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Xbox believes their subscription model is becoming a "central aspect of people's gaming lives" and it has the data to back it up
- Thread starter geary
- Start date
mansoor1980
Gold Member
someone please tell me , is gamepass profitable for microsoft or not?
Papacheeks
Banned
Notice the talk is all about playing basically Multiplayer games. As in more online traffic through their service, meaning more store transactions. Which includes people buying games, but probably mostly in-game purchases.
Not something I want their data people to see since they see that, and start greenlighting games or mandating some form of online function.
Not something I want their data people to see since they see that, and start greenlighting games or mandating some form of online function.
SLB1904
Banned
When sony news gets simplified to "ps now is a great deal you should buy it please"
Sure why not
Schmick
Member
Most likely not, no one can know for sure. But it is thought that Gamepass is going through a growth phase which requires a tremendous amount of investment.
Besides why do you even care whether it is profitable or not.
rickybooby87
Member
Yeah, rather unconvincing take on statistical analysis with no actual numbers behind it. It's almost as informative as "Study finds that people who own a car are more likely to buy gas than those who don't own a car".
mansoor1980
Gold Member
cuz i wanna know how this setup works , official numbers would be nice
SportsFan581
Member
Would be hard to determine what effect GP has on the share of physical sales in the UK. In 2017 it was 51:32, but PS4 continued to outsell Xbox by a wide margin in the years that have followed. Making it normal for the physical sales to be even more lopsided now than 2017. Plus, we don't know if Xbox users just skew more digital, etc.
Schmick
Member
We won't ever get official numbers from MS other than the number of subscriptions and even than that information will be vague.
Yeah, definitely too many variables to account for but gives us a start in terms of setting the boundaries. If you were able to give the digital/physical split then and now, even more boundaries could be set.
salamanderjuice
Neo Member
If it truly ends up successful then I worry it will end up like Netflix. One day Ubisoft decides they'd rather have their own sub service, Square Enix too, etc. Every big publisher having a subscription service with their own exclusive games that you need to subscribe and pay $15 a month to play. If it really takes off I could even foresee them doing more episodic games where they release the next bit every few months to keep you paying that $15. Maybe a year down the line we'll get a packaged version you don't need a sub to play sold at full price naturally.
systemr123
Banned
I like to believe but when reading some things I notice sound a bit strange to me:
- XBOX Game Pass members in the UK are more likely to play games online with friends and family at least once a week, compared to non-members.
Xbox Game Pass members play games online more often than Xbox none Game Pass members. This doesn't say anything I guess because some Xbox players can not play online at all because of not having Gold for example. So of course the percentage of Game Pass members is higher in that regard.
- 74% of British Game Pass members play games through a subscription at least once a week, compared to only 60% when looking at British gamers as a whole.
- 98% of British gamers have an entertainment subscription of some form and 83% have access to a gaming subscription.
All in all.. what does MS want to communicate with this flyer? I don't get it. It says nothing about being a great success or not, it doesn't communicate any useful numbers as well. The only factual thing I guess and what I like about this flyer is to read what the gamers favourite video game genres are. I don't know, I wish MS would come up with some more useful data. Ever since they started losing out against PS4/Sony they just never communicated any real and/or useful data, statistics or numbers about anything.
Not to piss on Game Pass though, it seems like it's a nice service for gamers at the moment. I don't have it because I think the games are a bit b-list but I can fully imagine a lot of people finding a lot to play there.
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dcx4610
Member
I'm not anti-digital but I am anti-streaming and only temporarily having access to media.
That said, I am currently playing several games on GamePass and it's a pretty awesome service. I'm still going to buy those games when I see a deal on Steam but for people that just want to try a bunch of games or play games and never care about playing them again, it's well worth it.
I've already played and beat Cyber Shadow and it's really no different from owning the game. I just don't like in theory that it could disappear and I want to buy it to make it part of my collection. One other thing I really like is if you have disc copies of something and the game is on GamePass, it will automatically launch the digital/GP version so you don't need the disc.
I can see why they wouldn't do it but I've always wished games were like movies where if you buy a physical copy, you get digital copy with it. GamePass is probably the closest you are going to get to that.
That said, I am currently playing several games on GamePass and it's a pretty awesome service. I'm still going to buy those games when I see a deal on Steam but for people that just want to try a bunch of games or play games and never care about playing them again, it's well worth it.
I've already played and beat Cyber Shadow and it's really no different from owning the game. I just don't like in theory that it could disappear and I want to buy it to make it part of my collection. One other thing I really like is if you have disc copies of something and the game is on GamePass, it will automatically launch the digital/GP version so you don't need the disc.
I can see why they wouldn't do it but I've always wished games were like movies where if you buy a physical copy, you get digital copy with it. GamePass is probably the closest you are going to get to that.
supernova8
Banned
Amazon Prime has free games but they are absolutely shit, so pretty much anyone with a Prime subscription would count.
systemr123
Banned
Lets not forget Apple Arcade or Google Stadia (if you take the high res subscription)
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aclar00
Member
I cant account for your statements accuracy, but i would assume to some degree the opposite may be true. Essentially the sub models likely accounts for a slight majority rarelt using the system. The idea being people saying to themselves... "well its only $10 a month, so I'm saving money, even if i only play two brand new games a year...everything else is a bonus."
What you end up having is lots of people paying, but not taking up much of the bandwith....the money is so low in the geand scheme of things that lots of, if not most people subscribing really dont care. This goes for lack of content as well. A service can have largely mediocre content, but as long as there is at least one big title per year then subscribers will rationalize the money theyve spent on the service by thinking of what they could have spent had they not had the service.
systemr123
Banned
There is a difference here though that you know you don't own any games when you take the subscription, while the PS4/XBOX launch it meant that if you buy a full 70 dollars game physical, you wouldn't be able to even play it if you didn't have an internet connection at least once for activating and then every 24 hours to extend the activation (this case still sounds ridiculous, even in 2021).
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EverydayBeast
ChatGPT 0.001
Everyone respects Xbox live and hopes Nintendo will “get on their level”.
TheGodfather07
Member
I haven't been subscribed for months now. At the start it was amazing as I got to catch up on the stuff I missed on xbox for only £1. Now I'll check the new games added every month and decide if I should sub. The added games have been pretty shit this year though.
Iced Arcade
Member
Damn sorry to hear that. Must be hard be an fanboy and have a pathetic sex life
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Orutisu Furio
Member
I am in this camp. I have been using game pass on my series s since launch day and I would say outside of purchasing cyberpunk, which I later then returned (horrible bugs and performance) — I have been playing the games exclusively off of the service, and I don’t recall making any other purchases.
For the most part, what I’m interested in playing is already on the service so unless it’s a really hype game I must own day 1 I don’t plan on spending money purchasing full titles in the near future.
As an example, I am interested in RE8 but I noticed 7 is on gamepass, mentally I thought to myself I would expect 8 to show up sometime in the future, so I’m ok with waiting for that even if it’s a year or two. I no longer have a rush to play the latest and greatest as I did when I was younger.
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Team Andromeda
Member
GOD Save the Queen
Hitchyhero
Banned
It's practically a religion to hardcore Sony fans too. Constantly complaining about a service they'll never want or have.
Hitchyhero
Banned
Like every other subscription works. During the growth phase you'll get great content at a low low low price. You'll have £1 deals here and there, huge discounts with certain purchases (doritos, pringles and whatever). This drives your subscriber numbers up... And data shows that these people generally stay when they subscribe and the deal lapses.
They are more than likely not turning a profit at the moment, but this is how all subscription companies have worked. The only people who seem to have an issue with it is Sony fans and specifically with MS doing it. They have no other issues with other companies doing it the same way.
Andodalf
Banned
Xbox says Game Pass subscribers ‘spend 20% more overall’ | VGC
Exec says users continue to spend via in-game transactions and additional content…
www.google.com
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
The weirdest thing, in my opinion, that they sometimes they used Gamepass, while other times they used "a subscription service" or "a gaming subscription".
Why do that, especially when the article is specifically about Gamepass subscription? Who's to say that out of "83% have access to a gaming subscription", more than 60% aren't PS+ subscribers?
sircaw
Banned
We all know how Microsoft love to bend the truth a little, a little bit like windows central the other day with their April sales bit.
They know exactly what they are doing.
MilkyJoe
Member
Yes, it highlights that in the next sentence.
Tutomos
Member
If someone constantly preaches something you don't want, you'd let them know too.
megreotsugua
Banned
98% of gamers have an entertainment subscription of some form.
Movies+shows+anime+games doesn't sound so bad afterall.
It will be a industry-shaking when Netflix itself offers streaming of console quality video games to their casual subscribers.
Papacheeks
Banned
I'd re-sub if they didn't treat PC like it was second class citizen. PC version really sucks, like really bad. Trying to install a EA game on gamepass is the most Ridiculous thing ever. On top of how shit the UI is on PC.
I played it earlier this year for a week or so then let it run out again.
My thing is PC is so cheap to buy games for that it's hard to be compelled to use Gamepass. If they found a way to bring xb360 games over through some form of emulation in the backend I would totally resub for a year or more.
LMJ
Member
I enjoy my Gamepass and there are some great games on there, but some people on these forums treat GP like the new Holy Word like radical evangelicals lol as if their Lord and Savior Phil Spencer hath brought it down from the heavens or something...It's a service people like Plus or Gold...not the second coming...like a cult
Seriously some people on here can't talk to you without also including "by the way have you heard of the grace of Gamepass? you know who you are
Seriously some people on here can't talk to you without also including "by the way have you heard of the grace of Gamepass? you know who you are
systemr123
Banned
This is what happens if it is actually the only positive thing you can tell at the moment about some peoples console of choice and they can not accept that some other devices may have things in order. That, and some BC games performing better simply because the XOX was more powerful than PS4 Pro.
ArtemisClydeFrog
Banned
FromDuskTillGameOver
Member
because most consumers dont know what they want.
MrS
Banned
not going to happen because the numbers will not be favourable. x and s sell at a loss, gamepass is not profitable and they've just spunked 7.5billion on bethesda to give away free games. how the fuck are they going to make money? the numbers dont add up. will add up even less if they change their cut to 12% of instead of 30% as has been rumoured recently.
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Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
"Through a subscription". Not necessarily through Gamepass.
What it tells is that there is a certain group of people who prefers subscribing to gaming subscription services (PS+, PS Now, XBLG, XGP, EA Play, etc.).
Out of all those people (who are also subscribed to Gamepass) play games via any of the aforementioned subscriptions once a week.
SteelCurtain 59
Member
This is what happens if it is actually the only positive thing you can tell at the moment about some peoples console of choice and they can not accept that some other devices may have things in order. That, and some BC games performing better simply because the XOX was more powerful than PS4 Pro.
Idk I think Bethesda (alongside a lot of other great new Xbox studios), as well as things like Quick Resume and more BC games are pretty positive things, and Game Pass is a pretty massive positive thing so dismissing it as "the only positive thing" would be like somebody saying "the only positive thing" about Playstation is their 1st party studios, that's a pretty big positive.
Then again in these forums Bethesda is washed aside because "until Phil Spencer loudly proclaims PLAYSTATION WILL NEVER GOT BETHESDA GAMES and takes a screenshot of a contract stating as much, they'll be multiplatform, and even if he did that there would still be people 3 years after Elder Scrolls 6 releases that are "waiting for the PS6 version"", Quick Resume is ignored because "Sony will have something like that soon and it will be better because of their SSD so who cares", BC is laughed at because "LOL WHO PLAYS OLD GAMES", and Game Pass was too popular so they had to quarantine it to a thread. I feel like if anything it's the Sony fanboys putting their fingers in their ears and loudly yelling so they can ignore anything good Xbox does. It'll be exciting when Xbox's first party games start pouring out and the dismissing of every single one of them will start, no matter how good or well reviewed they are
Andodalf
Banned
And Ea Access, Uplay +. Stadia, Apple Arcade etc
NickFire
Member
The thread title suggested some interesting data. This is technically data, but it doesn't back up anything beyond common sense.
It compares it to "gamers as a whole". So it's either worded poorly or it's some statistics bending.
If there are 100 people 60 of them play games once a week through a subscription (PS+, XLG, PSNow, Stadia, whatever) and the rest can not be subscribed at all and therefore not playing through a subscription because they say as a whole. Out of 100 people subscribed to Gamepass 74 of them play a game once a week through a subscription. It's a dumb comparison by including that 'through a subscription' qualifier on one side.
A true like for like comparison would be
74% of xbox Gamepass members play a game through a subscription at least once a week when compared to only X% average of british gamers with other gaming subscriptions "
Or
74% of gamepass members play games once a week compared to X% on average for those on other gaming subscriptions.
The way they have it now is like saying
" 90% of commuters with a small car commute at least once a week using a car compared to 80% of commuters in general."
You've included the qualifier that they have a car so of course they are more likely to be using a car to commute than the general commuters.
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