Xbox Throws Major Shade At Claims Of 'Game Pass Burnout'

The value is still 100% there. If you don’t play anything other than blockbusters then that is for you to decide if it’s worth it. But games are games. I got more hours out of Hades than a lot of AAA games (actually apply that statement to almost any roguelike). Of course if you want to trash gamepass just call it an indie subscription - yet to me that still implies value as indies can be more experimental and Gamepass allows us to try them without risk.

£40-£50 for an AAA game can be more obvious what you are getting for your money than a £16-£22 indie game (prices have gone up since the old 400/800msp days!). So happy to have Gamepass treat us to at least a couple of good ones every month.

I think some people will only be satisfied if there is a game drop that is a headliner or “mic drop” every month; which is overdramatic and ridiculous.

IMO, having access to MS first party games day one (which will include Bethesda and Activision) ALONE justifies the gamepass asking price. All else, including EA Play and third party AAA and indies (some day one indies) are bonuses. What do you expect from a 15$ monthly subscription? To give you all there is?

@Axlroselm
I don't get that. There are no MS first party titles - getting zero for a sub is not justifiable no matter how you try and sell it.

GP value right now is about 3rd party titles and indies. Maybe in another 18 months it will be worth it for 1st party titles, but if that was what you wanted you would stop subbing for now until there are any.

I wasn't aware that others were feeling this too, but other than 4 hours of Tunic I've barely played GP this year. Admittedly that's because I played guardians on another system, so I would have played Guardians too this year.. That's my issue, I prefer AAA titles, but I like the others on hand in case I run out!

Unsurprisingly the media/people will jump on anything that deviates from the norm and/or it's disruptive like Game Pass in this instance.
For me GP is the best thing that happened to my gaming habits in the last 20+ years. I have experienced with games and subsequently bought, that otherwise would have not cross my mind getting, so no flarking way of any GP burnout any time soon. But, for people that feel like there's a GP burn out, there is always Sony charging £70 a pop for their "blockbuster" experiences 😅....thank heavens for choices, right?

I love game pass and especially for all the excellent indies, sure big AAA Day One releases is neat, but game pass does so much for indie companies and that matters to me.

Kotaku thrives on thrash, race and politics. Sure some vocal fans got upset of two delayed first party games, but this has gone out of proportion.

You can cancel at any time and renew at anytime. So if you aren't happy, cancel until a game worth playing for you is on the service and then renew. Or carry on paying monthly and get your Game Pass enjoyment out of it by complaining about lack of games.

Shut Up F... Off Kotaku please...
I bought Xbox for game pass not just me evryone gamers

I don’t need AAA games, but the games on Gamepass that appeal to me are very few. But still enough for me to at least break even with the cost. So as long as I can at least break even on average in the total time I own Gamepass, it’s fine for me to subscribe.

@Titntin Well, there are many first party titles on gamepass (we had Halo and Forza and some others this year), especially for those who are new to Xbox (and I thing MS generally designed GP to attract newcomers). However, I agree that the next year will be the true year for GP first party titles.

This year alone I played on gamepass some great games that I really wanted to play but didn't have the money to pay Day 1 like guardians of the Galaxy, life is strange true colors, the mass effect trilogy, the hitman trilogy, Jurassic world evolution 2, F1 2021. And besides that the Series S is my first proper console (I also have a switch) and now thanks to gamepass I can play a ton of Xbox One exclusives and Gen 8 games that I never played like Jedi Fallen Order, RE7, It Takes Two, the Wolfenstein and Doom games, Prey, Sniper Elite 4, the Halo and Gears series and i still have tons of gen 8 games to play, so yeah, for me gamepass it's the best. Would be perfect if the only game that I bought the console for gets a 2022 release this June 12th, Forza Motorsport

Savagely calling out BS. I am a fan.

move along its Kotaku they have made thier feels on microsoft very clear, now if it was nintendo it would be whole differnt matter, a dreadful baised site run by idiot fanboys

Also an A from me too. The delays to Starfield and Redfall aren't great, but to suddenly claim Xbox Game Pass is no longer value just shows ignorance. Again, how do these people have jobs for a gaming website if all they play is AAA. Windjammers 2, Shredders, Trek to Yomi, Far Changing Tides, Deaths Door, Research and Destroy... And that's just the ones I've played and loved myself! If you're not finding new games to play monthly on Game Pass, Game Pass isn't the problem, you're the problem.

@tatsumi
Good attitude sir, and one I share!
I may not use it much, but I value it always being there

I've also subbed to the much maligned PS NOW for about 4 years for exactly the same reason. I don't always want to download and play PS4 titles, but when I did, I was glad it was there.

GP is still the best value proposition in gaming, with or without 1st party titles, and people would be mad to miss out on the give away whilst is here!

Any credibility towards that being true is thrown out the window when I see “Kotaku.” I’d rate it between an A and a B, but even if it were just a C I’d argue there isn’t burnout yet. I’ve discovered so many new games I’d have never tried thanks to GP.

Or....admit that you haven't put enough triple A games on your service without admitting.....

That article fails to recognize that there still are third party AAA games being launched Day One on GamePass like MLB The Show 22 and Sniper Elite 5. Also some fantastic indies like Tunic. There are PLENTY of great games, many Day One, coming every month to GamePass. To say there is a “drought” is BS.

It's good. But there is always room for improvement. Just wait until June to find out more info.

Kotaku is a joke..

I'd have to say that last year was a B for me but this year so far has been pretty bad (E)

Gamepass isn't getting the big third party AAA games especially new releases day one, so in my opinion gamepass is perfect for those wanting xbox exclusives day one and some indies day one, but if you're not interested in those then I'd say gamepass isn't for you.

Other burnout factors could be that some people have played the games they wanted from xbox currently so the service has lost its value to them, or people are leaving due their gamepass deals and trials running out and they don't want to pay the subscription price to continue.

That's why I don't take notice in the current subscriber count until all these deals subside.

Plus I think the subscriber count will fluctuate depending on release, on slower months it will go down, then when a big game like starfield comes out it will shoot back up again.

Xbox are so funny. They market gamepass on AAA games and then don’t get why people are disappointed they’ve not gotten any for awhile?
There’s of course going to be people here, there, and everywhere, saying they’re happy with gamepass offering indies. And that’s fine. Some will even claim they only sub for the indies or AA games…again, that’s fine. But they’re not the games MS focus their marketing on when trying to sell gamepass subs…regardless of how good these smaller titles are, they’re just not. There is not a world out there where Tunic gain Xbox more gamepass subs than putting that date on the starfield trailer did. This is just logically common sense. There’s not a world out there that halo and Forza horizon didn’t get Xbox more gamepass subs than say outriders.
There’s not a world out there where MS invest billions in studios to just release AA games. They want the AAA because that’s what sells.

Xbox and it’s loyal fanbase also need to realise that subscriptions are treated different. Xbox treat gamepass as a different platform…as such it will be seen differently. A console is a long term investment. A subscription is not. So Xbox need to ensure it has something to attract subs every single month. Odds are…that’s not an indie game.

What gets me is the message at xbox is always confused. You have Phil Spencer acknowledge they need to do better with consistency - he’s not talking indie games. Then you have xbox lambasting people for only subbing for game passes biggest marketing point - first party day 1 releases. Pick a lane.

For me an old Nintendo gamer, gamepass is incredible , never played Xbox one catalog , my last Xbox console was the 360 and had it for 1 year so I have plenty of AAA games to play and I love the indie scene which is refreshing the new AAA games for me are just a cool bonus .

So, this year, I have been playing Halo Infinite, F1, Trek To Yomi, Art Of Rally, dirt 5, forza horizon, FIFA, lake, gears 5, limbo, Tetris, Titanfall 2
The Mrs has been playing Lake, Life Is Strange and Bejeweled.

And I have a backlog of other stuff I'm meaning to play.

Good value for me.

It's not all about day 1 releases, or AAA, for me... It's about discovering games I might not have otherwise looked at (or spent money on) and finding unexpected delights.
Lake is a prime example... A game I would never have bought, but tried it on gamepass and enjoyed... and so did the Mrs.

Sounds like a first world problem. I have a job that doesn't pay much and was often left behind cuz my buddies would buy the latest Mp game and play together and I would just chat cuz I couldn't always afford to buy the game. With Game Pass we all have access to the same games and when a big one dropped I would get to play with my buddies.

People complaining about a service that allows everyone to play together need a reality check.

The value hasn't changed for me. Just because of game delays, that doesn't change the value - those games will still come at some point in the 'near' future. I was sold on the promise that Xbox Exclusives would be on GP day and date and that is still the case...

In the meantime, I am still seeing 'new' games coming to Game Pass day and date - Indies to AAA, 1st to 3rd Party, exclusives (timed or not) to multi-platform releases. Games are still being added and so it still presents the same 'value' to me.

We still have Plague Tale: Requiem, Warhammer: Darktide, Scorn, Stalker 2, Somerville, Slime Ranchers 2 etc to come this year - that's before we get a 'clearer' picture with Xbox/Bethesda Showcase coming in a few weeks. We could still get Forza Motorsport and Hellblade 2 for example replacing Redfall/Starfield in the release schedule.

The future beyond 2022 looks incredibly Strong. As soon as Xbox acquires A/B, they can Publish ALL (except licensed games) instantly into Game Pass - just like they did with Bethesda as they now own Publishing rights. So even if you don't get A/B Studio 'exclusives' for a while, you will get their BC and all multi-platform releases from that point onwards. Games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Prototype, Tony Hawks etc all added to Game Pass when the deal goes through...

So I really don't see the issue. If they were cancelling games, removing them from coming to Game Pass day & date, then I'd be concerned but they are still coming soon (not as soon as we thought but still coming) so where is the 'issue'??

Once you catch up with the major titles in game pass the value is completely wiped out. I regret stacking so many months, money wasted.

My future plan is to rotate between playstations service and game pass. I will binge on the major games in a service then switch to other. There will probably be periods where I have neither service.

I'd rank it D, there have been a decent amount of additions I would've played if I was a subscriber but Microsoft's approach of always heavily focusing on the holiday season for the 1st party front makes the rest of the year weak.

I already said this on Push Square but because of the rough state of the 1st party front for Xbox, the PS+ revamp actually looks more impressive than Game Pass even with the absence of day 1 releases.

@Grumblevolcano it does if you're a new PS gamer who hasn't played most of those games. As someone who only plays the exclusive drop here and there on PS, there's literally no reason to bother with it as all those games are old news.

Even less of a reason for hardcore PS fans.

Sony needs to do day 1, period.

I really don’t get why people are focused only on the first party front. There are still AAA games being launched on GamePass on Day One. Ironically, GamePass got one of the latest Sony first party games The Show 22 and it doesn’t look like it will even on their own new service. But sure, spend $70 to own it on PS5. Sniper Elite 5 is shaping up to be one of the best in the series according to previews. Another $60 for a AAA game saved this week.

But, you know, GamePass is so weak.

In my own opinion I would rank gamepass C. This is because for me it has been a mixed bag.

Pros:

• I have enjoyed indie games like The Forgotten City, Trek to Yomi, Eiyuden Chronicles Rising and Last Stop.
• AAA titles Like Forza 5 and MS Flight Sim have been great.

+Games like Starfield, Avowed, Fable and much more will make the service a real AAA USP in 2023/beyond.

Cons:

• The Majority of the AAA games that come to the service do not come on day one. I am not interesed in or already own.
  (Games I brought because they didn't come day1 - Scarlet Nexus, Gaurdians of the Galaxy, Train Sim World 2, Lake, Yakuza Like A Dragon, Yakuza Collection, Life is Strange True Colours) If you are on the Service for day one games and you are more on the heavy side of gaming, the value may not be there yet.
• MS has yet to prove the true USP but putting its own AAA games that aren't Halo, Forza of Flight Sim. It's 2022 and the first party AAA offering is still fairly bare against that 2020 huge blowout.

The votes for “f” are pure cap

I haven't touched my Series X since I finished Halo. They need to up their game. At this point Playstation is still the best place to play if you enjoy AAA exclusives. I don't think Xbox will ever have the quality games that Playstation has. Xbox doesn't seem to be managed as well as Playstation.

Game Pass brought me back to gaming after 12 years. It’s that simple. For as many people as get burnt out as many like me will jump onboard.

The article also implies it’s a zero sum game. Let’s assume it’s true and game pass is loosing its shine. Is it going to start shedding millions of users each week? Does anyone who unsubscribes now pay full price for red fall and star fuels next year to stick it to game pass? It’s all money to Xbox either way.

@BleedingDreamer If you say so...wish I knew where all these triple a games on PlayStation are because only ones in recent memory are horizon which was a big dissapointment and grand turismo (I don't do racing games personally)..and then it's looking pretty barren for the rest of the year apart from what god of war ..which will likely be delayed

Let's just say I wish PlayStation had a gamepass like service with day 1 games so I didn't have to pay £50 to find out how overrated Horizon was

Kotaku is such a garbage site now. They've resorted to divisive hit-pieces for clicks. They stoke the flames of the worst in the console wars and politics with their own agendas baked into everything.
You say it's not an opinion piece, but a news story. Having this as your headline is an opinion piece "After years of hype, the Xbox Game Pass burnout is here". If they were intending to not have an opinion but give notice to some user frustrations, it would say something like "Some users feel that Xbox Game Pass burnout has arrived" or something like that. Not a "statement of fact" type headline that they did. That makes it an opinion piece.

@StylesT GT7, Spiderman, Astro's Playroom, Returnal, Rachet and Clank, Horizon Forbidden West and Demon Souls are a few that come to mind. I've been busy finishing up Horizon since it came out I was done with Halo in under a week because it launched incomplete missing components that could have made it the game of this generation. Xbox Game Studios seems to be poorly managed with no direction. Halo being delayed a year and still missing key elements like co-OP prove that.

When "Elden Ring" and "Diablo 2 Resurrection" comes to Game Pass (for a year), I'll certainly give an "A"... I promise...

As far as I know the article didn’t even quote Gene correctly.

I think the bigger issues is why bother announcing it on social media platform. I get wanting MS to do better, but Twitter not the best place to get that message to the people you want.

I have a constant stream of games i play with an ever growing backlog....so yeah it's an A for me personally.

For me Gamepass Ultimate is such a great deal and is more than enough for me. First off, it's not $15 a month. You can find online 1 year cards (or codes) for a lot less than $15 a month.

I don't look at just New AAA I look at games that I really want to play, and right now there are a TON of games. That makes it worth it for me.

Very poor so far this year for me and was thinking of cancelling my sub for a bit too. Was going to cancel in March but wanted to play Gotg but hasn't been anything else since

Xbox's response is basically mocking people who prefer the upper tier of games. This seems like a bad response from them. They are completely legitimizing this article from kotaku with this bad take. There is a free layup for Sony if they want it by saying our new service has a ton of AAA titles and we are committed to AAA titles in the future.

People are saying it would be nice if there were more high tier games coming to gamepass and Xbox responds with maybe you should value lower tier games more. Bad take.

I’d give it a B, but I’m also not one of those shallow minded folks that only care about AAA.

Major shade? More like a childish response and shaming people that enjoy bigger budget games.

The world would be a damn utopia if we all collectively ignored that dumpster fire site. Really is a shame how far they've fallen

Being a huge Suikoden fan, I was looking forward to Eiyuden Chronicle Rising. I got home from work on the day that it launched, having anticipated the game all week, and jumped on to the Xbox Store fully prepared to buy the game for $15. Surprise! The game showed that it was available on Gamepass. Instead, of paying $15, I was able to download and play it for "free". It was an awesome feeling to be able to unexpectedly hang on to that $15, and with that one game, Game Pass paid for itself for the whole month! I've put 30 hours in so far so I feel like I've got my moneys worth. I feel like that was a perfect example of the value of GP and just made me happier to be a subscriber.

Truthfully, there are more good options for games to play on there than I'll ever have time to experience with more dropping all the time. I would like to see those AAA games too, but I'm ok if they are a little spread out, as it gives me time to plumb the depths of the GP catalogue a little more.

@Titntin The 1st party titles this gen from Microsoft have been great to us. As a first time xbox owner, Flight Sim and Forza Horizon 5 are amazing values for me on GP. I never would have bought those games and between me and my son we're getting tons of play out of just those 2 titles, not to mention, I caught up on all the halo games and was very impressed with Infinite.

@munstahunta This describes me too. Nintendo main through all previous generations, jumping in with Xbox this gen. There is so much to discover in GP that I'll never have time to play it all.

I've been saying the same for almost 2 years.

Unless you enjoy 8 bit games on quality level of NES from the 80s then chances are game pass not for you. All those hundreds of hundreds of games on game pass claims - - 95% those are the cheap indies.

@GuyinPA75 imagine being so reductive with indies that you claim stuff like Hades, Streets of Rage 4, Tunic, Death’s Door, Bug Fables, Art of Rally etc. are no better than NES games.

I use it for the Indies, AAA games i buy on my PS5 so Gamepass value for me is the various Indies on there.

@Sakisa Did you miss the part of my post saying 95%?

Streets of rage 4 was decent. Would been just as decent on Sega Genesis in 1992. Tunic has me interested. Would like to find time to play in near future.

@GuyinPA75 No, but if you actually think 95% of the indie games on Gamepass are NES level fodder then I stand by the point of you being reductive towards indies, same as anyone that thinks indies are inherently lesser than the big shiny blockbuster games.

Playing lots of The Show 22, some Tunic, FM22, Crusader Kings III. Good value for me so far in 2022.

Pretty sure GamePass is the last game service I will unsubscribe from, everything else seems minor and expendable by comparison. Like PS+, don't need it, Nintendo Switch Online, pretty much useless. GamePass, I actually get a lot of good use out of.

@XxEvilAshxX The point I'm getting at is for example look at the day 1 XGS games on Game Pass this year so far and the day 1 PS Studios games on PS+ Extra/Premium this year so far. The answer to both is 0 but given the different stances on day 1 1st party releases in a subscription, it paints a different picture for each.

For PS it shows Sony believing that 1st party games are too valuable to be put on PS+ Extra/Premium day 1 but for Xbox it shows Microsoft's inability to have a consistent 1st party lineup.

You don't need to be "fair to Kotaku" - they're absolute trash masquerading as a news site.

I'm kinda surprised it took so long. The whole 15$ a month fee has to get old sooner or later. It's always been irrelevant to me, but I can see why some value it.

Imho game rentals went away when Blockbuster died. (Dating myself)

No burnout here. Excellent in my opinion.

@stephenratliff It's funny how they bring up feeling burned out, when the only thing I have been feeling burned out on lately is Sony games and their services.

@themightyant
You summed that up very well.
I’m in the first category with the new AAA games gang. So it is not really suiting me to much now.
But of course it is perfect for those that like older games, old console games and indies.

If Microsoft start churning out top end AAA new titles, big adventures etc then maybe.

Being with Xbox since day one it’s hard for me at the moment to carry my passion for them, since Series x I’ve struggled, had some good little moments FH5 and a little with Halo Infinite campaign but that is it, kept faith but with Redfall and especially Starfield now 2023 I have totally lost interest in Xbox and game pass. It is a strange feeling after decades of loyalty with them. Including some frustration and anger. But that’s life 😊

Not rocket science. Game pass is good for short periods because it focus' more on quantity rather than quality, same with Netflix. Once you have gone through the quality you manage to get through the quantity rather quickly.
I've just stopped my subscription and will wait for about a year or more until I go back. WIll give the PS+ one a go for a year and get through their list before swapping over again.
I do find it amusing I'll have this £450 paper weight for a year gathering dust as I have nothing really to show for the £100 I spent the last 18 months or so.
Whether this service model will work long term, only time will tell.

I'm mixed on Game Pass, really. It's marketed mostly about being for the AAA games, but in reality it mostly thrives on indies. I have a mega backlog of AAA games I need years to catch up on or more, so playing a smattering of indie games isn't really on my to-do list. And yet, Game Pass is my go-to source for checking out said indie games which tend to sell best on Switch and cost far too much for their value to consider really paying money for them directly to try out, so Game Pass scratches that itch. OTOH, I'm not really into forcing myself to play games I don't have time to play or aren't in the mood for while they're scheduled on Game Pass.

However, I was probably never the target market for GP in the beginning and resisted subscribing, eventually doing it only because the price is right, and it gives me streaming and first party games inclusive, so why not. I always knew I wouldn't be focusing on it.

Right now it has AI Somnium Files. Checked it out, seems really good, I'm not paying $40 for it on Switch. So it's great on GP. But I probably won't play it in time before it's gone, so I'm hesitant to even start.

All these same criticisms apply to Plus Extra, too, though, which is why I'm probably not subbing to it at least for now. GP will still provide more overall value most years by including first party games at launch.

its tremendous value and combined with rewards is excellent. played gears 5, halo infinite, forza horizon 5 day 1 cant argue with that.

They could not add another game until 2023 and I’d still have enough backlog to keep me going. As it stands at the moment all the fun indie releases are great for keeping the kids amused too. I’m paid up until next year with no regrets.

@StonyKL I'm kind of in the same boat not having played much on GP, but I figure I'd be buying Gold for $50+ a year, I get streaming to toy with new things. And I got to play FH5 and Halo at launch inclusive, so I'd have spent $160 anyway and I tried The Gunk and enjoyed it.....at worst it's break-even but I got the option to experiment with more stuff. And when the bigger games do start arriving, I'll be really at the same spend I'd otherwise have been but tried more stuff. I'm still feeling it's not a bad value yet, but I do toy with the idea maybe I won't sub forever, depending on future releases.

How do I rate Game Pass? Have you got a high score then A?

@WallyWest Honestly, indies are where the true value of Game Pass lie. Most AAA games nowadays are designed to be the only game you play for months, so you're almost better off just buying the game and canceling your sub if that's the only thing you're interested in. Indies may be cheaper at retail, but you can knock 'em out in a handful of hours and more than "pay" for your sub for the month by knocking out a couple in a weekend.

GamePass is purely a financial decision for me and it continues to deliver. I can easily justify the monthly cost in how many games I have avoided buying because they appeared on GamePass.

As for the first party side, yes I am a bit disappointed, but I would rather see quality then quantity. Last year saw Flight Simulator, Psychonauts 2, Halo Infinite, and Forza Horizon 5 ship on GamePass. This year is looking light right now, but MS has a lot of games in the hopper and when they do ship it looks like they will start consistently delivering. As long as they are quality games I am not overly concerned on the length of time.

It is a disappointment that games like Starfield are delayed, though I look at Halo Infinite and think to myself, take all the time you need. All the same the value is undeniable with the amount and quality of games available on Game Pass. It's been a while since I've read a Kotaku article this piece seems like a reminder why.

Pretty funny reading comments here saying GamePass is quantity of quality. Then look at the Metacritic/OpenCritic scores of some of the recent DAY ONE games in just the last two months like Citizen Sleeper (84), The Stanley Parable (94), Rogue Legacy 2 (89) and MLB The Show 22 (80). In fact there’s been at least a dozen Day One releases in just the past two months and not a single one has less than a 70 on Metacritic/OpenCritic.

Heck, I have friends who only have PlayStation and they were upset that Rogue Legacy 2 was only on Xbox console-wise. Not only is it a timed exclusive, but it was also Day One on GamePass.

But, yeah, 95% of GamePass games are just crap.

@BartoxTharglod Then said people need to realize that for many other people it’s the complete opposite and not make generalizations like “GamePass is quantity over quality” as if it’s a fact. That’s the problem that I have.

Just like the article doing “reductive math” that it would take one $60 game every three months to justify a subscription. That’s acting like there’s absolutely no other games on the service. So, that is not a fact.

And for that matter, MS is still delivering at least one new $60 game every three months. Heck, there’s been two just in the past two months (The Show 22 and Sniper Elite 5).

@BartoxTharglod Again, you’re missing the point. I said THE ARTICLE said it would take a new $60 game releasing every three months to make it add up to the $15 a month. How else are you supposed to read that fact and not use MSRP of a brand new game to do the “math” they are using? There’s no opinion in that statement in the article.

All I was saying is that “fact” was not accurate going by their own math.

I like Game Pass; but if I wasn't getting it for free, I wouldn't bother with it. That's mostly because I always end up with a backlog of purchased games to contend with across Series X, PS5, and Switch.

Xbox's social media team is really inconsistent one minute they're tweeting about how all gamers are great then they're saying that if you only play AAA games your some how inferior

If people don’t like the proposition value, the just do like others in that article did. Just quit. Problem solved. Doesn’t mean that it’s others don’t find great value in the service.

@SplooshDmg @NEStalgia is this true? You haven’t finished this game??

It’s one of my all time favorite games. The sequel is month away.. well if you can call it a sequel still.

It’s not super long either I think 20-30 hours. trust me worth it.

@BartoxTharglod Actually, I didn't do upgrade pricing, when I did it I stacked about 2 years of Game Pass on an Amazon promo sale, before Ultimate existed, and then have been paying full price since for ultimate ever since that ran out. Upgraded to ultimate for the streaming and because the price of gold plus normal game pass isn't really a savings compared to ultimate. The price is still right for now. But that'll depend on if they truly have a good launch calendar... Lots of games I'm hyped for in the lineup, but when they'll release is another question.

Oh boy, that Sony mess is making even "indie pass" look good though. No day 1 games, BC controversy, no streaming for new games, bc streaming only. And then the whole full price including retroactive sale repayment thing I don't even think it's legal if they do it in the US... I seriously wanted to be convinced to upgrade, but I don't think that's happening.

@mousieone @SplooshDmg Grr, I just spent half a year working though great ace attorney and finally got Yakuza running on my s to stream so I can finish 0 up from last August and finally set ffxiii trilogy up to work on the sequels and now you two are going to pressure me into AI som! . I'm STILL trying to finish the cabaret club! I'm so close to battling club moon!

@BartoxTharglod If you can’t read an article that explicitly says how it’s calculating something (even if the calculation itself is wrong) and think that it somehow is opinion, then I don’t know what to say to you.

From the article:
“Let’s also assume any big-budget games, exclusive or not, that hit the service cost an industry-standard $60. By that math, you’d need to play one full-price games via Game Pass every four months to justify the cost.”

Nowhere does it say anything about whether you like the $60 game.

Reading. I know it’s hard sometimes.

@BartoxTharglod Yeah, you aren’t either. As the saying goes, you can’t argue with stupid.

@SplooshDmg @NEStalgia what else are you using your phone for? Besides Boss insists.

@NEStalgia @SplooshDmg you have no idea how much I wanted to hurt Amazon for canceling my pre-order of the CE. Fortunately, I got in elsewhere and I’ve got my fingers crossed it doesn’t get canceled again. My heart wouldn’t be able to take it ._.

@SplooshDmg @mousieone Geeze with all that I may have to just buy it on switch after all...

@SplooshDmg @NEStalgia I totally second the opinion about AI. It's one of my fav games and am currently waiting on CE of the sequel It's not a difficult game, but the story is very enjoyable and it's a nice blend of very serious an humorous tones.

As for the subject of the article itself I did not get an impression and that GP lineup has become bad. Sure, there are points where i finished a game and have trouble selecting something new for myself, but im kinda picky (because i have little time for actual gaming) and i do know there's something yet to come on a horizon. Just now in march Guardians of the Galaxy came onto GP, in april we got LiS: True Colors, and its nothing but a great game. Soon, there's new Sniper and AC:Origins coming out. Heck, even if you just look at blockbusters its not looking half bad at all, and there are non-AAA games too

I didn’t realize so many were upset over Gamepass. I think it’s a good service. Sure, Xbox hasn’t released an AAA exclusive this year, but I can see why it would happen. We might be getting out of the pandemic but it is still leaving its mark on things. Many of these studios are new to being under Xbox. They’ll start getting things together and releasing more consistently. I’m just giving them the extra time needed.

Solid A, tremendous value for me and my family, I gameshare with my eldest son, but my youngest son has a gamepc, so the three of us can play the same time for 13 euros a month. Sounds like a good deal to me

@BleedingDreamer Apart from the ones I mentioned the ones you mentioned about a year or more older...which people are moaning at Xbox for..even though they released 2 big exclusives at the back end of last year

Atleast you finished Halo..I can't bring myself to finish the boring Horizon forbidden West:)

@umeandgames
I'm delighted to hear that and yes, if you haven't played some of the classic Xbox games, GP is a fantastic way to explore the catalogue and an excellent value proposition.
My situation is somewhat different in that I know, and have played, the previous 1st party titles already on GP so I don't get any value from them unless I wish to revisit those titles. I also hated infinite, cant argue with its mechanics which are better than fine, but that campaign was the saddest AAA experience I've had in years, absolutely painful to endure it was that bad for me.
I have no desire to 'play' a flight sim on a console, I don't even play it on my 3090 PC where it would make more sense given the controls, so that had zero value for me, though I'm glad you are enjoying it. Loved Forza 5, but it was a 3 month love affair and I don't go back to it - which is surprising as I played Forza 4 for years. I also had to play this on my PC, as the pop in on series x was too much for me @60 hz and I didn't really want to play it @30hz.
So for me in the last 18 months I've played one 1st party title that did it for me, so I'm not being harsh when I state the service doesn't have value for me for 1st party only - it absolutely does not.
BUT the service regularly has interesting indie titles and some really good 3rd party day one releases that absolutely make GP a valued product and somewhere I can find new treasures. I may prefer some AAA blockbusters as my main go to games, but I'm getting plenty of 3rd party ones on GP and when the AAA's run out, its a great place to explore and find something new whilst I wait the next one. Whilst I genuinely believe its still, gonna be 2 years before we see it start to turn around, there has been huge investment in 1st party studios, so we know there will be more 1st party options in the future, and its still fantastic value until they arrive.

Yeah, its a great year if you are a 12 year old girl. 99% of these games are utter garbage for little kids