Michael Pachter, a strategic consultant at Wedbush Securities who never stops making shocking comments, once again made a bombshell comment. This figure, who has been active in the game industry analysis circle for a long time, has criticized the card drawing mechanism in the past as “existing because players are stupid”, and also questioned Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie as a high valuation operation. Also in 2022, he also predicted that when Activision Blizzard works are added, the number of Xbox Game Pass users will surge to 100 million, and even added in 2024 that it can reach 200 million subscriptions within 10 years.
However, in a recent brief interview with GamesBeat, Pachter’s stance changed significantly. He predicts that the new generation of Xbox consoles launched in 2027 is “already dead” because of Microsoft’s full embrace of the Game Pass strategy.
From support to opposition, Game Pass price increase becomes turning point
Pachter was seen as a supporter of Game Pass in the past, but after the recent subscription structure restructuring and price increases, he changed his tune and criticized the “all or nothing” pricing strategy of the current model.
He pointed out that the monthly subscription fee of $30 is too high, which is equivalent to $360 a year, and does not justify a $70 game. He believes that a lower monthly fee should be adopted, such as a $10 “all-you-can-eat” model, or flexible charging like a buffet, rather than being forced to bind a high-priced subscription.
He further pointed out that Microsoft should build its game library and cloud infrastructure into a connection platform similar to Steam, instead of locking all content in high-threshold subscriptions.
Console value being eroded? Strategic dilemmas emerge
It is undeniable that as Microsoft strengthens its multi-platform strategy and first-party works appear on other consoles, the exclusive value of Xbox hardware has indeed declined. Console sales trends in the past three or four years have reflected this.
But on the other hand, after the price increase of Game Pass, there was also a loss of some users. If console sales decline and subscription growth slows down, Microsoft’s strategic balance will indeed face challenges.
Market rumors indicate that Microsoft may increase the appeal of Game Pass Ultimate at $30 by adding more first-party or third-party services. However, as Pachter said, if the positioning and price strategy cannot be accurately adjusted, it remains to be seen whether it will be too late to correct the direction.