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[FIREKNIGHT2029]

I knew the 30 million GP subscribers that some people were running around with was bullshit.

20 millions subs makes more sense.



Where were people expecting 12-14 million subs to come from? It's not like MS had any major releases since June last year.

 

[Goalus]

Everyone from Disney to HBO and Netflix releases sub numbers. MS needs to do the same.

I get that no one wants to admit to doing poorly at the box office or NPD, but come on, you gotta show the numbers no matter what.

No.
Why would they inform their competitors on how they're doing?

 

[Topher]

Continue trying to antagonize slipping little insults lol. Lacking self awareness like most. Continue replying, no sense having a pointless discussion with a troll. Good day

your mirror would like a few words with you

 

[nikolino840]

Probably best to add the context to the OP:

By the numbers: For the 12 months that ended on June 30, Xbox Game Pass subscriber growth was up 37%, but the company had set a 48% growth goal.

Underperforming by 11% I guess. I still wish we had the numbers though just for my own curiosity really.

I always wonder what it looks month to month as well. Like do people unsub and resub or have lots done conversions of gold etc.

It's also June so that would mean the last official numbers of 18 million in Jan would fall into underperforming. And the delta of Jan-June needs adding. Percentages are so shit

You should see the economic targets for the fiscal year and the daily and monthly production targets that CEOs set in the company where I work

 

[kyoji]

Continue trying to antagonize slipping little insults lol. Lacking self awareness like most. Continue replying, no sense having a pointless discussion with a troll. Good day

You embarrassing yourself man, you do realize you started the whole dialogue right? Your dog whistling, and then you get offended cause he called you out on being a hypocrite. Lol u a trip man good times

 

[elliot5]

I knew the 30 million GP subscribers that some people were running around with was bullshit.

20 millions subs makes more sense.



Where were people expecting 12-14 million subs to come from? It's not like MS had any major releases since June last year.

20.5 is ending June 21. It's likely a few mil more than that now. 30M was lofty and should've been skeptical to begin with. Maybe that's the target for FY 2022. I would guess by Q2 end (Dec) they will reach upper 20s inching closer to 30, and beat expectations.

 

[Kacho]

Issue is, when you’re giving it away, growth metrics potentially paint a false picture. Retention becomes more important..

With all the neckbeards hoarding GPU subs like a squirrel hoards acorns, retention doomsaying wouldn’t come into play for another year or so right? And by then the heavy hitters will start dropping. That will be the true test for the appeal of the service IMO. Like from Starfield onwards.

 

[GHG]

Investors are stupid. All they care about is grow grow grow and none of them understands that what are you going to do when everyone already has one? The next logical step is to increase the price. It won't be long til MS raises it to $15 or even $20 a month.

Investors know this and that's why the price of these subscription services tend to go up - revenue growth needs to come from somewhere, it doesn't matter how.

When subscriber growth numbers hit a wall the price increases always come and it's like clockwork.

Going into next fiscal year, Microsoft has Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, likely Redfall, as well as the fact that Cloud Gaming as part of Game Pass Ultimate just launched in Australia, Brazil, Japan and Mexico.

Xbox Cloud Gaming Launches in Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico - Xbox Wire

At Xbox, our mission is simple: bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. To achieve that, we aspire to empower everyone to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. We are creating a future that combines the gaming heritage of Xbox and the...

news.xbox.com

Cloud Gaming has apparently been so popular in Brazil that server capacity has been an issue. So we shall see where things are at the next time Microsoft announces numbers, which Phil confirmed yesterday they will be doing, and also what growth looks like Fiscal Year 2022 ending June 30th.

Well it will be interesting to revisit this topic next year for sure.

 

[SlimySnake]

I knew the 30 million GP subscribers that some people were running around with was bullshit.

20 millions subs makes more sense.



Where were people expecting 12-14 million subs to come from? It's not like MS had any major releases since June last year.

lol Am i reading this right? Satya Nadella's bonuses are tied to Gamepass subs?

That would explain all the $1 deals. As long as people sub, no matter how low the revenue, he gets his bonuses. Other top executives too. So Phil Spencer and other xbox execs are likely in on it.

Gotta love how these CEOs give themselves bonuses.

 

[AlexxKidd]

I have the data on why I quoted you, but I’m not sharing that right now.

Then perhaps you should have shared it otherwise that made zero sense. You're sorely mistaken if you think I care about your "data," by all means don't hide it on my behalf.

 

[Shambala]

Congrats to Microsoft for having the best deal in gaming. Xbox game pass is the best thing to ever happen in the video game industry.

 

[GHG]

lol Am i reading this right? Satya Nadella's bonuses are tied to Gamepass subs?

That would explain all the $1 deals. As long as people sub, no matter how low the revenue, he gets his bonuses. Other top executives too. So Phil Spencer and other xbox execs are likely in on it.

Gotta love how these CEOs give themselves bonuses.

It was a board decision and the change was made to bring compensation in line with the company’s focus going forwards - subscription service growth across the board.

Microsoft just adjusted executive stock bonuses to prioritize growing the Teams chat app, signaling 'focus on the product at the highest levels of the company'

The change, which gives more weight to growing Teams users in determining executive bonuses, signals the growing importance of Microsoft's chat app.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[SlimySnake]

20.5 is ending June 21. It's likely a few mil more than that now. 30M was lofty and should've been skeptical to begin with. Maybe that's the target for FY 2022. I would guess by Q2 end (Dec) they will reach upper 20s inching closer to 30, and beat expectations.

20 million is actually not that bad, but its up only 2 million since January when they were at 18 million.

Microsoft is continuing to attract people to its Xbox Game Pass service. The “Netflix for video games” service now has 18 million subscribers, up from the 15 million previously reported in September. Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service that offers access to a growing selection of more than 100 Xbox games for $9.99 per month.

they went from 15 to 18 million in just 3 months. Then for the next 6 months, they added just 2 million. That's not good.

I do think this is due to a VERY weak first six months for Xbox. Their biggest gamepass games were Outriders and MLB the show. Clearly not enough.

I really wanted them to go out and get Resident Evil 8. That game is pretty much the biggest game of the year so far and it wouldve been the big boost they needed right before the year ended.

It will be very interesting to see the numbers for the last three months. I am surprised they didnt mention them just to have the news sting a bit less. Flight Sim, Ascent, Hades, and Avengers are big titles that shouldve added some numbers. Ive been subbed for the last 3 months because of Hades, Ascent and now Avengers. I will definitely resub for Forza and Halo.

 

[Kagey K]

Congrats to Microsoft for having the best deal in gaming. Xbox game pass is the best thing to ever happen in the video game industry.

There are at least 20 million people who agree with you.

 

[Kacho]

It was a board decision and the change was made to bring compensation in line with the company’s focus going forwards - subscription service growth across the board.

Microsoft just adjusted executive stock bonuses to prioritize growing the Teams chat app, signaling 'focus on the product at the highest levels of the company'

The change, which gives more weight to growing Teams users in determining executive bonuses, signals the growing importance of Microsoft's chat app.

www.businessinsider.com

Well this explains why it’s all about Game Pass all the time. Kinda sucks that it infests 99% of all Xbox talk these days.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Investors know this and that's why the price of these subscription services tend to go up - revenue growth needs to come from somewhere, it doesn't matter how.

When subscriber growth numbers hit a wall the price increases always come and it's like clockwork.



Well it will be interesting to revisit this topic next year for sure.

We shall revisit it before the end of the year most likely.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Well this explains why it’s all about Game Pass all the time. Kinda sucks that it infests 99% of all Xbox talk these days.

Why would it be considered an infestation of xbox talk when it's the best damn thing about Xbox currently? Every major upcoming and past first party release, big 3rd party releases, including EA Access, Cloud Gaming, Xbox Live Gold, plus PC Game Pass with Ultimate on top of game discounts, and, apparently for Forza Horizon 5, literally every premium feature the game will have going forward, all included in Game Pass. That's crazy value.

I can only imagine what the Game Pass lineup will look like come next year when Starfield drops.

 

[kyoji]

Why would it be considered an infestation of xbox talk when it's the best damn thing about Xbox currently? Every major upcoming and past first party release, big 3rd party releases, including EA Access, Cloud Gaming, Xbox Live Gold, plus PC Game Pass with Ultimate on top of game discounts, and, apparently for Forza Horizon 5, literally every premium feature the game will have going forward, all included in Game Pass. That's crazy value.

I can only imagine what the Game Pass lineup will look like come next year when Starfield drops.

Breathe man lol

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

So basically, before they announced 18 million, between then and the service's initial availability they had around 9.65 million subscribers. Then in one year they had an 86% increase to 18 million, and now if the 37% growth is true then they're roughly shy of 25 million (24.66 million).

That's not bad and I guess with Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite coming this year they'll definitely hit 25 million and maybe even that 30 million milestone, but I think it's also kind of easy to see why growth may've been slower than anticipated. For one, every subscription service contracted a bit this year. Secondly, there haven't been a lot of AAA bangers dropped in GamePass this year either 1P or 3P outside of Flight Sim (which was already available on PC last year), Outriders and MLB The Show. Speaking of those last two, I always thought after those we'd see the start of more big 3P AAA games day-and-date on GamePass but that hasn't happened. Smaller games? Of course, but those have always been day-and-date generally. But honestly 3P-wise there hasn't been any big day-and-date release in GamePass since MLB and Outriders, both of which seem they were under very specific circumstances. So maybe those were the exceptions rather than establishing a new trend?

I also have some speculation of my own. Namely, I haven't seen Microsoft do a lot of advertising for specific GAMES released in the service. They're always willing and able to advertise GamePass itself, but they could do more for specific releases, especially the 1P ones. Psychonauts 2 should have gotten a bigger marketing push than it did, same goes for Flight Sim (I know they may've been counting on the Top Gun Maverick tie-in but why no back-up marketing campaign?), The Ascent (funding some high-quality toy model sets or a digital mini-comic with a story prequel to the game would've been nice), etc.

It kind of ties to what I think is a persistent problem there: Microsoft seems to feel simply advertising the games collectively under GamePass is enough but that doesn't help much if people don't know if specific games (preferably new releases) even exist, much less exist in the service. The hardcore/core gamers following those games may know, and you might pick up some traction with some Twitter posts, featured stream or two and maybe even general WOM, but a somewhat bigger, traditional marketing effort for those games could still serve them greatly.

 

[Kagey K]

So basically, before they announced 18 million, between then and the service's initial availability they had around 9.65 million subscribers. Then in one year they had an 86% increase to 18 million, and now if the 37% growth is true then they're roughly shy of 25 million (24.66 million).

That's not bad and I guess with Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite coming this year they'll definitely hit 25 million and maybe even that 30 million milestone, but I think it's also kind of easy to see why growth may've been slower than anticipated. For one, every subscription service contracted a bit this year. Secondly, there haven't been a lot of AAA bangers dropped in GamePass this year either 1P or 3P outside of Flight Sim (which was already available on PC last year), Outriders and MLB The Show. Speaking of those last two, I always thought after those we'd see the start of more big 3P AAA games day-and-date on GamePass but that hasn't happened. Smaller games? Of course, but those have always been day-and-date generally. But honestly 3P-wise there hasn't been any big day-and-date release in GamePass since MLB and Outriders, both of which seem they were under very specific circumstances. So maybe those were the exceptions rather than establishing a new trend?

I also have some speculation of my own. Namely, I haven't seen Microsoft do a lot of advertising for specific GAMES released in the service. They're always willing and able to advertise GamePass itself, but they could do more for specific releases, especially the 1P ones. Psychonauts 2 should have gotten a bigger marketing push than it did, same goes for Flight Sim (I know they may've been counting on the Top Gun Maverick tie-in but why no back-up marketing campaign?), The Ascent (funding some high-quality toy model sets or a digital mini-comic with a story prequel to the game would've been nice), etc.

It kind of ties to what I think is a persistent problem there: Microsoft seems to feel simply advertising the games collectively under GamePass is enough but that doesn't help much if people don't know if specific games (preferably new releases) even exist, much less exist in the service. The hardcore/core gamers following those games may know, and you might pick up some traction with some Twitter posts, featured stream or two and maybe even general WOM, but a somewhat bigger, traditional marketing effort for those games could still serve them greatly.

Back 4 Blood got a separate game pass splash screen at the end of their tv spots. So at least they are starting to push certain games on gamepass by themselves.

I imagine they will continue doing it.

 

[Ezekiel_]

Every time I see third party games going day 1 on Gamepass I think "they must have no confidence in that game".

Or Microsoft is subsidizing so much for third party deals that they figure might as well get that sure money, it's not like they will sell a lot of copies on the Xbox platform, compared to PC and Playstation, or even Nintendo.

 

[Shadax the wizard]

Hasn’t it been growing with like a million some months this year? I was under the impression that it’s doing well.

 

[noise36]

Issue is, when you’re giving it away, growth metrics potentially paint a false picture. Retention becomes more important..

So Sony giving away free trial of PS+ mean that no one is paying for it? False growth?

Majority of subscribers are either paying full price or have paid for 1-3 years of gold and converted it to GP. Its illogical that a free or $1 trial would grow GP numbers year on year, just like its illogical that a PS+ trial would grow subscribers paying nothing year on year.

 

[Shmunter]

20 million is actually not that bad, but its up only 2 million since January when they were at 18 million.


they went from 15 to 18 million in just 3 months. Then for the next 6 months, they added just 2 million. That's not good.

I do think this is due to a VERY weak first six months for Xbox. Their biggest gamepass games were Outriders and MLB the show. Clearly not enough.

I really wanted them to go out and get Resident Evil 8. That game is pretty much the biggest game of the year so far and it wouldve been the big boost they needed right before the year ended.

It will be very interesting to see the numbers for the last three months. I am surprised they didnt mention them just to have the news sting a bit less. Flight Sim, Ascent, Hades, and Avengers are big titles that shouldve added some numbers. Ive been subbed for the last 3 months because of Hades, Ascent and now Avengers. I will definitely resub for Forza and Halo.

It’s not too bad, I actually expected a contraction post covid.

 

[Topher]

If Halo gets great reviews that number will climb. Games have to drive this train. It cannot only be about value.

 

[Jaybe]

It was a board decision and the change was made to bring compensation in line with the company’s focus going forwards - subscription service growth across the board.

Microsoft just adjusted executive stock bonuses to prioritize growing the Teams chat app, signaling 'focus on the product at the highest levels of the company'

The change, which gives more weight to growing Teams users in determining executive bonuses, signals the growing importance of Microsoft's chat app.

www.businessinsider.com

Thanks for sharing that article with the timing.

from the Totilo’s Axios article he has:

• In 2019, the company added Game Pass subscriber growth to a short list of performance goals for top executives, including CEO Satya Nadella.
• It’s the only pure gaming metric listed in the execs’ payment plan, and sits alongside other priority targets including a number of LinkedIn sessions and usage of Microsoft Teams.
• Reaching certain targets over the course of three years pays out more stock to those executives.

My bold prediction is that Starfield will be Game Pass only (no ability to buy it in its own).

This was the big driver behind Bethesda’s acquisition in my opinion. Follow the money, or at least how the executives are compensated to see the choices they make to deliver on their bonus metrics. It didn’t help that Sony was also rumoured to be trying to purchase timed exclusively.

 

[Ezekiel_]

So basically, before they announced 18 million, between then and the service's initial availability they had around 9.65 million subscribers. Then in one year they had an 86% increase to 18 million, and now if the 37% growth is true then they're roughly shy of 25 million (24.66 million).

That's not bad and I guess with Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite coming this year they'll definitely hit 25 million and maybe even that 30 million milestone, but I think it's also kind of easy to see why growth may've been slower than anticipated. For one, every subscription service contracted a bit this year. Secondly, there haven't been a lot of AAA bangers dropped in GamePass this year either 1P or 3P outside of Flight Sim (which was already available on PC last year), Outriders and MLB The Show. Speaking of those last two, I always thought after those we'd see the start of more big 3P AAA games day-and-date on GamePass but that hasn't happened. Smaller games? Of course, but those have always been day-and-date generally. But honestly 3P-wise there hasn't been any big day-and-date release in GamePass since MLB and Outriders, both of which seem they were under very specific circumstances. So maybe those were the exceptions rather than establishing a new trend?

I also have some speculation of my own. Namely, I haven't seen Microsoft do a lot of advertising for specific GAMES released in the service. They're always willing and able to advertise GamePass itself, but they could do more for specific releases, especially the 1P ones. Psychonauts 2 should have gotten a bigger marketing push than it did, same goes for Flight Sim (I know they may've been counting on the Top Gun Maverick tie-in but why no back-up marketing campaign?), The Ascent (funding some high-quality toy model sets or a digital mini-comic with a story prequel to the game would've been nice), etc.

It kind of ties to what I think is a persistent problem there: Microsoft seems to feel simply advertising the games collectively under GamePass is enough but that doesn't help much if people don't know if specific games (preferably new releases) even exist, much less exist in the service. The hardcore/core gamers following those games may know, and you might pick up some traction with some Twitter posts, featured stream or two and maybe even general WOM, but a somewhat bigger, traditional marketing effort for those games could still serve them greatly.

Probably closer to 20 million subs

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I also love gamepass and agree just wait until Halo and FH5 hits

Both of those will definitely give a bump in the numbers but the question is will that be enough to hit 30 million as an end-of-year milestone announcement, and what percentage can be sustained for a decent length of time?

I think for the first part the answer is an easy "yes" but the latter is open to speculation as are some other metrics. Personally I still consider Xbox and GamePass as two different brands that have some synergy, but the latter is dependent upon the former. I bring this up because I don't want Microsoft to think that if, in some misfortune of events, GamePass underperforms too much and they have to can it, that it means shuttering the Xbox division. Because there's many things Xbox as a brand can do for growth without relying on GamePass (especially if they decentralize xCloud from GPU).

However, hearing some of their other recent statements on things such as VR recently (from Phil himself no less), don't give me the impression they are viewing Xbox and GamePass in quite that same light, to some of my personal disappointment (it would not hurt for them to enable VR compatibility on Series or do a strategic partnership with a VR headset maker, like Samsung. That'd go a long way IMO).

Probably closer to 20 million subs

Ouch.... Welp

If it's actually closer to 20 million, then that means a net gain of only 2 million in the span of the year, which is respectable but would also clearly show it's a service maybe to treat more as a supplemental benefit to the ecosystem rather than the main pillar. I think some of us have to be accepting of the potential reality that GamePass as a service may not ultimately pan out the way Microsoft wants.

The good news there though is, if Phil and others at the Xbox division are doing the right thing, they aught to be able to keep Nadella's full support for Xbox as a platform/ecosystem on its own merits and refocus things to a model that keeps focus still on Xbox/PC/mobile Play Anywhere and synced synergy, but as a QoL feature for players in the ecosystem. Decouple xCloud from GamePass Ultimate if you have to. Less emphasis on having all 1P games in GamePass day-and-date, never mind 3P releases, but they could still do some strategy stuff in that regard for games (like MMOs) that really fit that model best.

At the end of the day, none of these numbers as necessarily official (in terms of at this very moment...June was technically four months ago) until Microsoft speaks up on them, so I'm gonna stay half-full/half-empty on all of this for now.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Because Sonygaf.

Maybe they should update your tag.

 

[Kacho]

Why would it be considered an infestation of xbox talk when it's the best damn thing about Xbox currently? Every major upcoming and past first party release, big 3rd party releases, including EA Access, Cloud Gaming, Xbox Live Gold, plus PC Game Pass with Ultimate on top of game discounts, and, apparently for Forza Horizon 5, literally every premium feature the game will have going forward, all included in Game Pass. That's crazy value.

I can only imagine what the Game Pass lineup will look like come next year when Starfield drops.

The best damn thing about Xbox is entirely subjective though. To me it’s the Series X hardware, upcoming Bethesda games, Perfect Dark, etc. I think it should be more “here are the awesome games coming to Xbox” and less “here are the awesome games coming to Game Pass.” I think I feel this way because I see Game Pass more as a complementary service rather than the main draw.

 

[Clear]

Subscriber count is not a terribly informative metric. its not about cumulative numbers, success is all about retention and recurrence.

If you have 20 million subs and they are only active half of the time (6 months out of 12) it matters a lot. We can say for certain that they will not have 100% monthly recurrence, and this ratio is going to fluctuate naturally over time as the line-up changes, so its a really tough thing to judge how well its actually doing.

You can't even use it as a barometer for console performance as on PC it doesn't require a hardware buy-in and a lot of people are likely to just give it a shot without committing long-term.

That they aren't hitting growth targets is not a good sign, especially as we know from NPD's and the like that it isn't propelling hardware or software sales to new heights...

So... I'm honestly curious how much money MS is burning to establish the service. It has to be an immense amount, especially when factoring in their studio acquisitions and the cost of running them as going concerns.

 

[Sosokrates]

37% growth instead of there 48% goal.

Not great, but not bad either.

Imo Microsoft need invest more in marketing, pretty sure playstation spends more on advertising, ms need to spend more because playstation already has a brand penetration advantage.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Back 4 Blood got a separate game pass splash screen at the end of their tv spots. So at least they are starting to push certain games on gamepass by themselves.

I imagine they will continue doing it.

They must do it if they want to draw more attention to the service, IMHO. Otherwise it's not much different than, say, a free games website telling me to sign in to play all their games but for all I know as a complete n00b those could be 1000 versions of solitaire or spades.

That's why it's so important to advertise about the specific games in the service and treat them as their own specialties that just also happen to be available in the service. Mention the service too of course and emphasize why it's the best way to play it (if not the only way), but don't let that overpower the game itself. The game itself should be able to do most of the talking.

That'd draw a lot more interest (especially to casuals, mainstream and gamers not in the ecosystem) than just going on about the service itself.

37% growth instead of there 48% goal.

Not great, but not bad either.

Imo Microsoft need invest more in marketing, pretty sure playstation spends more on advertising, ms need to spend more because playstation already has a brand penetration advantage.

Not only that but Sony's advertising has generally ran circles around Microsoft's/Xbox's when it comes to the style factor and general coolness. Xbox have had some good commercials for sure, especially the one with that guy from Black Panther, but they haven't done enough of spots like that style-wise.

The Disney+ tie-in commercial spots were nice but they should be doing more of stuff like that for specific tastes in foreign markets, too. The music spoof commercials are funny, but probably not what most would consider "cool". One area Microsoft really needs to work on when compared to Sony tho, are commercial spots and advertising/marketing (including tie-in marketing) for specific 1P game releases. Sony's kind of in a league of their own in that regard, there's a lot for Microsoft to still learn there.

 

[XXL]

I think people are missing the point of this and are getting to caught up in how they feel about GamePass.

GamePass isn't doing as well as Microsoft expected it to.

With all the free promotion it gets on gaming forums (and actual promotions), it's surprising and not a great look. I mean, people legitimately thought it was at 30M, it's approximately 9M less than that.....let's get real here.

It seems like there is some serious overestimating of this service going on everywhere, including at Xbox HQ.

 

[Punished Miku]

Why is their so much thirst on gaf for Gamepass to fail

Jealousy mostly.

 

[Dr Bass]

Why is their so much thirst on gaf for Gamepass to fail

I don't think there is overall thirst, though there is surely some of that from people who hate MS and just want them to fail.

I'll repeat my perspective.

It's a bad model for software and does damage to the perceived value of software over time (I'm a software engineer by trade). It's a similar issue devs have with Apple's App Store, and how that created a race to the bottom, where it gets to the point where people see "99 cents" for an app and think "Eff that!" Software has typically been decently priced, because it is incredibly hard to do well, and costs money to support. That's why software back in the day was typically 50 bucks and up (WAY more for actual pro software), and then you could get upgrade pricing for future versions etc. It's a tried and true model that works, and was completely obliterated by Apple on the mobile side, and it has trickled over to the desktop realm. And it's absolutely hurt developers, and made Apple the "GateKeeper" for business software and their models across the globe (Google is included on this too, but they seem to follow more than lead) on phones.

It could potentially be the same thing with Game Pass. If Microsoft became the "Gate Keeper" for what gets onto their subscription model if people stop seeing value in buying games, then the industry is in trouble IMO. Games need to be able to be sustained, in and of themselves. Not existing as some part of a subscription mashup. Game Pass is currently an insane value for gamers, but I just don't see how that is sustainable outside of a MASSIVE subscriber base. Those "23 studios" MS bought have recurring costs, and they are expensive. So if that massive subscriber base happens ... well look out industry, you might not get to make what you want unless one of these trillion dollar companies gives you the ok. It won't be financially viable otherwise.

I don't think that's going to happen though. I think people like me will still be willing to buy games at full price if they want to experience it. I just paid 60 bucks for Metroid Dread, finished it in 10 hours, and it was 60 bucks INCREDIBLY well spent IMO. I would honestly, honestly, rather buy ten games a year at full price than pay ten dollars a month for a sub service where I just got to play whatever was included. I expect to be paid for my work, and I like paying others for theirs.

So no, I don't want Microsoft to fail at all. I want them to get back to their OG Xbox and 360 glory days when they felt like the coolest stuff in town. Game Pass is neither here nor there when it comes to that point.

I can't speak for others though.

 

[CatLady]

Yes instead, now more than ever.

Tell me, do you want to play less and worse games and have to rent them?

Except that really doesn't seem to be the case so far this year.

XGS games are being very well received and getting high critical scores, higher than Sony games anyway, and Forza and Halo aren't even out yet. Additionally Sony's highest scoring exclusive this year was made by an Xbox first party. That hardly indicates Xbox is making bad games due to Game Pass.

 

[Kagey K]

They must do it if they want to draw more attention to the service, IMHO. Otherwise it's not much different than, say, a free games website telling me to sign in to play all their games but for all I know as a complete n00b those could be 1000 versions of solitaire or spades.

That's why it's so important to advertise about the specific games in the service and treat them as their own specialties that just also happen to be available in the service. Mention the service too of course and emphasize why it's the best way to play it (if not the only way), but don't let that overpower the game itself. The game itself should be able to do most of the talking.

That'd draw a lot more interest (especially to casuals, mainstream and gamers not in the ecosystem) than just going on about the service itself.

I agree 100%. If a person is watching Tv and sees and ad come in for a game they are interested in, that little splash at the end might make them go, Oh what’s Gamepass? and go googling to see what they are talking about.

They need to break into the mainstream mindshare now that they have a large portion of their hardcore already subscribed.

 

[The Eradicator]

I can't believe they're disappointed by a 37% increase 37% is pretty damn good, but I guess not compared to 48%. Those projections tho... very ambitious.

Any time a company misses their projections, even by a fraction of a percent, it's examined by the financial people. A 23% miss is something they'll need to address moving forward in their projections. For the Xbox division of MS, this is a pretty big deal. The entire Xbox playbook is centered on gaining Game Pass subs right now. For MS on the whole, it doesn't matter too much if one segment of one division fell behind projections.
That said, I'm sure that evaluating year over year growth would have been very tough after the spikes we saw from everyone staying home in 2020. Like you said, 37% increase isn't awful. Regular investors wouldn't even notice, but the people who make decisions at MS will see the miss, and it will probably affect some budget projections for next year.

 

[twilo99]

I'm sure MS and gamers are shaking.

GP subs last year overachieved by 15% (86% vs 71%), MS stock is at $308 which at record highs, with a market cap of about $2.3 trillion, just below Apple at $2.4.

I can't really wrap my head around how microsoft is hanging in there with Apple at all...

 

[noise36]

I can't really wrap my head around how microsoft is hanging in there with Apple at all...

Cloud growth is huge.

 

[Rivet]

Everyone here says it’s free?

That's the point, they gave it for free (well, $1 for upgrading your gold subscription) and they STILL missed the target...

Thing is people don't care so much about "'value" in gaming, they just want to buy and play the best games whenever they want. It's cheap anyway. As long as those games aren't on Gamepass, it probably won't work. Maybe when the big hitters release in the years to come. Then again, the competition will still be there too.

 

[Sosokrates]

20 million is actually not that bad, but its up only 2 million since January when they were at 18 million.


they went from 15 to 18 million in just 3 months. Then for the next 6 months, they added just 2 million. That's not good.

I do think this is due to a VERY weak first six months for Xbox. Their biggest gamepass games were Outriders and MLB the show. Clearly not enough.

I really wanted them to go out and get Resident Evil 8. That game is pretty much the biggest game of the year so far and it wouldve been the big boost they needed right before the year ended.

It will be very interesting to see the numbers for the last three months. I am surprised they didnt mention them just to have the news sting a bit less. Flight Sim, Ascent, Hades, and Avengers are big titles that shouldve added some numbers. Ive been subbed for the last 3 months because of Hades, Ascent and now Avengers. I will definitely resub for Forza and Halo.

Why would the news sting lol. The growth of gamepass is still good.

 

[The Eradicator]

37% growth is phenomenal, particularly without any major 1st party releases (the cornerstone of the Gamepass strategy) and a complete lack of consoles on shelves. Ridiculous to consider that a failure.

Is 48% higher than 37%? Yes, undeniably. But if they’d hit 48% then 58% would have been higher…

Should anyone who wants Gamepass to fail feel good about 37% growth of an already big number? Of course not

This is not how investors think. When a company sets projections in their guidance, they ARE, in fact, expected to meet or exceed those projections. If they had predicted 100% growth, and delivered 99%, you'd have the big money investors wondering where the 1% went.

 

[lachesis]

For MS, it's not good news and for me, it's a good news that they'll have more merit to drive even more value into the Gamepass, and perhaps even lower the pricing.
For place like South Korea, I think they are driving down the Gamepass Ultimate price by 5-6 bucks. In Japan, it's already like 10 bucks a month or so. I wouldn't mind that.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

The best damn thing about Xbox is entirely subjective though. To me it’s the Series X hardware, upcoming Bethesda games, Perfect Dark, etc. I think it should be more “here are the awesome games coming to Xbox” and less “here are the awesome games coming to Game Pass.” I think I feel this way because I see Game Pass more as a complementary service rather than the main draw.

The Xbox Series X hardware is a major plus, it means developer creativity won't be held back, and Bethesda is a major industry shake up that will be felt for generations to come. All the big games Xbox Game Studios have coming is further reason for excitement. But what successfully brings all of these things together into a more formidable package is Xbox Game Pass.

The hardware is an important piece that was something that needed to be removed as an obstacle, and they did that. But the key for Xbox as a gaming platform (be it Cloud Gaming, PC and Xbox consoles) was access to amazing games. The fact they're all coming is one thing, but that they're all going to be added at no additional cost to a games subscription service where all first party games will forever remain is an incredible value that literally makes Game Pass its own platform on its own. This is the reason that 15 million view Starfield Official Teaser Trailer ends like this.

Microsoft is treating Game Pass like it's own platform, similar to how they treat Xbox Consoles and PC. Xbox Game Pass is like their other console. They want to sell more of this thing than they want to sell Xbox consoles, though selling more xbox consoles also helps to sell Game Pass.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

I think people are missing the point of this and are getting to caught up in how they feel about GamePass.

GamePass isn't doing as well as Microsoft expected it to.

With all the free promotion it gets on gaming forums (and actual promotions), it's surprising and not a great look. I mean, people legitimately thought it was at 30M, it's approximately 9M less than that.....let's get real here.

It seems like there is some serious overestimating of this service going on everywhere, include at Xbox HQ.

Yeah this thread is making my head spin. The same posters who were celebrating 23 millions back in March and 30 millions in September just received confirmation that the real number is actually 20 millions and they're still jumping everywhere like cheerleaders.

 

[The Eradicator]

Why would the news sting lol. The growth of gamepass is still good.

The rate of growth may seem good to players, but to investors, it's always bad to miss projections. From a financial standpoint, it is not good. Growth is good, but rate of growth is what drives investment.

 

[Stuart360]

Man reading this forum you would think Gamepass just shrunk by 37%, not grew 37%.
Take away the Microsoft target part and people would be like 'Man 37% growth, thats not bad at all. Gamepass still pulling in the numbers' etc.

Never change some of you.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Never mind.