Hello
" “We’ve got some more… really great, strong, announcements to come about things… coming to Game Pass. "
Jeff Grubb and Shinobi called it. What could it be ? They teased a partenership with a publisher. There is a lot of candidates : EA, Devolver, Annapurna Interactive…
Codemasters is my guess. No way is it likes of EA.
I’m betting on EA or Devolver
I could see it being EA Access added to GPU and I would be pretty happy with that too tbh.
In the interview he was talking about strong platforms being good for the industry and he started with Nintendo and Sony and then listed EA as almost a slip and then he started listing others like Activision and Ubisoft.
Personally, EA access being included is whatever, I subscribe to it now and really don’t love it except for the 10 hour trials.
If it’s premiere access or whatever the one on PC is, that’s a game changer for me. FIFA and Madden being day one on game pass would be great. I stopped buying all annual games Except NBA 2K a few years ago and don’t miss them much but having those games playable to all my friends who don’t sub to EA access but do to Game Pass would be awesome
Why it couldn’t be EA ? They have a great relationship and adding EA Access on gamepass will be huge
Origin
Doesnt rule it out but highly reduces the chances
EDIT: nevermind, its Access not Origin and youce already acknowledged its existence
It’s going to be some small indie games no one had heard of prior. Temper your expectations.
I have no real idea, but I wanna throw my hat in the ring so…
Sega partnership, starting with Like a Dragon on day one.
Wild idea, but what if it’s Madden and Fifa? Would cost a ridiculous amount, but MS could probably give EA a discount on the “cut” they take from sales and could also give a marketing push (inside the Xbox dash) towards EA Access. I doubt it’s this, but it would definitely be a big deal.
FF 14 as part of Game Pass Ultimate?
I have no idea.
I think the biggest and most reasonable AAA publisher is WB Games. A windfall of $1B for a five+ year deal would be huge for them. It’s a lot of money but it means that Microsoft can get huge games in their platform day 1 without taking on staff and having optics of layoffs. Also means they essentially avoid licensing issues.
I think a bigger publisher is more likely than a small one. Whether it’s Codemasters, EA, Sega or even WB. Smaller publishing deals wouldn’t be screamed from the roof top or held off as big news. Devolver or Annapurna would be Neat and i would love it but the general public wouldn’t care.
As if small indie titles are a bad thing? Anything coming to gamepass, makes gamepass better. It’s probably a publisher deal.
Shinobi said it was a deal with a 3rd party publisher. Doesn’t mean it will be a big publisher like EA, but it isn’t a game announcement.
Sega, is my guess (and seems to be heavily rumoured for months now)
Here comes Persona for Xbox.
Or maybe THQ, that would be insane, they have a good relationship right? Or am I think deep silver who published some xbox games? Who knows.
What has the hit rate for insiders been the last fee months? I’m curious.
Shinobi has a pretty good track record, but I do take your point generally. Although I don’t think Phil would label “indie games no-one cares about” as a “strong” game pass announcement.
I personally think adding EA access would be entirely underwhelming. I am an EA access subscriber too, but I just don’t think that adds much value,personally. It’s like a few pounds a month saving for me which is lovely and adds up but it does nothing at all to excite me.
If EA added all games day one into the offering that’s huge but that is very unrealistic. Part of the problem with any gamepass announcement is the only thing that can really be exciting is big AAA games going into the service day one. It’s literally that good already that anything else will just be additive rather than exciting in its own right.
No AAAs that’s a guarantee!!
I think at this point it’s safer to expect less and be surprised than the opposite.
Remember, this is the person who excited to show all of the big japanese games at the games showcase.
Take anything he says with a major, Hummer sized, grain of salt.
