Today it hit me: Xbox is on the precipice of something huge (AKA the potential in Game Pass both as a service, and as a system seller)

Microsoft is ALMOST there and I think it’s time to say it:

If MS is truly serious about Game Pass being as big as they want it to be, the “netflix of gaming”, with a future where people can just download an app on their TV, phone, laptop, console or PC and just start playing great games, then they NEED to be more aggressive about content acquisition.

As it stands now, they finally have a great roster of studios that are going to deliver at minimum, above average games, if not “system sellers”.

But I still don’t think that roster is capable of moving the needle. They need to make power moves, Sega, WB, multiple smaller studios with potential (Asobo, Techland, Bloober, etc).

Today for the first time, it hit me that, Game Pass is a system seller.

I finished up a few games in a series I love, then finally tried a game in a long running franchise I would have never picked up and I LOVE it. Thats the power of Game Pass. Especially the console Game Pass which is objectively the superior service and with next-gen games added, its totally worth it for a Series X, rather than just a plain old Xbox One in the future.

Love to hear what you all think. Is the silence re: content acquisition an indication of stagnation? Or does MS have something big planned for GP aside from the rumor possible publisher/EA merge?

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Agree big time. They really had it lined up well too with Halo at launch so this really hurts that it’s delayed. I’m hoping they make a big third party deal for launch because that would help marketing like crazy. If I were them, I’d try to target Ubisoft now to get AC Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion for Day 1 launch.

Speaking about Xbox’s situation here in Spain (and maybe Europe in general except UK?), I think they can do it only if they do constant bombing ads about Xbox and Xbox Game Pass. Until this day, that isn’t happening (I mean any Xbox ad in general) in any TV channel, street ads, newspapers and magazines, etc. Maybe that partnership with Samsung helps.

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While I don’t see this happening, I would love it because im a Ubisoft fanboy (hehe) and if they plan on bringing UPlay+ to consoles, Microsoft should try to get it added into Game Pass Ultimate and have their games release day one.

Yep, I keep on saying it. The real magic of Game Pass is getting people to play games they would never ever play because there are no barriers to try it once you have subscribed to GP. Now you’ve got people finding new games to love and it just expands from there. As a result they might buy other games in the series, in the genre, from the same developer, etc…

You don’t even need to stay subscribed to GP for the whole year. You can buy a few months, test out a bunch of games and then just buy the ones you like (with a discount even).

I strong believe that MS sees the SX as just a hw update, with all their talk on cross-gen. For them it is like buying a new phone, whether or not you need it. The problem here is that developers are signiling that they are not 100% on the cross-gen boat and things like call of duty cg edition, nba and control ultimate upgrade shit are starting to pop.

They didn’t prepare themselves for a traditional console launch, honestly, Sony neither. Both consoles have weak release titles. However, Sony will take adv of PS4 wagon and prolly will do well.

I’m kind of disappointed, because I think MS is alienating console users with the absence of pc titles on Xbox console. They could take adv of MSFS and Age of Empires as launch titles, but we hear no word on that. Looks like their mantra of play whereever you want is a one way road.

Regardless this situation, I have never seen such a underwhelming marketing strategy for consoles, from using a shitty webcam to stream an event to the inability to even show old titles running on the new hw. to opening preorder interest without even showing the price.

It is what it is tho.

You’re absolutely right.

I just bought the rest of the games in the series (unfortunately the collection is only on PS4, smh MS) and this new series I’m gonna check out the older games in the series.

It’s a great strategy.

I think they have enough devs maybe a few more to seal the deal. The next hurdle is install base and getting the word out, they need to be on as many TVs and smart devices as possible.

Ya don’t usually need killer apps to take center stage when launching something where convenience is a central pillar. Netflix didn’t have one. Most popular streaming services didn’t have one either. The shift to digital distribution for music didn’t have one. It can’t hurt for sure and certainly makes their push that much stronger. But don’t underestimate the convenience factor. Being able to tell ppl that they can just get the GPU app on their TV or PC or whatever Xbox they own and stream next gen (or any gen) experiences is a radical change from the paradigm.

I also dunno about any silence on acquisitions. They just told us they planned to keep going and frankly their shopping spree the past few yrs is unprecedented already. In my view, the GP+xCloud package will dominate the gaming landscape almost no matter what happens at this point, but having more and more great day 1 games will transform it from dominating gaming to dominating entertainment potentially. Just as Netflix went from dominating the sector of movies and TV shows that happened to be streaming to being the predominant platform for launching new films/shows. I think xCloud will do that for GP once the content is there in a super reliable, steady way here in under 5 yrs’ time.

I think ppl know it’s a potentially big deal but aren’t really prepared for big of a deal it might legitimately end up being.

MS Xbox GamePass is REVOLUTIONARY

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I think the publisher they really need to get on board is Ubisoft. They have 4 major crossgen games on the way and supposedly are going to announce a prince of persia remake next week. They are literally giving rainbow six siege away right now because the money is in the micro transactions so it seems like putting their games on gamepass could benefit Ubisoft too. Those games would make a lot of difference to the perception of the service.

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There is a thread on this forum that declares the exact opposite.

This I call diversity :slight_smile:

cc @Sikamikanico

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Once xbox’s big guns start coming out even the most hardcore playstation loyalists will become salty.

Im getting used to games being free with gamepass or FTP like fortnite and warzone, when I have to shell out £50 for a game it stings.

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I feel this xD

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It will be interesting to see the EA Play rumor come true and see if that affects how Ubisoft sees things. If I were MS, I’d be pushing hard for all the big publishers to get on board asap. Ubi has a lot of smaller titles that could really stand out on GP as well.