News (Page 386)

Magic Johnson Joins Bid To Buy Denver Broncos

Magic Johnson Joins Bid To Buy Denver Broncos

Kim Cattrall says Samantha’s inclusion in ‘Sex And The City’ spin-off was “odd”

Kim Cattrall says Samantha’s inclusion in ‘Sex And The City’ spin-off was “odd”

Kingston Rossdale All Grown-Up, Joins Dad Gavin for Dinner

Kingston Rossdale All Grown-Up, Joins Dad Gavin for Dinner

‘Equalizer’ Renewed for Season 3 and Season 4 at CBS

‘Equalizer’ Renewed for Season 3 and Season 4 at CBS

Mel B dedicates MBE to victims of domestic abuse: “It’s for all those other women”

Mel B dedicates MBE to victims of domestic abuse: “It’s for all those other women”

Mall Grab announces debut album ‘What I Breathe’, featuring Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Nia Archives

Mall Grab announces debut album ‘What I Breathe’, featuring Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Nia Archives

Virgin Atlantic Jet Turns Back After Pilot Reveals He’s Unqualified to Fly

Virgin Atlantic Jet Turns Back After Pilot Reveals He’s Unqualified to Fly

Amber Heard Takes The Stand for Second Day of Testimony in Depp Case

Amber Heard Takes The Stand for Second Day of Testimony in Depp Case

Dr. John Was Cutting a New Record When He Died. Now We Get to Hear It

Dr. John Was Cutting a New Record When He Died. Now We Get to Hear It

Dave Chappelle Audio About Attacker, “I Felt Good, My Friends Broke His Arm!”

Dave Chappelle Audio About Attacker, “I Felt Good, My Friends Broke His Arm!”

The Downside Of Game Pass, According To A Former Xbox Boss

In: Gaming, News

The Downside Of Game Pass, According To A Former Xbox Boss

Former Bethesda executive Pete Hines recently stirred up a new discussion around subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and their impact on the video game industry. Now, two more industry veterans have chimed in, including former executives at Sony and even Xbox itself.

Shannon Loftis, the former VP of Xbox Games Studios, said (via TweakTown) she agreed with Hines’ assessment of subscription services, stating that Game Pass “comes at the expense of retail revenue.”

Game Pass can “claim a few victories” in terms of games that might have otherwise “sunk beneath the waves,” Loftis said, calling out Human Fall Flat as an example. However, the “majority of game adoption” on Game Pass comes at the cost of revenue from retail, she said, “unless the game is engineered from the ground up for post-release monetization.”

Regarding what Loftis said about Game Pass coming at the expense of retail revenue, this is something even Microsoft has admitted to. Xbox’s own CFO testified that Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle likely lost out on “millions” in retail sales due to Game Pass. For its part, Microsoft has always said that Game Pass is offered as an option to players as opposed to being the only way to buy and play Xbox games.

One of the biggest Game Pass launches ever, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, was the No. 1 best-selling game in the US in 2024, despite also being available day-and-date with the subscription service. That doesn’t mean the game’s retail sales weren’t impacted by its Game Pass availability, however.

Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden, meanwhile, said Hines was correct in his assessment of subscription services like Game Pass. Layden said people should question whether or not Game Pass is “healthy and helpful” for developers and not if the service is profitable for the platform.

Microsoft recently reported that Game Pass annual revenue reached nearly $5 billion for the first time since the service launched. However, whether or not Game Pass is profitable for Microsoft is unknown.

In a recent interview, Hines–who left Bethesda after Microsoft bought the company–laid out his concerns about subscription services in gaming.

“Subscriptions have become the new four letter word, right? You can’t buy a product anymore. When you talk about a subscription that relies on content, if you don’t figure out how to balance the needs of the service and the people running the service with the people who are providing the content–without which your subscription is worth jack sh*t–then you have a real problem,” he said.

Hines went on to say a company behind a subscription service for games needs to “properly acknowledge, compensate, and recognize what it takes to create that content and not just make a game, but make a product.”

The “tension” inherent in the situation that Hines outlined is “hurting a lot of people,” including game developers, Hines said.

“Because they’re fitting into an ecosystem that is not properly valuing and rewarding what they’re making,” he said.

There has been significant upheaval at Microsoft in recent times, with the company enacting mass layoffs, cancelling games, and closing at least one studio.

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In: Gaming, News

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