Xbox Game Pass (XGP), which was once regarded by Microsoft as the core strategy of Xbox in the future, is now experiencing internal backlash. According to reports, some Xbox Studio executives “deeply hate” this subscription service, believing that it is reducing the value of games and even making it difficult for their own works to be properly evaluated by the market. After the news was exposed, many players began to speculate: Is XGP, which has been accompanying players for many years, really going to undergo major changes?
Back then, you wanted to be a Netflix in the gaming industry, but now you are accused of being too cheap?
The original concept of Xbox Game Pass was to create a game subscription model similar to Netflix, allowing players to play a large number of works for a fixed monthly fee and lowering the threshold for trying new games. But according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier on the show, some Xbox Studio managers now believe that Game Pass has hurt the value of the game itself!
They are worried that players will gradually become accustomed to “you don’t need to buy, just subscribe to play”, resulting in the original price and market positioning of 3A games being weakened. To put it simply, Xbox wanted to create a “player’s paradise” in the past. As a result, some developers began to worry that the works they made would become “a line of text in the subscription library.”
Developer: How much is my game worth?
The biggest selling point of Game Pass is that Xbox first-party works are added to the service on the first day, so players can play them without making additional purchases. But for the development team, this also brings about another problem: the success criteria of the game after launch become more blurred.
In the past, the success of a game was judged by its sales volume. Now, after joining the subscription service, the number of downloads, play time, and player retention rate have all become factors to consider. However, some people in the industry believe that this model may make the game “seem to be played by many people,” but it does not necessarily mean that the work has truly created sufficient commercial value. Xbox has also been readjusting its strategy recently. Officials have admitted that some of their past bets did not meet expectations and announced a restructuring of the Xbox business.
Is XGP going to disappear? It’s more like repositioning at the moment
Although the statement that “Xbox executives hate Game Pass” has caused a lot of discussion, there is currently no evidence that Microsoft plans to cancel XGP directly. On the contrary, Xbox continues to update service content, but may rethink launch additions, prices, and business models in the future.
For players, Game Pass is indeed a very cost-effective service; but for game companies, how to make players feel that the game is worth buying while maintaining subscription model revenue may be the biggest problem for Xbox now. After all, XGP was originally a trump card used by Xbox to change the game market. Now the biggest question has become: Did this card also make it lose part of its value?