me a private cybersecurity contract with a major U.S. political party that began in early 2018. I've kept my scope on that intentionally small because they refuse to provide me the access I would need to truly guarantee my work, and I won't set myself up to be a scapegoat when I'm proven correct, so I've intentionally deployed a limited solution that has been effectively proving my point now for about 3 years. Prior to that though, the same thing I designed for chase, I designed and deployed a version of for the energy company Con Edison between 2014-2016 along with something else that, according to them, has saved them lots of money in dealing with their various sub contractors.
Also have a few famous actors/actresses and sports athletes as clients. One of the actresses was going to attend E3 2020 with me along with her husband when we initially thought there was going to be one prior to COVID because they want to get more into videogame voice acting and just generally get to know more about the industry as a whole, so I felt E3 was a great place to do that. And finally, I'm a longtime federal government independent contractor, separate from the contracts my job has.
Not everything I do for all these people/companies is all the same,
it's all different, or else there would be no way in hell I could manage it all. That's kinda been the advantage of the people I've met and the situations I've found myself in. Referrals, references, friends, people who just enjoyed your company, people who gave me a chance when I didn't have any actual experience, just book learning. I wouldn't be anywhere without all of those things and a shit ton of luck, can't lie.
In conclusion, I make pretty good money. But that doesn't mean I don't love a good deal when I see one. I'm from a Jamaican immigrant family where at times we didn't even know if we were going to have anywhere to live day to day, week to week or month to month, so I was kinda always taught to see money differently. For the first big job I ever had I literally use to hand my mother up to 70% or more of what I made believing surely she would always make the best decision on what to do with it, and I can make due with what I keep and what I've been saving separately. It only took my clueless behind 3 or 4 pay checks in to realize very quickly just how
very bad an idea that was, and I changed approach in a hurry. And it's been smooth sailing since then. So while I may splurge on OLEDs and all kinds of electronics and other things I may not need from time to time, I do try my best to not be wasteful and value my dollar because I know what it's like when you don't have it to spend. Believe it or not, I don't even own or drive a car. I don't see game pass as a mere value service. I see it being a legit option to doing it any other way for even hardcore gamers because of the games that are coming to in the coming years. Game Pass won't always fully satisfy me, and that's when I'll step out and go buy what game pass isn't able to provide me. Sometimes, for reasons specific to me, I'll even buy things already in game pass.
I like Game Pass, it's a cool as hell and convenient way to try out and play many more games than I would ever be willing to individually spend on just to give them a spin even with all the money in the world to support my gaming habit.
