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Xbox Game Pass Is The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Gaming

Vasto

Member
Been saying this for years. It truly is an amazing experience every time you sit down and launch the Game Pass app on your console. :messenger_winking:




I know you’ve probably heard about Game Pass left and right since it launched, but I can’t overstate how incredible it is. From the nostalgia of flitting between secondhand games to the fact that repeatedly scrolling through the options is enjoyable in and of itself, to the sheer value for money you’re getting, I think Game Pass is hands down the best games service ever created.

I’m writing this on my day off because I’m currently waiting for exactly 30 games to install on my Xbox Series X, and I’m astonished. I know that I won’t have space for all of these games, which means I’m going to have to cancel a few downloads. But how am I supposed to choose which ones? I’ve wanted to replay Fable 2 for ten years but had no console to do it on. I just finished Yakuza 0 last month and have been excited to dive into Kiwami. I’m always hearing about how Titanfall 2 is the best shooter ever made, and now I can finally verify that for myself.

I mean, The Witcher 3, one of the best and most expansive open-world RPGs ever made, is on Game Pass. The entire Mass Effect trilogy is here, as well as Andromeda. We’ve got Dragon Age, Halo, Gears of War, Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Space, Destiny 2, Sea of Thieves - how on earth are all of these games included in one affordable bundle? It’s $14.99 a month for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes access to over 100 games and comes with full online support. That’s less than a quarter of the price of a single triple-A game now - also, all first-party Microsoft games are launching on Game Pass day one from here on out.
 

graywolf323

Gold Member
Game Pass is great but what is with the almost evangelical approach some Xbox fans have to it? there's no way it's the best thing to ever happen to gaming and while I have a sub to Ultimate for the next 3 years it's getting silly to see people basically acting like "have you heard the good news of Game Pass from our prophet Phil Spencer?"

edit: beaten on the Hard Times link
 
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driqe

Member
Now We Wait GIF by Fargo
 

Spokker

Member
So far it has been a great service, but it'll be interesting to see how viable it is in the long run. A lot of users got a good deal and loaded up on several years, but is it viable at full price? Is the current price sustainable in the long run?

You also have to wonder how it will affect games. I find Gamepass best for discovering new indie games, but I hope it doesn't result in AAA games being shorter or analyzed less just because it's "free" on Gamepass.
 

pasterpl

Member
there are so many good and greats on gamepass that is very hard to criticise the service. I have gifted Xbox series s + gamepass subscription to my nephew for xmas and he and his family are clocking almost 40h a week on the machine, no need to buy new games, there is always something on gamepass to play. I do own gamepass ultimate and play regularly on both my xbsex and pc using it and have extra money to spend on games that are not on gamepass.
 

Fredrik

Member
It’s awesome when there are games on there I want to play. Took me one night to fill up the XSX SSD and most of the expansion card.
I haven’t bought a single game for my XSX yet.

It’s less awesome when something isn’t there and it only makes it harder to justify a regular game purchase. I kinda just want to wait for it to arrive on Gamepass.
I haven’t bought a single game for my XSX yet...
 
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Stuart360

Member
PC Gamepass has been awesome for me as its meant me playing a load of games i usually wouldnt play, and certainly wouldnt buy.
I think once all the Xbox studios games start coming, the service will blow up. I still think we will have 50+mil subs by the end of the gen.
 

Skifi28

Member
Before making any huge statements, It'd be interesting to also see it from the side of big publishers. How's the revenue when on gamepass? Are they seeing less, more or the same profits when not on gamepass? One could say that it trains people to not buy games, or that people discovered new games and buy them keep forever. I'd like to have more data before pronouncing it as the next best thing.
 
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graywolf323

Gold Member
So far it has been a great service, but it'll be interesting to see how viable it is in the long run. A lot of users got a good deal and loaded up on several years, but is it viable at full price? Is the current price sustainable in the long run?

You also have to wonder how it will affect games. I find Gamepass best for discovering new indie games, but I hope it doesn't result in AAA games being shorter or analyzed less just because it's "free" on Gamepass.
one of the reasons I loaded up was because I don't expect it to be $15 a month still in 3 years, especially if the rumor Vasto Vasto shared about Ubisoft+ being added is true (isn't that service $15 a month by itself on PC?)

Before making any huge statements, It'd be interesting to also see it from the side of big publishers. How's the revenue when on gamepass? Are they seeing less, more or the same profits when not on gamepass? One could say that it trains people to not buy games, or that people discovered new games and buy them keep forever. I'd like to have more data before pronouncing it as the next best thing.
yeah we're already seeing people posting about that :-/ I remember when Hitman 3 I think it was launched and there were all these posts about "excited for this to come to Game Pass!" despite none of the Hitman games having been on Game Pass yet...
 
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Caio

Member
It's great for casual gamers, but calling it ""The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Gaming"" is kind of colossal exaggeration to say the least. It is still cool for some casual/hardcore gamers who for some reasons didn't play yet games like Doom Eternal, or Red Dead Redemption II, or RE VII, etc.

Honestly, I do not care about 95% of titles on GamePass, but I'm still paying for it every 3 months for THOSE games I couldn't play before 'cause I didn't buy a base XOne, but only XBox One X later on, or to play again games like RE VII on One X. Even though I don't download many games, it is still convenient for me to have GamePass. But ""The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Gaming"" ? ...maybe a bit too much :)
 

Fredrik

Member
Before making any huge statements, It'd be interesting to also see it from the side of big publishers. How's the revenue when on gamepass? Are they seeing less, more or the same profits when not on gamepass? One could say that it trains people to not buy games, or that people discovered new games and buy them keep forever. I'd like to have more data before pronouncing it as the next best thing.
That’s not our problem tbh, I’m just glad that I don’t have to spend as much money on games, same as with movies because of Netflix or music because of Spotify.
 

Stuart360

Member
Before making any huge statements, It'd be interesting to also see it from the side of big publishers. How's the revenue when on gamepass? Are they seeing less, more or the same profits when not on gamepass? One could say that it trains people to not buy games, or that people discovered new games and buy them keep forever. I'd like to have more data before pronouncing it as the next best thing.
Even if my '50mil subs by the end of the gen' prediction came true, there is still 200mil PC Gamers, and 60+mil Xbox gamers (or however many Xbox's sell this gen), so there will still be plenty of people buying games.
Gamepass will always just be another option, not the ONLY way to play games.
 
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We already have EA and looks like Ubisoft is next.

I think Ubisoft will introduce Ubisoft Basic or Ubisoft Play or something. EA Play Pro is not the part of GamePass and Ubisoft+ is basically EA Play Pro.

But it is a best deal in gaming of course.

A lot of users got a good deal and loaded up on several years
I believe it is not a lot of people - but minority that is less than 1%
 
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GhostOfTsu

Banned
Game Pass is great but what is with the almost evangelical approach some Xbox fans have to it? there's no way it's the best thing to ever happen to gaming and while I have a sub to Ultimate for the next 3 years it's getting silly to see people basically acting like "have you heard the good news of Game Pass from our prophet Phil Spencer?"

edit: beaten on the Hard Times link
Word! This is so tiring. I'm a lifelong Xbox owner with Gold since the beginning and now Gamepass for 2+ years and I can safely say Xbox fans are the most violent of them all. Their persecution complex anytime you mention something against GP is insane and they always bring Sony in any convo. But Sony!

Sony = Orange man bad

It's just a FKING SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE get over it!
 

kyussman

Member
I'd say Sony deciding to get into the console business was the best thing to ever happen to gaming,but I'm an old git,lol.For all you youngsters who just want lots of games and don't care about owning them....then yea,I get that GamePass is getting you all very excited.
I was out with one of my daughters around Xmas and I saw a load of cheap dvd's in a shop....she was like,why on earth are you buying movies dad,Netflix is a thing you know,lol.
I think when I pick up an XSX in a couple of years I'm going to be the only person still buying their games on there the old fashioned way.
 
It's great for casual gamers, but calling it ""The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Gaming"" is kind of colossal exaggeration to say the least. It is still cool for some casual/hardcore gamers who for some reasons didn't play yet games like Doom Eternal, or Red Dead Redemption II, or RE VII, etc.

Honestly, I do not care about 95% of titles on GamePass, but I'm still paying for it every 3 months for THOSE games I couldn't play before 'cause I didn't buy a base XOne, but only XBox One X later on, or to play again games like RE VII on One X. Even though I don't download many games, it is still convenient for me to have GamePass. But ""The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Gaming"" ? ...maybe a bit too much :)
What's the best thing to ever happen to gaming then?
 

Agent X

Member
We already have EA and looks like Ubisoft is next.


Stadia and Luna already have access to Ubisoft+. It requires a separate subscription fee, not included with any other existing Stadia/Luna subscriptions. Interestingly, a single Ubisoft+ fee also gives you access to the service on both Stadia and Luna.

I doubt Ubisoft would change this when and if they bring Ubisoft+ to video game consoles. They'll probably just extend Ubisoft+ access through Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now, and whatever Nintendo decides to cook up.
 
The way some peeps are conflating themselves with a megacorp in this thread is... interesting. Especially when paired with a lack of understanding the value of ownership. Ah well...

That being said, I can't agree with the OP's premise. There are SO many things that have been more meaningful for gaming than the latest advent of a subscription service.
 
Could be, but those who loaded up are also probably the most vocal about Gamepass. Either way, genius move on Microsoft's part, at least in the medium term.
Long term is should be even better.
Genius move is to bring games to PC - they gained that way a lot of PC supporters, who are the most aggressive units in the gaming worlds - after PS zealots.
 
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Maybe it's because I have no issues buying the games I want, but GamePass has not impressed me much. I've owned it for a while, but I almost never use it.

Most of the games I'd want to play on it, I already owned long before they came to GP. The other stuff? Well, there's a reason I never bought it.

If you're a kid or just can't afford to buy the games you really want when they release, I could see GamePass being neat. Sort of what Sega Channel was to me as a kid. Today, not so much. Especially when most of the games I'd want to play are on Nintendo or PlayStation.

Now, if Xbox ever got to the point where their games matched the quality of the competition, it could be different.
 
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Especially when paired with a lack of understanding the value of ownership.
From my experience - all the movies, music or games you even own - you don't use it after some time. PC realized that first. I have a bunch of CD/DVD disks with games but so what? The same games would be easier to download digitally anyway. They would be the latest versions, with all the addons, patches etc. Commodities are those things that tend to collect the dust on a long run.

Collectors are the exceptions though, but they are a separate matter.
 
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Fredrik

Member
You can't rest for two days until an evangelical Xbox nerd comes around the corner praising this bullshit ad nauseum. Urgh...
salt salting GIF


Joking aside, I get that it’s getting kinda old but I’m pretty sure most here would love it if they knew GT7, God of War Ragnarök and Horizon Forbidden West would just sit there ready to install on their PS5s later this year.

Gamepass may not be sustainable in the long run, we really have no idea, but as it is it really makes no sense hating on the service as a consumer.

If the price is increased in the future then lets reevaluate how awesome the service is in the future.
Right now it makes gaming less expensive. And as far as I’m concerned that’s awesome. 👍
 
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supernova8

Banned
So according to the site there are about 350 titles for Xbox on Game Pass. We'll all agree that a chunk of those are garbage shovelware but a strong majority are "proper" games and a decent chunk of that majority are relatively new.

It's really no different than something like Netflix. The utility of Netflix naturally diminishes over time as you get through the content. It naturally takes far less time for you to consume content than it does for them/other companies to produce content so eventually (if you really really binge the hell out of it) you'll have nothing left to watch.

I personally like the Amazon Prime approach where you're paying for the free delivery but they're chucking in Prime Video, free ebooks and Prime Music for the same price. I don't get the Netflix exclusive stuff but I'm happy with what I get.

I'm not a massive Xbox fan but yeah Game Pass is pretty cool. It's really a case of "if you're getting Xbox it makes no sense not to get Game Pass". I cannot envisage a scenario where I buy an XSS/XSX and don't subscribe GP. Financially it's so inconsequential if we assume that you'd be paying for Xbox Live Gold either way.
 
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