For many studios, Xbox’s Game Pass is clearly a losing proposition. Therefore, it will likely lose what makes it so popular.
The Xbox Game Pass is a great deal for many. For a fixed price between €9 and €21 per month, there is a wide range of games to play. This includes classics, but also many new releases that are playable from day one. However, this is probably a thorn in the side of many developers, as their games are devalued. The big revenues are missing, and further development of the studio is hardly possible.
The obvious assumption: The Game Pass will soon lose many of the “Day 1” games and they will only be added later.
One of the victims of the ‘massacre’ at Xbox is the team from The Elder Scrolls Online:
Who raises this assumption? The assumption comes from Jason Schreier. He spoke in a new episode of the podcast “Triple Click” about the future of the Game Pass. Schreier is a journalist and famous for his many contacts in the industry. He continuously uncovers grievances in the gaming industry or reliably identifies trends before they occur.
Games are devalued, Game Pass doesn’t pay off
What exactly does Schreier say? When asked about the Game Pass, Schreier explains:
I believe they will keep it, but at some point in the future they will just remove the Day 1 games because they no longer make sense.
As an example, he mentions the game “South of Midnight”. It’s not an outstanding game with a ton of positive reviews, but it is a game loved by a small community. It would likely be profitable if purchased individually – but not if it is just part of the Game Pass. Additionally, these games are also expected to boost subscription numbers. An extra pressure that some cannot meet, leading to frustration among studios:
I believe many games have faced this, and there are many people in the upper echelons of the studios at Xbox who completely despise the Game Pass and believe it has destroyed the value of their games or think it has reduced the value of all games. It has harmed the gaming industry and diminished the value of games.
Schreier also sees differences to other subscription models, like Netflix:
Netflix is a little different because you can’t just buy most things on Netflix separately.
It seems evident that a rethinking is necessary. After all, just a few weeks ago, Xbox announced that a total of 3,200 employees would be let go. The entire model of the Xbox studios, and thus also of the Game Pass, is currently under question. Many already see the Game Pass as a failure.
What are the consequences? For many, the “availability on day one” is one of the arguments why they pay for and subscribe to the Game Pass. If more and more games leave this system and only later land in the subscription, then the number of subscriptions could further decline. However, there will likely still be a large group of interested parties who do not necessarily want to play games on day one and simply appreciate the wide range of (relatively) current games and classics.
Whether the Game Pass is “dying” is therefore likely to be doubted. However, it is likely to attract a very different target audience than it has up to now. At least if Jason Schreier turns out to be right. But it remains to be seen how things will proceed with Xbox, once the countless layoffs are through.
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