Yep let other platforms help fund Xbox’s 1st party gaming studio’s
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The thing with Sports is fan excitement is a part of the business and has to be managed. Gaming is not necessarily so. Tying success to a box is somewhat silly.
In any case all this FUD is just speculation no one knows and now is perhaps the best time for Xbox to experiment before NextGen and just as you talk of some fans not liking this moves many are accepting and cheering it.
Also, just what is Xbox’s brand it certainly can’t be a plastic box now can it.
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You also “own” the games rather than renting which seems to be ignored a lot. I like Game Pass too, but outside first party which stays indefinitely I don’t particularly care for the limited time availability. Especially not the uncertainty of how long a game stays, since that varies so much.
I judge Game Pass on the cost savings for first party games I actually would have bought day one, the rest is just extra fluff. Last year that would have been Hellblade 2, which at $50 did not really make up for the cost of the sub.
It’s very individual, but for me who has a huge backlog I can dive into whenever I want, the value of Game Pass is limited. This year looks better as Avowed would have been a day one purchase for me, and Fable too if that comes out.
Anyway, my point is that yeah you can buy a lot of games on sale for the money saved from not having multiple consoles/subs, so I agree with you. It will be very interesting to see what kind of choice one has to make for next gen.
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I think the experience also matters. Quick Resume and the features on Xbox just make gaming more fun for me. I also prefer the Xbox controller; I’m reminded of how I had to go looking for Xbox layout controllers to play Kena. I’m certain Xbox will come up with more new features that push gaming with their next console.
People seem to forget you get a discount in gamepass when buying games. So it’s benefit is not just as a rental service. You buy enough games and gamepass pays for itself in that way as well.
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Thank you! Not directed at any individual but removing/ignoring the other benefits of GP does nothing but prove how great the service is. The amount of games I’ve gotten far cheaper on Xbox compared to Steam or PS, solely because of GP exclusive sale prices, can’t be overstated.
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The thing is with GamePass your getting value from the new releases.
Outside of Nintendo (and some limited exceptions) the majority of video games depreciate in value so quickly that when they do leave GamePass it’s usually really cheap to pick them up (with GamePass you can even get a discount).
This model is literally perfect for me as it’s the most affordable route I have had into gaming (possibly ever).
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I agree to an extent with you Mort in regards to the limited timed availability that games stay on Game Pass but at the same time, the games that are day one from third parties usually stay at least a year and I look at it to where if you haven’t played it by then, the game probably isn’t as high on your list as other games so if/when it leaves, it won’t matter all that much because you didn’t put a priority on that individual game.
I go based on Microsoft’s first party games being day one and the third party day one games that are of interest to me. Thus far, for 2025, it’s fucking stacked and we don’t know the extent of the entire year. Money wise, Avowed, South of Midnight, Doom: The Dark Ages, COD 2025, Fable and The Outer Worlds 2 would cost a total of $420 before sales tax at $70 each. I spent $540 on Game Pass Ultimate last summer which covers me through mid-July 2027. Including Flintlock, COD BO 6 campaign and Indiana Jones, that total would have been $600. Subtract $35 that I paid for Early Access to Indy and I still saved $25 overall.
This is just within an 18 month time span and doesn’t include the third party games where I currently have two as of now - Atomfall and Expedition 33. They’re listed as $60 and $50 on Best Buy respectively. Same for Atomfall on the Xbox store but no price yet for Expedition 33. That’s at the very least an extra $110 im saving from not having to buy these games.
Another factor while separate from Game Pass but I include it is Ubisoft+. I’m currently playing Outlaws. For a $20 monthly rental, im getting the base game, all the extras and the Wild Card expansion with a second one later this year. Granted, the price will probably go to $40 once the next expansion is out but im still saving $70 minimum.
With all of that said, I agree 100% that it is individual based and I know your backlog is massive but instead of adding to it, you should probably play the games that are day one on Game Pass that are of interest to you day one so you can avoid adding to your backlog and so you can get the most out of your Game Pass sub while also not having to worry about if the game leaves Game Pass later on.
But something tells me that you just love adding to your backlog Mort. Hehehe. 
Let’s not forget Game Pass Ultimate eliminates having to pay for online or Cloud saves like you still have to on PlayStation. Also, you can find online vendors that are selling Game pass ultimate for cheap, and you can stack for 3years.
Agreed but just so you know, cloud saves are free without Game Pass. It’s saved me a few times since Xbox Series X launched.
I know I’m just saying just being on PlayStation requires a subscription or else your playing will be hampered.
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First of all, nice to see so many replies! I would just like to make it clear that I’m not trying to make an objective analysis of Game Pass and the consoles, I’m using my subjective point of view. Just so that there’s no confusion around that.
Experience definitely matter! I chose the Xbox 360 back in the day solely on the controller. I was a PC gamer and m+kb was my thing, controllers felt very odd. The DualShock 3/4 sucked ass so it was an easy choice. As for Quick Resume, whilst a cool feature, it’s not something I use due to it screwing up achievements. Games load quick af as it is on this gen so it’s not a big deal to me.
As for controllers I now use third party ones for Xbox and the DualSense for PS is great.
If you are talking about the 10-20% discount on games in the GP library that is meh, I think I’ve only had use of that when buying a couple of Premium Upgrades. Tbh that is not a price point where I bite.
If you mean the other general sales, I don’t think you need Ultimate for that? If Core doesn’t give access to that, then sure.
I would use Core regardless of value, as I do enjoy my online functionality. The online tax as it were. Same for PS with PS+ Essential.
Not directed at me but I’ll reply anyways 
If I were to main PS, I’m pretty sure Essential would be enough to give access to their sales.
Indeed, which I also stated is what I focus on as the value for me. Would I have bought this game day one? -That’s the question I ask myself. And due to my extensive library and me not really being bothered by FOMO the answer is usually no.
This year looks much better in that department than the last, for me!
Yep, I have a lot of games to play and I don’t care for having to fit things in just because they are temporary rentals. Not my thing. First party games are what I care about in GP since they are there as long as I have a sub.
This year indeed looks really good and the value is there for me too. Avowed, Fable and The Outer Worlds 2 (I forgot about that one!) is enough.
I enjoy playing things in the order and time I choose, yes.
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Anyways, I do believe Game Pass is a great deal and pretty much a necessity if you have Xbox as your main console. The Original argument was in regards to the price of the console, the GPU sub and other things like accessories for two consoles would make sense if you could play “everything” on PS anyway.
The discussion is all over the place here now, sorry
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Directly responding: you’re still comparing a lesser service to GP to make the point, when I literally said the sales piece was an additive on top of the other value of GP, which Essential still doesn’t come close to the offering of even the basic GP 
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Ah ok, I haven’t compared them in detail but my impression is that Ultimate is waaay better than Premium and the other tiers are pretty meh on both sides. PS Plus does still have their “GwG” games tho, that’s nice.
As someone who doesn’t use PC Game Pass nor the Cloud, the value is not that super after the price hikes and conversion nerfs tbh.
But it’s kind of irrelevant to this thread I suppose.
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Gamepass is just insane good value. MS releasing 1 big game every 3 months (or at least 4 a year) means that just playing 3 of those games makes up for 12 months of GPU at full price, which I never pay as there are always sales. That’s without counting the day 1 3rd party games that are also full price as well as al the indie games that cost 20-30$ and that can be finished within a few hours.
Even me, father of 2 with a full time job can easily finish 1 to 3 indie game every month, and only finishing 1 of those would make GPU worthwhile. It also makes me try games I never would have tried before, and I don’t have to wait 2 years for it to go on crazy discounts, I can play it RIGHT NOW!
Games have very little replayability these days imo, and the ones that do are f2p or by the time I’ll want to replay them, I’ll be able to buy them for 80% off at least.
There are several non GamePass games I’d like to play, but I’d end up spending more money getting those than just paying for Gamepass, and there are tons of games I want to play on Gamepass anyway, so to me the decision to go with Gamepass is a no brainer. You lose some for sure, but you also lose some going the other route. At this point, it’s the consumer’s choice to decide where they think they get the most out for their dollar.
For me, Gamepass = best value.
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Agreed.
Gamepass is pro consumer.
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Gamepass is almost too good!
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Hmmmm, so Nintendo Switch two trailer dropped. I wonder what Microsoft plans to do if things turn south for them if this hardware turns out better than theirs or Playstation. Cause remember, for their cloud, mobile and pc ambitions to work well they would need the hardware to work on this things.
I just hope they know that they cannot fumble any of this hard unless they feel the repercussions for short term profits, which many corpos fail to noticed until its too late.
Capability wise turn out better or are we talking sales? Because the Switch 2 is a handheld PS4 with extra bells and whistles from having newer tech(7 years old though).
Sales wise imo, depends on how many people are willing upgrade right away as most people that wanted a switch have gotten one.