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Phil Spencer: "Microsoft won’t stop selling [retail] games to promote Xbox Game Pass"

In a statement, Spencer clarified that the subscription service is an “exciting” business model for some games, and it helps diversify game choices for players. Buying and owning games by players is still a major part of the company’s business.

We don’t have the vision that everyone will pay us $15 a month. We think subscriptions are an interesting business model for certain types of games and for certain customers. I really see it as a diversification of how people build their library of games, or how creators reach the consumers they want to reach with the content they create. In my opinion, this will always be part of the business. I think the people who buy and own their games will be an important part of the business for years to come.
Spencer went on to state that allowing players to decide for themselves how they play and what they play is important to Xbox.

That’s why you won’t see us making subscription-exclusive games or trying to push people away from buying games. We love it when people buy games. It is fantastic. We also love it when people subscribe. We’re really looking at whether we can get more people to play more games and make it easy for every player who wants to play.

Despite popular belief, Xbox is moving to a Gamepass dominated platform for game purchases and distribution, at least according to Phil Spencer. He sees Gamepass as a way to create options for gamers so they can choose how they buy and play.

Phil says they will not slow down or remove other buying option to promote Gamepass. He wanted to leave it up the the creators and the consumers so won't be making Gamepass exclusive games for this reason.
 
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
 
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Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
not everything
 
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.

I would absolutely hate to be beholden to only games released on a subscription service, especially when most of them aren’t AAA quality
 
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not everything

Well most of the Xbox catalogue then including AAA titles dropping day 1 on the service.

I would absolutely hate to be beholden to only games released on a subscription service, especially when most of them aren’t AAA quality

I thought Xbox would be dropping all future AAA games on the service day 1. I'm that's incorrect let me know but that was my understanding.
 
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ChiefDada

Gold Member
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.

Lisa Simpson GIF by The Simpsons
 
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
Yes, it's well known that renting saves you money in the end.
seinfeld newman GIF
 

feynoob

Banned
I don't think the economics of AAA games on subscription model is as rosy as you're making it out to be. Even Phil Spencer is hinting at this now with hypothetical GP price hikes in the future. Great concept for indie games, but not the best environment for AAA on a recurring basis.
Current gamepass numbers cant afford those AAA games yet. First party and couple of AAA is enough as of now.
Currently gamepass generates around $3b. If it managed to hit 35m, it should be able to generate $4.2b-$4.5b. That is enough for couple more AAA games. a total of 10 AAA day1 3rd party games for that year (150m*10).
 
So far they've held true to this ideal and its a large part of what makes it an attractive ecosystem for me. If any of it wasn't entirely 100% optional I'd be pretty soured on the whole thing.

They have made cloud and subs optional so far, and invested money and time into making BC work which basically is the biggest way to strengthen my existing purchases and ownership. If they keep this same commitment I'm happy with it. Basically best of all models and you just choose what you want.
 

ChorizoPicozo

Gold Member
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
And?
 

nial

Gold Member
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
Wanting to own a product is not being a fool.
 

baphomet

Member
They might as well stop. They've completely destroyed people going into a store and buying their games.

MS games we may have sold 100+ copies of in the past, now buying 10 copies may be too many to sell across multiple stores.
 
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Hugare

Member
I'm really, really curious to know what's going to happen to COD once it becomes exclusive for real

How much they will sell once they put it on Game Pass? If its low, how it will affect the game's budget? ('cause those campaigns must be expensive at that high level of production)

Buying a game like COD when its already on Game Pass, and you know that there will be a new one next year is just ridiculous.
 
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Fbh

Member
Makes sense.
They'd get considerable backlash if they made games subscription only.

Besides selling them still works as a way to promote gamepass: "you can buy it for $60 or subscribe for $15 a month and get access to it + hundreds of other titles and every other new game we launch on day 1"
 

feynoob

Banned
I'm really, really curious to know what's going to happen to COD once it becomes exclusive for real

How much they will sell once they put it on Game Pass? If its low, how it will affect the game's budget? ('cause those campaigns must be expensive at that high level of production)

Buying a game like COD when its already on Game Pass, and you know that there will be a new one next year is just ridiculous.
COD wont be exclusive. It would sell like normal. It would just be like other typical day1 gamepass. Sell on other stores, and sub to gamepass.
 

Valedix

Gold Member
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
Just need a solid internet connection alongside hoping Xbox servers don't go down, or your internet connection/power.
 
Sounds like his pulling the plug on gamepass, another failed ms experiment lol, at least give it ur all, like only release ur games on game pass exclusive, and see if u can attract a lot more subs, what ms don’t understand, it’s alll about the games, get great games on there, and u will get 100 million subs in no time.
Phil announces Game pass and detractors claim it loses them money and will be dropped. Phil announces Game pass is sustainable and detractors say it isn't profitable. Phil announces Game pass is profitable and detractors claim Game pass will be the exclusive way to get games on Xbox. Phil announces Game pass will not replace retail and be an option for customers and detractors claim Game pass will be dropped. I swear you can't make this stuff up. Game pass was never going to replace retail it is and will remain an option for customers who either want one title or a subscription or both. It's the best scenario for customers.
 
i think they’ll eventually more fully more one way or another depending on their marketshare nearer to the end of this generation. Seems like right now they are unsure of how overall successful gamepass will be in the long run, especially with all these new studios and big games. They will either decide next gen to go all in on it or go bac to direct to consumer or a hybrid like sony is currently doing.
 
Anyone paying full price for a standalone game is a fool.

With GamePass you get access to everything for $20 a month. Add up that over the course of a year = the price of two fully priced AAA games (this is in NZ dollars lol)

As soon as the big games start dropping for Xbox and the value for GamePass increases even more, less people are going to see a need to buy retail games.
Gamepass is nice, but what happens if you want to play third party AAA games day one or soon after or even months though? Most AAA and even some AA games that I’m aware don’t ever come to Gamepass or come much later. Also, I think retail or digital sale purchases are needed for most AA to AAA to survive. For example, I doubt COD or God of War can survive on a cheap subscription service especially if they retain their very high production values and budget.
 

Valedix

Gold Member
At least I can buy a physical game for Xbox and then sell it or trade it in without having to worry about whether the publisher allows it or not. If Microsoft had their way with Xbox One then that wouldn't have been the case.
True yeah I remember how bad the reveal for Xone was and glad they reverted it haha.
 
Phil announces Game pass and detractors claim it loses them money and will be dropped. Phil announces Game pass is sustainable and detractors say it isn't profitable. Phil announces Game pass is profitable and detractors claim Game pass will be the exclusive way to get games on Xbox. Phil announces Game pass will not replace retail and be an option for customers and detractors claim Game pass will be dropped. I swear you can't make this stuff up. Game pass was never going to replace retail it is and will remain an option for customers who either want one title or a subscription or both. It's the best scenario for customers.
I've long since accepted the reality that posting here entails dealing with fanboys whose choice of plastic box shapes their identity, and enjoy simping for corporations more than playing videogames.
 
Did anyone ever say they were going to stop selling games? I don't think I've ever seen that mentioned anywhere, this almost seems like another one of those "Phil Spencer is on our side" kind of things when this was never even brought up before. Of course they will continue to sell games, unfortunately for them people aren't buying many of them when they do launch a new AAA game on GP (average about one every 18 months) most the games fall out of the NPD top ten the second month and often out of the top 20. This model isn't good for single player story driven games, it's fine if you want service based titles or MP focused games but when it comes to story based games they are going to have to try every way they can to work backend monetization into it, that or as Matt Booty said a long time ago focus mostly on "high end AA games"
 
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Not really. They tried to hamstring used games with DRM and that is what pissed people off.
To be fair the entire industry, Sony included, was chomping at the bit to follow down that road.

Nowadays both consoles are largely bricks without internet access, and discs aren't worth a damn if a company decides to de-list the game anyway, see Babylon's Fall. It's only going to be a matter of time before the first company de-lists a single player game, and forces an update that will make the disc worthless.

At least back then MS was talking about a method of reselling digital content. 10 years later we got all the shit aspects of the Xbone DRM scheme with none of the benefits.
 
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