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Is Gamepass hurting Microsoft showcases?

MadPanda

Banned
No. Gamepass is integral to their business now and knowing I'll get almost everything on gamepass is such a boon. I won't have to pay 70$ for games. Why would it hurt? What do I get from another trailer for hogwarts legacy or what arkham DC game? Maybe it will look cool, but could buy that game in any case.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Maybe they should spread these 90min full of trailers over the year, so that every game gets more attention. I bet most people already forgot 95% of the games because everyone was focused on Starfield mostly.

Also it was a lot of multiplatform and timed exclusives. Starfield can have it's own showcase and all these smaller titles can be spread over the year.

They should have done a 40 minute main show with just the big hitters; Redfall, Silksong, Forza Horizon 5 DLC & Forza Motorsport, Scorn, Diablo 4, Starfield, A Plague Tale, Kojima, Persona, Wo Long and Minecraft Legends. All stuff with obvious high production values. They should have been upfront before the show that the show would focus on games releasing in the next 12-18 months.

They should have used this second show that’s upcoming to put everything else in to; the other indies, the updates to Grounded, Sea of Thieves, TES and Fallout online, Overwatch 2, Flight Sim, Riot etc.

I don’t feel like my time was respected at all yesterday.
 

Kuranghi

Member
To me the smaller stuff is what saved the show but it was crap to not see the bigger stuff and what was shown was personally quite a disappointment to me.

I'm hyper excited for RE4 Remake bit I found the reveal of that boring and not great looking visually compared to RE2/3 Remake and Village, but at least I know there's precedent for it being good and being shown better later whereas with Starfield I'm coming off years of disappointment and seeing the same old issues and tropes.

I really want to play Cocoon and many other indie from the show and I'm already sold on most of them.
 

Portugeezer

Member
They only want to show gamepass games, so it limits how many big third party games can be shown. Most of the games weren't worthy of a big showcase. Dropping a few trailers on the Xbox YouTube would have been enough.
 
You missed the beginning of the show when they claimed it's for games that will release the next 12 coming months or you are making this thread with an agenda in your mind? If we follow your argument you will think that Sony is releasing every month blockbusters but in reality they have showelware releasing every second week.
The first party Games that are awesome etc need more time to develop. Even though the show had only 2 games that interest me is better to know what we can expect in the coming year than to get a Logo of some fantastic game that will release 3-5 years later.
 

A2una1

Member
I don't think it hurts Micrsoft or the game pass but it definitly hurts my anticipation for these games. For some weird reason I see the "day one on game pass" logo and imediatly think, "nice will try out since it is free" and I forget the game in that very same instant....
 
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Zeroing

Banned
No. Gamepass is integral to their business now and knowing I'll get almost everything on gamepass is such a boon. I won't have to pay 70$ for games. Why would it hurt? What do I get from another trailer for hogwarts legacy or what arkham DC game? Maybe it will look cool, but could buy that game in any case.
fjyZu3c.png
 
Also to note it seems people either they don't understand gamepass or they pretend to not understand it with stupid comments, thread etc. Gamepass is a service, is not free ( no additional cost bullshit argument) and has a monthly fee. In order to maintain their subscribers they have to release frequently different games so their customers have something to enjoy in between the blockbusters that needs TIME to materialize. If you had any movie/series streaming subscription and you still don't understand the concept you are really either a big idiot or pretending to not understanding it. THANKS god Microsoft made gamepass a relatively cheap service and they are competitive and the fuckers at the Sony side have something to worry about. Because you can be the N 1 fastest man in the world just by walking if there is no one competing with you, but if there are many people trying to take that title and if you want to keep it you have to try your best.
 

Zeroing

Banned
Also to note it seems people either they don't understand gamepass or they pretend to not understand it with stupid comments, thread etc. Gamepass is a service, is not free ( no additional cost bullshit argument) and has a monthly fee. In order to maintain their subscribers they have to release frequently different games so their customers have something to enjoy in between the blockbusters that needs TIME to materialize. If you had any movie/series streaming subscription and you still don't understand the concept you are really either a big idiot or pretending to not understanding it. THANKS god Microsoft made gamepass a relatively cheap service and they are competitive and the fuckers at the Sony side have something to worry about. Because you can be the N 1 fastest man in the world just by walking if there is no one competing with you, but if there are many people trying to take that title and if you want to keep it you have to try your best.
sIjnMQR.png
 
They should have done a 40 minute main show with just the big hitters; Redfall, Silksong, Forza Horizon 5 DLC & Forza Motorsport, Scorn, Diablo 4, Starfield, A Plague Tale, Kojima, Persona, Wo Long and Minecraft Legends. All stuff with obvious high production values. They should have been upfront before the show that the show would focus on games releasing in the next 12-18 months.

They should have used this second show that’s upcoming to put everything else in to; the other indies, the updates to Grounded, Sea of Thieves, TES and Fallout online, Overwatch 2, Flight Sim, Riot etc.

I don’t feel like my time was respected at all yesterday.
I knew it when they announce it will be 90 min thing. So I tuned in exactly one hour after it started and when something was boring or uninteresting I forwarded it. Easier than to sit and listen that french lady hype a game that I will never give a second thought about, let alone play it.
 

Quezacolt

Member
It annoyed me to no end. They should have just mentioned that all games shown would be on gamepass from the start, instead of putting an ad to it after every trailer..

I don't care about gamepass, it's not a service for me, i was watching to see what games they would show, not to have an ad for their sub shoved down my throat after every presentation.
 

oldergamer

Member
Hard no to the original post. Xbox showed a ton of games coming this next calendar year.

These complaints are getting old. Let me sum them up


Xbox has no games
Xbox shows the same games every year
Xbox never shows enough game play
Xbox announces or shows games to far out
Xbox shows games to early

And that has changed to:

Where are all the first party games?
They didnt show me rumored games
They didnt show me enough sequels
Game Pass is bad for gaming = "burnout"

I dont know how anyone could think SOF was better when half the games there were multiplatform. Looking forward to street fighter 6 in 2023 tho.

Still this conference showed over 30 games coming by 2023. They still have one more showing and next year they will show what is coming fall 2023
 
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oldergamer

Member
It annoyed me to no end. They should have just mentioned that all games shown would be on gamepass from the start, instead of putting an ad to it after every trailer..

I don't care about gamepass, it's not a service for me, i was watching to see what games they would show, not to have an ad for their sub shoved down my throat after every presentation.
Honestly i dont get your argument. Don't get gamepass then. Nothing is to stop you buying any of the games you saw day 1
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
A subscription service needs a LOT of content to keep people subbed. It's almost a necessity for MS to have a consistent supply-chain. And, given the cost of AAA games and time, it's only logical they pad it out with indies, and AA.

For me, the issue is not Gamepass. It's the mis-management, their games are not lacking in funding/or time but that a lot of projects are in disarray due to poor management. Also, MS need to treat their flagship titles better and hold them to a higher standard. I don't need to write anything about Halo's reveal back in 2020, Sony would've never given the greenlight to showcase the game in that state. I was also under-whelmed by many aspects on their biggest game in showcase today i.e. Starfield. I expect a certain Bethseda jank given their engine, but it's kinda shocking how little of a leap they have made when it comes character models/animations. I was listening to XCast and they were positive on the show but also mentioned how the showcase lacked a "wow" factor when showing off a game. Starfield was perfect candidate for it and it fell short.

This is a random NPC in Horizon which gives you a certain side-quest. Like, how can this be a cross-gen game and be of this quality while main characters in MS flagship title which is next-gen only look like how we saw today? I feel that's a bigger problem, despite throwing ludicrous amounts of money, MS aren't seeing the same return on their investment as Sony is.

FVFNq4yaAAI2Zja.jpg
Yeah, I dont really see it being talked about...but that was the first thing that stood out to me yesterday. The character models, facial animations.
 

mejin

Member
Yes, absolutely. Long showcase to see AA and indies most of the time sucks a lot.

And Phil also sends a message: no space for devs who don't want their games on GP day one.

No big surprises, no megatons.
 
I mean there's alot of options. Yeah, I ain't gonna subscribe to play some of those cartoony kids games but I will when there's an actual game I want to play. I get to play it for a low price too. Like, I will only need 2 months worth of gamepass to play starfield, then I can wait until the next big game to do the same thing. Suits me well and is easy on the wallet.
 

Schmick

Member
Yes, absolutely. Long showcase to see AA and indies most of the time sucks a lot.

And Phil also sends a message: no space for devs who don't want their games on GP day one.

No big surprises, no megatons.
Thats your take. You have no proof of this.

Another take... developers just want their games on Gamepass. The popularity of Gamepass is now at a point where a 95 minute show can be filled with games going to Gamepass.

On the topic... have certain Gaffers already forgotten that all the games shown are set to be released within 12 months? I thought there was big issue with developers/publishers revealing games way too far in advance?
 
There is no doubt Phil Spencer and Microsoft went above and beyond securing dozens and dozens of Gamepass titles for today's showcase. However, so much of it was non-AAA stuff that it made the show almost impossible to sit through. It reminded me of those 2008 era Wii conferences that had shovelware after shovelware for their casual audience or the VGA award shows that just have random games that you would never ever want to play.

I understand MS studios are struggling to put out games, but I really dont think buying up these smaller titles is the best way to showcase Gamepass. The quality matters. People tune into Microsoft and Sony shows to see AAA games, but I feel Microsoft feels compelled to have SOMETHING to put on Gamepass every damn month since they need to ensure people stay subbed month after month. And this is the result. A lot of games that no one here would feel compelled to ever create a thread about. Not even for Digital Foundry/DJ Khaled Face offs.

I have really wanted to like Gamepass, but my worst fears are coming true. There is not a lot of AAA content for people who became Xbox fans playing Halo, Gears, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Fable... AAA stuff that we have begging for years. The average age of gamer is 33 years old. We dont want to play those quirky and charming titles. Are we still the target audience for Xbox? A lot of the games felt like they were for a far younger audience. Im glad people can have smaller games to play, but no one tunes in to conferences or subscribes to Gamepass to play these games, and yet the conference is full of them, and it's making the conference mind numbingly boring.

A 30 minute conference featuring Redfall, Starfield, Forza 8 and Diablo would've been just fine. Disappointing because of lack of Fable, Avowed, Hellblade and Perfect Dark, but these smaller gamepass titles didnt make up for the disappointment so whats the point?
I totally agree.
Also a gigantic issue is the lack of different genres. 95% of games shown were 4th grade fps. That conference is a copy of the 2014(?) conference. IMO
All the big titles will probably be shown during the 2023 conference and maybe released in 2024 or 2025.
 

mejin

Member
Thats your take. You have no proof of this.

Another take... developers just want their games on Gamepass. The popularity of Gamepass is now at a point where a 95 minute show can be filled with games going to Gamepass.

On the topic... have certain Gaffers already forgotten that all the games shown are set to be released within 12 months? I thought there was big issue with developers/publishers revealing games way too far in advance?

Ofc, it's my opinion. Some games like RE4, SF6, Callisto Protocolo and Final Fantasy XVI were shown in SoP which we can agree it's not comparable to a showcase. But they had a bigger impact than any third party yesterday. What those kind of games have in Common? Not day one on GP.

I saw It and made my conclusion: quantity over quality.
 

Belthazar

Member
The average age of gamer is 33 years old. We dont want to play those quirky and charming titles.

Speak for yourself, I'm 31 and a lot of those games have been the best part of gaming for me for the last 10 years or so.

But back on Topic: Sony doesn't have a subscription focus and also features indies and more quirky titles in their showcases, so does Nintendo. There's space for every kind of game to be showcased and those indies really need the spotlight.

Microsoft just needs to get their pacing right and that doesn't mean necessarily excluding indies, they should just have more frequent but smaller showcases like State of Plays and Directs.

The days of the 1 hour+ showcases are gone, they are a relic of when you were only able to have one or two big events per year. Now you just announced a stream that people will watch from their homes, that's all.
 
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I like gamepass a lot but i'm that guy wanting to play RE4, SF6, Callisto, Dead Space R, FFXVI the most and at day one.

Though TMNT will hit GP this week, so its all good. Those smaller games do add up if you buy them constantly. Won't have to buy Hollow Knight either. And Wo Long. And ofcourse Starfield and Forza. So even if you only like, say, 4 games, GP is a good deal. Starfield and Forza alone would set you back 140-150 euros already. Which is the price of GP without the cheap trick.
I think people forget that RE4, SF6, Callisto, and Dead space are also all coming to Xbox.
 
Thats your take. You have no proof of this.

Another take... developers just want their games on Gamepass. The popularity of Gamepass is now at a point where a 95 minute show can be filled with games going to Gamepass.
And it's just a small fraction of what's actually coming. It's usually close to 20 titles per month. We just have a few of the highlights and that's it, and still took 95 minutes.
 

Bragr

Banned
It's because it's not E3 proper, meaning, studios aren't putting down the money and effort to make a trailer for their games as they used to, they don't feel the pressure to produce content for a real live big show like in the past.

Therefore, those massive announcements aren't getting announced. Xbox could flex with a ton of games, but it's not worth it, it's not about the competition to have the best conference like in the past, it's not desired to announce some massive project that comes out in 2 years these days.
 
What is the thread title?
The point is that even if you don't like GP, all those big AAA games listed are still there to buy day one if you want them. That was the bulk of the content at the Sony SOP. GP is an added bonus on top of the third party AAA stuff that's multiplatform.

I think people just see it revealed at a Sony event and literally think it's only for Sony systems. It's weird. Hell, even Stray is just a timed exclusive.
 
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mejin

Member
The point is that even if you don't like GP, all those big AAA games listed are still there to buy day one if you want them. That was the bulk of the content at the Sony SOP. GP is an added bonus on top of the third party AAA stuff that's multiplatform.

I think people just see it revealed at a Sony event and literally think it's only for Sony systems. It's weird.

We are just talking about the quality of the showcase. It was too long without showing great moments and 2022 is indeed a shit show for Xbox. One of the worst year ever. You guys need to breath before posting.

Anyway, GP is not a bonus, PS Plus is a bonus.

GP is main and whole strategy from Microsoft.
 

Schmick

Member
Ofc, it's my opinion. Some games like RE4, SF6, Callisto Protocolo and Final Fantasy XVI were shown in SoP which we can agree it's not comparable to a showcase. But they had a bigger impact than any third party yesterday. What those kind of games have in Common? Not day one on GP.

I saw It and made my conclusion: quantity over quality.
Sorry I don't see how this equates to poor quality on Gamepass. You can already see the Gamepass library in its currents state. There's a lot of quality of there right now.

Day one is not the be all end all by the way. Its a perk for sure, but no one expected top AAA 3rd party games to appear on Gamepass day 1. In my opinion MS have enough studios to cover day one games alone.

Residential Evil games and Final Fantasy games have actually appeared on Gamepass. I haven't seen any suggestion that future games won't.
 
We are just talking about the quality of the showcase. It was too long without showing great moments and 2022 is indeed a shit show for Xbox. One of the worst year ever. You guys need to breath before posting.

Anyway, GP is not a bonus, PS Plus is a bonus.

GP is main and whole strategy from Microsoft.
I wasn't even talking to you. I was quoting a guy talking about RE4, Callisto, SF6, and Dead space. How would showing those games at the showcase even help if Sony showed them already just a few days prior? That would be pretty boring. Capcom is also probably showing them again at their own showcase this week. And there's lots of channels with 30 minute videos of SF6 because journalists played it at SGF.

GP isn't the whole strategy for MS, because like I just explained they have many games on their system that aren't on GP. So that's just literally not true. Not even every game at their showcase was on GP, like Diablo IV.

You're being really condescending and trying to tell me how to post for no reason.
 
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Leyasu

Banned
Yes, absolutely. Long showcase to see AA and indies most of the time sucks a lot.

And Phil also sends a message: no space for devs who don't want their games on GP day one.

No big surprises, no megatons.
If this was Sony, you would be lapping it up. You have zero credibility

It was a showcase for the next 12 months. It is not sending a message to anyone.
 
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Markio128

Member
I think the problem for me personally is that most of the interesting day 1’s are coming next year - there was little reason given to those on the fence about GP to jump in now.
 

Hezekiah

Banned
It feels like a race to the bottom - to get as many games on GamePass as possible. Overwhelm the senses. Quantity over quality.

I saw a video yesterday, and they were making the point that MS is trying to cater to everybody equally, so you get a lot of these random AA titles that serious gamers wil likely have no interest in.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I think it's unfortunate, that we don't have separate GamePass showcase and separate "E3" like show. This format is shit anyway, since they are not competing with each other in the same day, they don't feel the need undo the other company. I feel like this problem is just as much with Sony as with MS. I don't really think that the State of Play lately gather much interest outside of PSVR2 and even that, it should have been way more hype for this device, because it looks fucking sweet.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
People overhyping these shows because they're desperate for Xbox to compete with PS is what's hurting them. Know where you're at and stay in your lane, then no one will be upset.
If thats the case, Sony and Nintendo need abandon all hope. Microsoft could afford to purchase both of them with money to spare. Try telling either company to stay in their lane against the richest company in the world.
 

Leyasu

Banned
It feels like a race to the bottom - to get as many games on GamePass as possible. Overwhelm the senses. Quantity over quality.

I saw a video yesterday, and they were making the point that MS is trying to cater to everybody equally, so you get a lot of these random AA titles that serious gamers wil likely have no interest in.
Or, try to make it as enticing as possible. “Look at what is available if you subscribe”

All the while that games are still for sale. The race to the bottom concerns don’t make any sense
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
I too have owned every system since the seventh generation of consoles.

I get where you are coming from.

I’m not a teenager or in my early twenties any more. I don’t have 10 hours a day to game. I have to be selective about what I play.

I’m trying to be fair here but I’d say 80% of the games yesterday looked bargain bin tier. If Game Pass didn’t exist and I had to pay for those games, I wouldn’t. There’s better stuff out there to spend my limited time playing. I probably only complete 2-3 games per year if that and I’m happy to just buy those games outright.

Game Pass to me is only going to be worthwhile for one month at a time when their big games eventually drop. Starfield, Avowed, Fable, Perfect Dark. I will sub, complete and then let the sub lapse. I’m not seeing the value in between tentpole releases.
That's exactly how I intend to use it. Sub for Starfield, Avowed, Fable. Unsub in-between.

I don't see the value in paying for the other AA/kid-focused stuff.

The rest of the time I'll be playing other big AAA games which I'm happy to buy. I only have so much time to game, so paying for an entire year of GamePass simply isn't worth it for me. I'm lucky if I get 14 hours a week to game - think about it that's two hours a day.
 
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FalsettoVibe

Gold Member
They should have done a 40 minute main show with just the big hitters; Redfall, Silksong, Forza Horizon 5 DLC & Forza Motorsport, Scorn, Diablo 4, Starfield, A Plague Tale, Kojima, Persona, Wo Long and Minecraft Legends. All stuff with obvious high production values. They should have been upfront before the show that the show would focus on games releasing in the next 12-18 months.

They should have used this second show that’s upcoming to put everything else in to; the other indies, the updates to Grounded, Sea of Thieves, TES and Fallout online, Overwatch 2, Flight Sim, Riot etc.

I don’t feel like my time was respected at all yesterday.
I was seriously starting to hate the way Sony does their State of Plays and blog post announcements but now it makes sense now. Do all your smaller announcements in short shows then have one big 45min show every year.
 
There is no doubt Phil Spencer and Microsoft went above and beyond securing dozens and dozens of Gamepass titles for today's showcase. However, so much of it was non-AAA stuff that it made the show almost impossible to sit through. It reminded me of those 2008 era Wii conferences that had shovelware after shovelware for their casual audience or the VGA award shows that just have random games that you would never ever want to play.

I understand MS studios are struggling to put out games, but I really dont think buying up these smaller titles is the best way to showcase Gamepass. The quality matters. People tune into Microsoft and Sony shows to see AAA games, but I feel Microsoft feels compelled to have SOMETHING to put on Gamepass every damn month since they need to ensure people stay subbed month after month. And this is the result. A lot of games that no one here would feel compelled to ever create a thread about. Not even for Digital Foundry/DJ Khaled Face offs.

I have really wanted to like Gamepass, but my worst fears are coming true. There is not a lot of AAA content for people who became Xbox fans playing Halo, Gears, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Fable... AAA stuff that we have begging for years. The average age of gamer is 33 years old. We dont want to play those quirky and charming titles. Are we still the target audience for Xbox? A lot of the games felt like they were for a far younger audience. Im glad people can have smaller games to play, but no one tunes in to conferences or subscribes to Gamepass to play these games, and yet the conference is full of them, and it's making the conference mind numbingly boring.

A 30 minute conference featuring Redfall, Starfield, Forza 8 and Diablo would've been just fine. Disappointing because of lack of Fable, Avowed, Hellblade and Perfect Dark, but these smaller gamepass titles didnt make up for the disappointment so whats the point?
 
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