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The Verge: Microsoft is considering increasing the price of Game Pass Ultimate again.

Big Baller

Al Pachinko, Konami President
i cant take this no more the sandlot GIF
 
@evillore needs to reopen the acquisition thread. A career in fortune telling awaits some of us.

We tried to tell them but they refused to believe. And now it’s playing out word for word with zero deviation.
Yup...even trying to entertain the possibility that Gamepass wasn't sustainable turned into a meme with lots of people saying "but is it legal" as a joke...it turns out it should've been illegal since day one, considering all studios are now imploding, including the ones they just bought.

I'll also be a fortune teller by saying this: putting all eggs in one basket (Call of Duty) will backfire on Xbox as well. I can already see the downfall of that IP as we speak. They clearly don't know what to do with it, lmao.

Shawn Layden with the RKO out of nowhere!



Randy Orton Wrestling GIF by WWE

Shawn and Jim Ryan both said multiple times that business wasn't sustainable and were both mocked online by everyone that believed MS's corporate talk.

I'll never understand how people fell for Phil's lies for years while he kept promising more games that never came.
Someone took a screenshot of this on Twitter.

This is way more interesting now that we're hearing what Microsoft thinks of Game Pass and how it's performing.



FKs10xPXsAk3rm3



They gave Phil too much leeway.

This dude should be gone soon. lol

I still don't get how you're so bad at your job...but still get to keep it.

Dude made MS back his plans when they weren't sure if they should give up the videogame industry...made sure they backed him up on buying 2 publishers and now they don't know how to control them, lmao.

Dude failed at creating Gamepass as a sustainable subscription model, releasing games AND buying studios. It's incredible when you think about it.
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
Eventually, I think day one releases stop altogether. But I do think they strip it back to Ultimate Only for a while
Maybe it eventually just becomes a first party back-catalogue thing, that way they could sell it on Playstation too like EA
 

winjer

Gold Member
About 2 years ago, I got 2 years of Gamepass Ultimate for a good price.
But overall, I don't consider it was worth it. Only a hand full of games were must play. A lot of them I didn't care for.
Worst yet, the PC Xbox app is a pile of steaming excrement, full of bugs and problems.
My subscription ends in June, but I won't renew it.
If they really increase prices again, that only reinforces my decision.
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
Yup...even trying to entertain the possibility that Gamepass wasn't sustainable turned into a meme with lots of people saying "but is it legal" as a joke...it turns out it should've been illegal since day one, considering all studios are now imploding, including the ones they just bought.

I'll also be a fortune teller by saying this: putting all eggs in one basket (Call of Duty) will backfire on Xbox as well. I can already see the downfall of that IP as we speak. They clearly don't know what to do with it, lmao.


Shawn and Jim Ryan both said multiple times that business wasn't sustainable and were both mocked online by everyone that believed MS's corporate talk.

I'll never understand how people fell for Phil's lies for years while he kept promising more games that never came.

I still don't get how you're so bad at your job...but still get to keep it.

Dude made MS back his plans when they weren't sure if they should give up the videogame industry...made sure they backed him up on buying 2 publishers and now they don't know how to control them, lmao.

Dude failed at creating Gamepass as a sustainable subscription model, releasing games AND buying studios. It's incredible when you think about it.
People should really learn to listen to Playstation execs much more than they do rn.

Playstation is market-leader for a reason.
 
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About 2 years ago, I got 2 years of Gamepass Ultimate for a good price.
But overall, I don't consider it was worth it. Only a hand full of games were must play. A lot of them I didn't care for.

that's because the most expensive part of gaming isn't the price you pay for the game but the time you spend on a game.

Paying a sub so that a company can tell you "here's what you get to play this month" is an idea so antithetical to the enthusiast gamer, it's something only Xbox customers would fall for.
 
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Zheph

Member
that's because the most expensive part of gaming isn't the price you pay for the game but the time you spend on a game.

Paying a sub so that a company can tell you "here's what you get to play this month" is an idea so antithetical to the enthusiast gamer, it's only something Xbox customers would fall for.
don't underestimate how cheap some people are also
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
Anyone with a brain knew. You need to cover 1st party cost + 3rd party licenses + infrastructure cost. That’s why MS does not release net profit for the gaming division.
That's why they flatout bought ABK.

100% guaranteed they made a desperate move to get COD exclusive to GamePass and Jim Ryan ran their hopes right into the ground with the 10-year deal.
 

eerik9000

Member
Thing is most playstation owners didn't want psnow, and we're leary over always online and subscriptions. It took an army of shills and bots to pump up gamepass, even here on this forum.
Oh I'm sure a lot more people would be interested in it if Sony devalued their first-party games and put them there day one, and spent billions signing deals for third-party titles to be there on day one, too. The difference is that for Sony, it has been a supplementary service to their regular gaming business. It is for those who want it as it is. If it becomes big and populer, cool, but if it does not and fails completely, not a big deal. For Microsoft, Game Pass became their number one focus. They put all their eggs in one basket, hoping that if they are the first one to burn billions making it a thing, they would eventually dominate the whole gaming market. That did not happen, thankfully.

Anyways, my point was that Microsoft were not the first ones to come out with that kind of a subscription service. Even on their own platform, EA Play was a thing years before Game Pass.
 

Frwrd

Member
They hoped the rest of the industry would follow them down this unsustainable loss-leader path, which would effectively bankrupt both Sony and Nintendo ( and even Valve if they got involved).

But everybody else just sat back and left them to execute on their stupidity alone and this is the result.
This.
 

Cattlyst

Member
Welp. If this happens it looks like I’ll be cancelling my GP subscription. Just another in a long line of cancellations along with Netflix, Prime, PSN etc. I haven’t missed any of them so far, I doubt this will be any different. Greed: fuck off.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Can't have it both ways. You can't say Game Pass is unsustainable and the cause for these lay-offs, while from the other side of the mouth say increasing the price is bad.

Sure you can. If raising the price causes more subscribers to cancel Game Pass then that is adding to the problem of Game Pass being unsustainable. Very well may be that in its current form, Game Pass doesn't have a fix.
 

JackMcGunns

Member
Sure you can. If raising the price causes more subscribers to cancel Game Pass then that is adding to the problem of Game Pass being unsustainable. Very well may be that in its current form, Game Pass doesn't have a fix.


Raising the price of Netflix also caused cancelations; stopping password sharing caused even more, but in the long haul, it's still the best deal for movies & series, and so is Game Pass for games.

The service speaks for itself, if it's a good deal, people will subscribe. People will always react to price increases, but in the long haul, so long as they're able to continue to provide value, people will come back or you will get new subscribers. Netflix is doing better than ever now.
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
They have to. They are going to sell it as a needed evil since all their first party titles are going to be released on it.

I can see them asking for $24.95 a month for the service. I won’t be buying it but that’s where we are going to be going.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Raising the price of Netflix also caused cancelations; stopping password sharing caused even more, but in the long haul, it's still the best deal for movies & series, and so is Game Pass for games.

The service speaks for itself, if it's a good deal, people will subscribe. People will always react to price increases, but in the long haul, so long as they're able to continue to provide value, people will come back or you will get new subscribers. Netflix is doing better than ever now.

Game Pass ain't Netflix. Netflix is in the 300 million range and that is with significant competition. Game Pass has less competition and it topped out at 30 million. Game Pass doesn't have the numbers to raise pricing. If they were over 50 million then maybe but the service simply is not that successful. So saying Game Pass can raise prices because Netflix did doesn't make any sense. That's like saying ESPN+ can raise prices because Netflix did.
 
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meech

Member
The bolded is why I always laugh when people call gamepass the best "value in gaming". Your own posts even proves it. There are f2p games that are significantly better than a majority of games Xbox offers on the service. And those games don't require you to pay ANYTHING.

Even on top of that, has Xbox has a year where they had 4 full priced games in which it would be cheaper to own gamepass over just buying the games individually? The whole premise of sub services is just based on fake value, when when you stop and just take a look, the value just isn't there.
Speak for yourself.All the games Atlus(Persona, Soulhackers) put on gamepass made the subsciption worthwhile for me.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
They have to. They are going to sell it as a needed evil since all their first party titles are going to be released on it.

I can see them asking for $24.95 a month for the service. I won’t be buying it but that’s where we are going to be going.

If the numbers are stagnant at $10/17 then how can they charge $25? Clearly there isn't enough demand for the service as it is.

Unless, of course, this is Microsoft's way of shutting it all down. Price it to a point no one wants it and then close up shop.
 
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Spyxos

Member
I now have 3 years of gamepass. I don't know if it's still worth it. Or whether Ms will still be releasing games in 3 years' time.
 

JackMcGunns

Member
Game Pass ain't Netflix. Netflix is in the 300 million range and that is with significant competition. Game Pass has less competition and it topped out at 30 million. Game Pass doesn't have the numbers to raise pricing. If they were over 50 million then maybe but the service simply is not that successful. So saying Game Pass can raise prices because Netflix did doesn't make any sense. That's like saying ESPN+ can raise prices because Netflix did.


They can raise the price because it's a banger of a deal. Netflix was just an example of how people initially get outraged.
 

reinking

Gold Member
Raising the price of Netflix also caused cancelations; stopping password sharing caused even more, but in the long haul, it's still the best deal for movies & series, and so is Game Pass for games.

The service speaks for itself, if it's a good deal, people will subscribe. People will always react to price increases, but in the long haul, so long as they're able to continue to provide value, people will come back or you will get new subscribers. Netflix is doing better than ever now.
I guess it comes down to what does MS need from Game Pass at this stage. I was under the impression they still needed growth. Raising prices is absolutely going to kill growth. IMO, unless HeisenbergFX4 HeisenbergFX4 is right and they are bringing more value/perks to Game Pass, raising prices is a sign that they are no longer interested in growth and have accepted that current numbers is the ceiling. That would be bad news.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
They can raise the price because it's a banger of a deal. Netflix was just an example of how people initially get outraged.
It is not a banger of a deal if as we know sub numbers stalled, and that with probably not insignificant part of people doing Gold subscription stacking and $1 trick.
I would say it’s the opposite - the market decided GP is a 30mln sub platform, not 40, not 50.
 
That's why they flatout bought ABK.

100% guaranteed they made a desperate move to get COD exclusive to GamePass and Jim Ryan ran their hopes right into the ground with the 10-year deal.
It's hilarious how many people here actually pretended MS didn't buy ATVI because their plan was to take CoD exclusive.

Those pesky government regulators gave them a hell of a time though. Gamers essentially owe the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland a debt that can never be repaid. If it wasn't for the UK CMA, it's likely we would be looking at the end of gaming after Sony went bankrupt because MS made CoD exclusive to Xbox and then also bought Take 2 and made GTA exclusive as well. And then after that they would have turned their sights on Nintendo...
 
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JackMcGunns

Member
It is not a banger of a deal if as we know sub numbers stalled, and that with probably not insignificant part of people doing Gold subscription stacking and $1 trick.
I would say it’s the opposite - the market decided GP is a 30mln sub platform, not 40, not 50.


Not a banger of a deal? Day one games alone make it a banger, explain how it’s not? A single game is $70 dollars, all you need is 1 game that you want to buy to make it a no brainer that it’s better to get Game Pass and get that game you want plus all the other benefits.

You’re using sales as a metric for quality. Imagine saying Alan Wake 2 or HiFi Rush are not quality games because they didn’t sell well. :/
 
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Matsuchezz

Member
The content is so high quality that I would pay double even triple the price of today’s game pass ultimate. Go for it MS!! we all win when we all pay.
 
Sure you can. If raising the price causes more subscribers to cancel Game Pass then that is adding to the problem of Game Pass being unsustainable. Very well may be that in its current form, Game Pass doesn't have a fix.
'very well may be'...

you're too kind, man...
 

N1tr0sOx1d3

Given another chance
They dare increase the price and I’ll cancel both subscriptions and then I’m out for good.
Xbox is on its knees and they dare think they can increase prices?
 

xrnzaaas

Member
They can raise the price because it's a banger of a deal. Netflix was just an example of how people initially get outraged.
Then why have the subscriptions stalled at around 30 million? And that's accounting for the fact that there are still ways of getting the sub for a much lower price through services like Kinguin or Eneba.

Either people got used to constant 1$ deals or they just aren't that interested.
 

Zathalus

Member
This thread reminded me that I have an Gamepass sub that I have not used in a very, very long time. Went ahead and cancelled it, as well as a ton of other subs that have piled on over the years. Thanks Gaf.
 
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