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Axios: Microsoft misses Xbox Game Pass subscriber target for second year

It will always be a small segment of the gaming market.

Once they realize the fact that there is nothing else to do to sway people from stores where you pay to own the game (eg. Steam), you will see a decline in new games added and a rise in subscription prices.

Since their current business hedge is to eat the loses today in order to grow larger tomorrow.

Which is not sustainable without user growth.


The idea Microsoft will stop putting all new first-party games on Xbox Game Pass is the new "Microsoft is going to leave console gaming and discontinue Xbox" we use to hear on repeat. I would think people would look at the kind of money Microsoft is spending because of Game Pass and put two and two together.

It's the Office 365 model. Microsoft didn't spend $8.1 billion for Zenimax/Bethesda (the final price according to their official documents), and nor are they planning to spend $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard - their largest-ever acquisition in history - citing Game Pass as the primary driving force behind both deals, to then suddenly turn around and not put all games in Game Pass as planned.

"Play it Day One with Game Pass" is what they advertise on every game for a reason. Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 alone going to game pass day one should destroy any further doubt about all other games. Those two games will be two of the absolute biggest titles Xbox is going to have even for the next 20 years in terms of the sheer expected magnitude and anticipation of their releases. Few games that are not a Call of Duty release will rise to their level, potentially not even a new Halo, and I fucking love Halo. Will still be big of course, just not as big as Bethesda's RPGs.

Bethesda's single-player RPGs are right now, based on reputation and past financial success, the biggest heavy hitters Microsoft have in their entire arsenal (leaving out Call of Duty) until something else that's highly anticipated, such as Avowed, Redfall, Fable, Outer Worlds 2, Hellblade, Perfect Dark and all the rest of those other big AAA games coming, can prove whether they can be as big.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
The 28% is from June 2021 until June 30 2022. Sony PS+ numbers are from last quarter only (this summer - 3 months). PS+ also went from 46, 47 then up to 48 millions in the same period as GP.

How many times do we have to repeat the dates until you rats understand?

9TTqPQb.jpg

So Sony lost 2 million subs in one quarter and you think this is a good thing? Lol

So like 5 percent growth for Sony in the same period Microsoft saw 28 percent growth, then dropped 2 million in one quarter?

Killing it lol

You are special, especially with your comment about Sony wanting ps plus to have reached saturation and not see growth.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
So Sony lost 2 million subs in one quarter and you think this is a good thing? Lol

So like 5 percent growth for Sony in the same period Microsoft saw 28 percent growth, then dropped 2 million in one quarter?

Killing it lol

You are special, especially with your comment about Sony wanting ps plus to have reached saturation and not see growth.

We're just reacting on the latest available data for both companies, I'm not sure why that dude is trying to meme it up.
 

GhostOfTsu

Banned
So Sony lost 2 million subs in one quarter and you think this is a good thing? Lol

So like 5 percent growth for Sony in the same period Microsoft saw 28 percent growth, then dropped 2 million in one quarter?

Killing it lol

You are special, especially with your comment about Sony wanting ps plus to have reached saturation and not see growth.
I never said it's good they lost 2 millions?

You constantly concern-troll Sony threads so it's hard to know if you genuinely didn't understand the GP numbers so I explained them to you. It's not the same period.

Of course it's bad to go back to pre-pandemic levels for PS+ but it's still early in the gen. They can't really grow anywhere but by selling PS5 consoles.
We're just reacting on the latest available data for both companies, I'm not sure why that dude is trying to meme it up.
I'll keep that picture for your next reply.
 
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The idea Microsoft will stop putting all new first-party games on Xbox Game Pass is the new "Microsoft is going to leave console gaming and discontinue Xbox" we use to hear on repeat. I would think people would look at the kind of money Microsoft is spending because of Game Pass and put two and two together.

It's the Office 365 model. Microsoft didn't spend $8.1 billion for Zenimax/Bethesda (the final price according to their official documents), and nor are they planning to spend $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard - their largest-ever acquisition in history - citing Game Pass as the primary driving force behind both deals, to then suddenly turn around and not put all games in Game Pass as planned.

"Play it Day One with Game Pass" is what they advertise on every game for a reason. Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 alone going to game pass day one should destroy any further doubt about all other games. Those two games will be two of the absolute biggest titles Xbox is going to have even for the next 20 years in terms of the sheer expected magnitude and anticipation of their releases. Few games that are not a Call of Duty release will rise to their level, potentially not even a new Halo, and I fucking love Halo. Will still be big of course, just not as big as Bethesda's RPGs.

Bethesda's single-player RPGs are right now, based on reputation and past financial success, the biggest heavy hitters Microsoft have in their entire arsenal (leaving out Call of Duty) until something else that's highly anticipated, such as Avowed, Redfall, Fable, Outer Worlds 2, Hellblade, Perfect Dark and all the rest of those other big AAA games coming, can prove whether they can be as big.
Even when they’re on Gamepass day one, won’t be a surprise they sell more on steam long term.
 

Larogue

Member
The idea Microsoft will stop putting all new first-party games on Xbox Game Pass is the new "Microsoft is going to leave console gaming and discontinue Xbox" we use to hear on repeat. I would think people would look at the kind of money Microsoft is spending because of Game Pass and put two and two together.

It's the Office 365 model. Microsoft didn't spend $8.1 billion for Zenimax/Bethesda (the final price according to their official documents), and nor are they planning to spend $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard - their largest-ever acquisition in history - citing Game Pass as the primary driving force behind both deals, to then suddenly turn around and not put all games in Game Pass as planned.

"Play it Day One with Game Pass" is what they advertise on every game for a reason. Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 alone going to game pass day one should destroy any further doubt about all other games. Those two games will be two of the absolute biggest titles Xbox is going to have even for the next 20 years in terms of the sheer expected magnitude and anticipation of their releases. Few games that are not a Call of Duty release will rise to their level, potentially not even a new Halo, and I fucking love Halo. Will still be big of course, just not as big as Bethesda's RPGs.

Bethesda's single-player RPGs are right now, based on reputation and past financial success, the biggest heavy hitters Microsoft have in their entire arsenal (leaving out Call of Duty) until something else that's highly anticipated, such as Avowed, Redfall, Fable, Outer Worlds 2, Hellblade, Perfect Dark and all the rest of those other big AAA games coming, can prove whether they can be as big.
Even with those planned big titles, It will turn into Netflix like situation.

People will renew their subscription for a month when a big anticipated title is released, then cancel it for the rest of the year.

But unlike Netflix, it will have a bad effect on the ecosystem. Online games need large player base all year round to stay relevant, if people gonna dump it after one month it will quickly turn into ghost town.

Also players will feel pressured to finish that said game in a month, leading to less enjoyable rushed experience, and the hype will fade away after that month, since most people no longer own the game or can play it.
 
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NickFire

Member
The idea Microsoft will stop putting all new first-party games on Xbox Game Pass is the new "Microsoft is going to leave console gaming and discontinue Xbox" we use to hear on repeat. I would think people would look at the kind of money Microsoft is spending because of Game Pass and put two and two together.
All we can do is guess as to how they will pivot to begin earning the kind of return on investments that a company of this size expects on massive expenditures. But we know for a fact that pivots are coming in terms of increased costs for consumers starting next year based on the recent interview. And speculation over potential tiers (one w and one w/out day 1) is reasonable. Doesn’t mean it happens, but they’d hardly be the first subscription to offer tiered benefits.
 
The mental gymnastics in order to dismiss Phil Spencer's own words is kinda astounding.
I completely agree. People immediately dismissed him saying Game pass was profitable and sustainable before that. They all missed the part when he said CoD was staying on PlayStation. People believe what they want.
 
I completely agree. People immediately dismissed him saying Game pass was profitable and sustainable before that. They all missed the part when he said CoD was staying on PlayStation. People believe what they want.

Actually it's kind of Phil's fault for the "GP profitable" stuff because he segued from talking about revenue to suddenly talking about profit in the immediate next sentence. It was purposeful conflation: talking about GamePass capping at "between 10 to 15 percent of our gaming revenue" to then saying "GamePass is profitable for us" is going to lead a lot of people to mistakenly assume that the revenue is the profit, but he never indicates what an actual profit margin for GamePass is.

For all we know, it could be $2 net profit per user. Sure, that's profit, but it's a very poor profit margin and indicative that either sunk costs into securing content deals and running the service are very high, or the ARPU is very low on the customer side. That's just an example but point remains, there was definite intent with that statement to lead the reader into conflating the profits with the revenue, that's why he gave the revenue percentage targets first, and did not go into the profit margins on GamePass.
 
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Looks like gamepass wasnt simply good enough deal for more ppl to jump on it, cant be helped, for total casual if they even know about it, they play 1-2 games/year(usually new cod and respectably depending if in europe or north america - fifa/nba2k/nfl) so dont need gamepass for anthting, super hc gamers (like many here on GAF)buy any game they are interested in or/and have on top huge backlog.

So it looks like gamepass is for that avg gamer, not casual enough coz he/she wants to play more than 2games/year but not too hardcore either to buy many games as soon as they launch, thats where perceived value of gamepass kicks in, for over 25m players- not small number by any means, just its not that 50m+ juggernaut everyone, especially microsoft and their fans though its gonna be by now.
I see kids/teens wanting it because it means that they get a rolling catalog right away (and they don't care if they play the same two games, one of them is Fortnite).

These kids don't pay for it, they really don't care at all!
 

damidu

Member
who was trolling who, with that absurd %70 estimate? thats how you undermine even relatively healthy growth.

i hope they don’t need such numbers for this model to have a future.
 
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