Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

You're the one who brought up dev income from gamepass subscriptions.

gamepass is great for low budget indie devs, its great for AA+ games that are 5++ years old. Its *** horrible for brand new games to be released on subscription services like gamepass.

Revenue is not profit. Afaik MS only published revenue data not profit.

I tried to find profit margin for this particular services but I haven't found any data yet. Do you have data?

I don't make assumptions unless I see the data.

And let's say even if MS is massively profiting from Game Pass, why is that negative? I still don't understand.



The situation that Game pass is the only option for publishing games don't exist, what's the point to discuss it? Honestly if you are afraid of platform monopoly, Steam has FAR higher chance to become monopoly than Game Pass. The difference aren't even close.

The idea that people spam negativity on MS despite Steam is the absolute winner here also doesn't make sense.


But there ARE people who consume games very fast and they just aren't buying 5 $70 games per month. And sub services makes it possible for them to rotate games faster.

So again, why negative? If there are no market need for this then sub service will die. If there is a market need then why can't sub service exist for these people?

It's not like game dev's freedom to sell games on Steam is taken away by MS.

Yeah, I made it clear that old model wasn't fair for AAA dev on day one. So MS increases highest price tier to reflect that unfairness?

If game dev putting AAA games on game pass day one is net loss, then game dev wouldn't do it. Since they have alternatives platforms to sell games.

If MS increases sub price and use extra money to negotiate better deals with AAA dev then AAA dev got more on game pass.

If MS just keep those money and not giving them to AAA dev they'll refuse to sell their games on game pass day one because they lose profit. Then MS will lose high tier sub without large amount of AAA
games on day one.

I am still not sure why is this negative. To me it's just market functioning as it is. Then people put negative spins on it because they emotionally dislike MS or something.

Why would a company create and run a service that makes it no profit.

I mean.. are you sure you know how capitalism works?

When that service starts charging way too much for what it provides, according to consumers, consumers will stop paying for it. Again should be obvious.

I didn't say "MS didn't make profit". I only said what matter to me in a profit discussion is the actual number, not "a lot money" kind of description. How much is "a lot of money" exactly?

It's a comment on choice of word, not a statement about MS's profit.

Also by your own logic, who would make choices with no profit? Maybe those game devs who decided to release their games on Game pass are actually profiting from it, otherwise by logic they wouldn't do it. Why are you worrying about other people's marketing choice lol.



Well duh, if you think the highest price tier is too expensive, then you are not their target audience then.

Their highest price tier target audience are people who would like to play multiple AAA games on day one and finish them really fast. Not you.

The one that drops sub due to price increase aren't MS's target audience for high tier, and I am pretty sure MS knew this 100% before they made the decision too.

The slim chance their game is an absolute banger and people go out of their way to buy a standalone copy to support the company that made the game.

see Clair Obscur, which was released on gamepass.

I have a rl question. Do grown ups pay for Gamepass or the PS equivalent? Honestly. Because I can see kids wanting Gamepass then playing one game a month.

A lot more, relative to what they pay game devs for access to their game library. MS doesn't publish profit numbers.

How do I know it's more? Because they offer the service to make money.

I know grown ups that pay for game pass because it used to be pretty cheap and gave you access to lots of games.

I always thought it's a scam and if I want to play a game I just buy it.

On average, I finish 1 game every 3-7 days. If it's rpg then it's one game every 2-3 weeks.

If I have game pass sub active, then I don't even finish one game fully. I just play one game for an hour or two to experience the game system, then move on to the next game for the next system.

Also I do buy tons of games despite I find game pass useful, my monthly spending on buying single player game last year was about 250% higher than average console gamer according to data. So it's not like sub service stop me from buying games. It help me rotate games and experience them faster that's all.

My problem with buying games is that, paying a full price for a game make me feel like I need to finish it. So it reduces my efficiency on experiencing and learning different game systems. Using game pass actually increases my efficiency for me.

Also if you are a streamer, you probably would rotate games this fast too. It's literally their job to play games 6+ hr a day and stream trendy games for traffic.

Many reasons. Publicity. As a charity or charitable contribution. To collect salable data. To funnel people, or merely their clicks, to moneymaking parts of the company / service.

That's from 30 seconds of thought. Try thinking on the subject for a bit. You will find more.

MS are not a charity.

Come on people, let's be real.

Yes, you are right, there are several reasons a company would continue to prop up a service or product that makes no profit.

None apply to gamepass.

Unless either of you have any reasons to suggest why MS would increase prices other than to make profit.

Alfania triple posted on you guys.

That sucks

Loss leaders exist for a reason. No ones doubting that there are products that exist to be sold for a strategic loss.

The console itself is the loss leader so they can profit off the games they sell. Without the console, no ones buying any games, since they need the console to play said games.

However, Gamepass is not one of them, nor should it be.

So.... according to this logic game pass weren't profitable before then?

Come on, LOGICALLY letting players play $70 games on first day for $10 isn't going to be profitable. You'll just get a bunch of people play on game pass day one and not buying.

That's why a lot of companies don't put their AAA games on XGP day one, because they knew they are losing money.

If MS wants more dev to put their games on XGP day one they'll have to pay them with a better deal, and that money comes from high tier sub.

So why is people being negative about the whole thing? I legitimately don't understand lol.

Putting out a service at a low low un-profitable price then hiking up price when it becomes popular is definitely right out of MS handbook.

Why are you defending MS. I don't understand.

It's their call to hike prices. Everyone else's not to buy it.

Saying "it's good for industry" is so far out there you might as well give your wallet to MS and say "have at it".

I said it's good for consumers.

Why am I defending for MS? I explained in my last post. I play a lot of games to experience game systems and Game Pass increases my efficiency.

For me time is money, and game pass saves me time AND money by helping me rotate and experience different games faster.

And if game pass increases price so much to the point that it's no longer the efficient choice, my choice to buy games on steam is not taken away.

So I personally got real values from game sub services, nor I would lose money if they endlessly increase sub price in the future. but I can't defend for it? Lol.

Sometimes even "bad" games have something worth experiencing.

Funny because nintendo disagreed with that after the NES was flooded with low quality unregulated games.

In last 60-70 games that I've played, the only game that I legitimately dislike to the point that I'd rate it 5/10:

1. Trial through Daybreak.
2. Light Crusader.(But this game is really old)
3. Dead in Bermuda

Games that I feel pretty mid and not getting much(7/10):

1. D&D Chronicles
2. Guardian Heroes
3. Crackdown 2
4. Castlevania Aria of Sorrow
6. Steam world dig
7. Disgaea hour of darkness
8. Valkyrie Elysium

For everything else, I feel I get at least something out of it. Either the setting is cool, or the system is cool.

I would say at least 85% of the games that I played I enjoyed it decently. But I am pretty good at picking what games to play and I generally know what I look for. I know I don't like slow paced games nor repetitive games so I generally avoid anything open world or jrpg. And when I don't avoid them they ended up in list above.

Even "bad" games like dmc 2 gave me some good laugh and dumb entertainment. Because I played that game and expected it to give me some "it's so bad that it's good" experience and it did.

Most of the time I only got disappointed in a game if I expected something but the game didn't offer it.

Like how I really dislike Trail through Daybreak because I expected a mature story but they gave me slow paced teenage jrpg cliche. That's really the only time I felt I made a bad decision and bought a 5/10 game.

At that point I realized jrpg isn't a good genre for me, I avoid buying jrpg altogether and no longer run into games that I dislike.

Lol.

Gamepass is for the time rich it seems. Who has time to play all this stuff.

Barely manage to go through a game every few years.

I am pretty sure the issue here isn't the lack of time, but the lack of interest. If you are really REALLY interested in doing something, you will find time for it.

That's okay, we belongs to different target audience groups that's all. I am very well aware that I am more of a game nerd than average gamer lol. (And I spend more than average gamers on games too)

I agree, and I'm glad you are working towards a healthy balance.

I also think spending a significant amount of time gaming, or doing other sedentary activities on top of an already probably sitting down desk job, is not healthy either.

There are several other physical and go-outside activities you can do that will not only benefit your body but your mind, whether that be yoga, meditation, running, physical exercise at a gym, frequenting live music clubs, or other things you enjoy that are not work and help with keeping the one body you have in life in decent shape.

A healthy balance can be found, and I won't say I'm 100% there but I am happy and healthy with what balance I have.

As I have got older I have found I enjoy modern games less and less, so spend less time doing that. I had a very unhealthy appetite for gaming as a teenager and that led to physical deterioration, which made me try to find a healthier balance of nerdy pursuits, one of which is work, and physical activities I enjoy.

Also went through a heavy work-a-holic phase which was equally unhealthy.

Glad we're talking about this though, you are right a balance is very important.

Afania is right it's not time, it's lack of interest in modern games. If you really like doing something you'd find time to do it - as I sometimes do with XI.

Gamepass has made no money for ages, and it's bad for developers in the long run.

However it's pretty obvious they are trying to build a market for this kind of service, where you don't buy games anymore and just rent access.

They want to be Netflix for games, they don't want these console wars anymore cause they suck and can't compete.