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"62% won’t pay $70 anymore": Gen Z's shift toward subscription services

havoc00

havoc00

Member
Phil was right all along!



If Xbox can consistently provide enough value, whether through major first-party launches, indie discovery, or benefits of some kind, then maybe Microsoft was early to an industry shift that the rest is only now beginning to fully understand.

I may or may not sound like I'm waffling a little here, but it's all to drive one point home: Xbox has spent years building Game Pass around a shift in consumer behavior that is only now becoming increasingly more obvious.

So, is Game Pass the answer? Honestly, I think it is for many people. Is it the answer for everyone? No, of course not. Nothing ever is.

But if audiences are becoming more comfortable with subscriptions, rotating through content instead of owning it, and avoiding increasingly expensive upfront purchases, then maybe Microsoft wasn't completely wrong after all. Maybe Xbox really was just early.






 
Or just be a dipshit like me and pay full price for games AND subscribe to game pass

Fairly Oddparents Burn GIF
 
I bet a high percentage also spends more time watching other splay games online rather than play themselves.
My experience is that most of the younger people i meet who say they play games, in reality they just play a couple free to play GaaS and have never spent a dime on games.
 
More like shift toward GAAS.

IMO, betting on Gamepass when the market was moving to GAAS was MS's biggest mistake.
 
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People don't want to pay $70 for games so they'll subscribe to Gamepass!

But why would your average normie gamer who will mostly play GTA5, EA Soccer and COD go for Gamepass? He'll have to buy those games anyway, they're not included.

And why would a hardcore gamer who's waiting for lower prices for Resident Evil 9, Pragmata, Silent Hill2, Crimson Desert and tons of other hot new games go for a GP subscription that doesn't have 90% of the games on his wish list? Is Corden's logic that gamers don't care what games they play? That if they really, REALLY want to play Pragmata but balk at the price you should give them a GP subscription so they can enjoy Forza instead?
 
I'm Gen X, and if I like a game, I buy it. I have the lowest tier of PSN and had Game Pass for a hot minute, then cancelled it. I think most video streaming services are a waste and prey on human weaknesses. They want you to subscribe and just forget about it, even though you really only consume 1 or 2% of their content. Games you want to play, just wait a month, and you'll get them at a huge discount. The whole system is just a money-making racket preying on uncontrolled consumerism.
 
They wont pay $70, but they'll pay almost $300 a year for a bunch of old games?

Yea, I'm sure that's why Xbox is killing it right now
 
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Personally, for whatever gamepass costs per annum I'd sooner go on Fanatical or CDKeys and just buy whatever game I wanted for relative pennies and call it a day.
 
It's funny how Uncle Phil was so adamant that console gaming just wasn't the way forward cause apparently console sales had stagnated, yet gamepass subs won't go much higher than 30 million (and that includes the old xbox live sub service to boost gamepass numbers) yet they were all in on gamepass. This sub service bullshit is a joke, and so nice of windows central for trying to push this bullshit narrative onto people.

No matter which way you put it, it will not ever take off like Microsoft want it to. Gamers just don't play enough to demand a sub service like this. It's as simple as that.
 
They didn' release anything i wanted to buy and own at 70 dollars anyway like the Outer Worlds 2 proved, so i havent bought 300 quids worth of games in a year for over a decade, it will be interesting to see how many copies COD sells for a year before going on Gamepass
 
Bigfroth said:
I'm Gen X, and if I like a game, I buy it. I have the lowest tier of PSN and had Game Pass for a hot minute, then cancelled it. I think most video streaming services are a waste and prey on human weaknesses. They want you to subscribe and just forget about it, even though you really only consume 1 or 2% of their content. Games you want to play, just wait a month, and you'll get them at a huge discount. The whole system is just a money-making racket preying on uncontrolled consumerism.
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Never have truer words been spoken. Well said.
 
Since this study by IGN game out, some people want to apply it to Game Pass and ignore other services. Not only that, but there also seems to be an assumption that this will have the same impact as movie and music streaming services. Notice on both movie and music, it specifically states no need to purchase physical media and for gaming it states no longer purchase full price games. That is a big difference in purchasing habits going from not at all, to not full price. He might be right about rotating the services in and out, but I do not think video game subscription services will ever reach what other media services have achieved.
 
What a slop article. It's titled Gen Z's shift to gamepass, but there is nothing in the article/study showing that Gen Z is actually using gamepass. As far as I can tell gamepass isn't even mentioned in the study.
 
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MacReady13 said:
It's funny how Uncle Phil was so adamant that console gaming just wasn't the way forward cause apparently console sales had stagnated, yet gamepass subs won't go much higher than 30 million (and that includes the old xbox live sub service to boost gamepass numbers) yet they were all in on gamepass. This sub service bullshit is a joke, and so nice of windows central for trying to push this bullshit narrative onto people.

No matter which way you put it, it will not ever take off like Microsoft want it to. Gamers just don't play enough to demand a sub service like this. It's as simple as that.
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They tried to pass the model off as if people generally engage with gaming in the same manner they do a movie or TV show. You could in theory knock out one movie a day on Netflix and end up watching 30 movies a month, more than justifying the cost( granted, Netflix going up every year is making that proposition a bit sticky) since they're obviously shorter experiences. Or binge-watch a few movies or a TV season every weekend, whatever the case. But I reckon many ( most?) gamers are going to settle into a couple games at one time vs sampling them like a buffet, so I think ultimately you're better off just buying the few games you 'really' want to invest time in, and may want access to into perpentuity, vs paying to subscribe to several hundred of them and end up settling in on a few. Like I could take $100 right now and get much more value out of the handful of games that money would buy off a Steam key site, than be staring at a giant wall of games on Gamepass for which only a handful really interest me and I'm forced to play their curated selection.
 
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ReBurn said:
I'm not Gen Z but I won't pay $70 for most games either. Most just aren't worth it.
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I haven't paid more than $20 for a game since IIRC buying Zelda Links Awakening for Switch back in like 2019. I get shivers down my spine if I pay more than $15 for a game nowadays.
 
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You know a a commercial plan has failed when it needs articles from zealots to continue to defend it. You don't see articles defending PS Plus or Nintendo Switch Online service. They simply exist, they atracted users, they are commercially viable, they continue to exist, they don't need daddy's money to continue to exist.
 
PauloRoberto said:
You know a a commercial plan has failed when it needs articles from zealots to continue to defend it. You don't see articles defending PS Plus or Nintendo Switch Online service. They simply exist, they atracted users, they are commercially viable, they continue to exist, they don't need daddy's money to continue to exist.
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It's because these cock heads actually think it is NEEDED for Xbox to succeed! The best and most successful gen they ever had was the 360. I didn't see the need for any rental service for them to succeed.
 
Yeah, I am going to pass alongside with Gen Z who not only couldn't care less about Xbox but who also mainly play GaaS titles including sports, CoD, GTA and whole bunch of F2P.

What the hell is the point of getting GamePass for above?
 
No game is worth $70 in my opinion, or hasn't been in awhile. These days trying to raise a family and saving for retirement, etc, it gets difficult to stomach the price.
 
It's been almost nine years since Game Pass launched. I don't think MS was counting on a shift in consumer behavior, they were actually trying to create one. And they did, in their own customer base and it wasn't a good change - as can be seen by the changes in Game Pass itself (more expensive, less day one content, tiers, etc.). As well, people (no matter the generation) are spending less on full price games because of many factors - cost of living, games being too expensive, games not meeting value proposition standards, etc.

The author of the article is trying to twist that survey to suit promoting Game Pass, but it's a huge reach imo.
 
Sakura said:
What a slop article. It's titled Gen Z's shift to gamepass, but there is nothing in the article/study showing that Gen Z is actually using gamepass. As far as I can tell gamepass isn't even mentioned in the study.
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It's a stupid article based on a weak and dumb assumption trying to link one thing to something else.

"A new gaming study suggests audiences are moving away from ownership, and Xbox Game Pass may finally benefit from that shift"

The stupidest article when you look at the actual facts. 62% of people didn't wake up today and decide that they don't want to buy games for $70 anymore. This decline has been happening gradually for some time, and here's the thing they don't want to pay $240-360 a year for gamepass either. Three consecutive quarters xbox content and services has been declining. Ironically revenue for other services like PS+ and NSO+ have increased. What makes this guy think something has changed today all of a sudden?
 
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Except:

1. Gamespass revenue isn't enough to sustain the entire games industry.
2. Gen Z feel this way precisely because gamespass (and f2p) has spent an entire decade convincing the next generation of customers that games hold no value and are essentially "free"
 
This is a complete lie. The service doesn't have even 30 Million of real subscribers(besides live numbers). Look for Switch and ps Sales. 100% bullshit. Gamepass is a stupid model.
 
IDK about shifting towards gamepass but there's little point in buying full priced games on release (except Nintendo first party) since they get discounted so quickly. Why spend $70 when you can get the same game later in the year for half that?
 
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