Xbox Exec Denies Game Pass Is 'Disruptive', Says He's 'Super Hopeful' About Its Future

Well it’s a bit disruptive as in it changed how we look at games. Disruption isn’t always bad though. I don’t own a land line anymore thanks to cell phones. I don’t go to blockbuster to rent my movies. Ideally my next car won’t take gas and most importantly call of duty will be on switch.

I mean i havent paid for anything in xbox in years. Have years of gamepass locked in for free with reward points

What I find interesting is people pay full price for a game only to never finish it. And that happens a lot. But this model creates more opportunities for both gamers and creators alike. Developers get to reach more people than they ever could and consumers can get variety of products to choose from which one they'd like. Also we get to see more passion projects or risky venture which otherwise wouldn't be possible. And if people loved certain games they can buy it. Simple as that. Although traditional sale is going to diminish in a sense but player engagement rate increases a lot. Which is more important going forward in my opinion.

I thought the whole idea was it was supposed to be disruptive and shake up the industry and the way it operates.

"It's additive. People still buy a lot of games and they still buy a lot of games on Xbox."

There's no denying that Game Pass has impacted Xbox players' purchasing habits. First party games rarely appear on NPD sales charts, and most games sell disproportionately better on PlayStation, even considering the difference in install base. Many games sell more than 75% of their copies on PS.

This a weird game of semantics. Just because it’s additive to consumers’ purchasing habits doesn’t mean it’s not disruptive; it has absolutely disrupted the marketplace (and that’s a good thing).

Seems like MS is doing everything they can to sound less impressive for regulators these days.

i assume he likes his job so he wasnt exactly going to say its a steaming pile was he?

@Kaloudz yup. it's the best deal in gaming and it definitively expanded my gaming horizon. If game pass didn't exist i'd play way fewer games and experience less unique experiences than i do now. Best thing to happen to the brand since the 360 days.

@Kaloudz @J_Mo_Money Xbox 369 was awesome. TBH I use it more than my Switch Pro. Starcraft Ghost, Agent, Deep Down, Half-Life 3....most amazing exclusive lineup of all time.

@Kaloudz @J_Mo_Money The Xbox369 would have been NICE, lol.

JK, and agree with both of you, XGP is the best deal and I have discovered many great games thanks to this.

Just like everything, there's pros and cons. Gamepass is great for the games that get a gamepass deal, but anyone that doesn't get a gamepass deal is screwed cause they now have to compete with it.

I see people say all the time that they never pay for Xbox games anymore and because of that i can see why a lot of developers don't even bother with Xbox anymore, why develop for it if most of the player base isn't even gonna look outside of gamepass.

It's great for players and for anyone lucky enough to get a gamepass deal, but i can see more and more developers in the future (outside of the big names and franchises) choosing not to put their games on Xbox if they don't get a gamepass deal

@NEStalgia Don't forget Star Wars 1313, a true classic!

@Kaloudz whoops. Slippery fingers lol

@NEStalgia now you're just poking the bear!

@HarmanSmith funny enough, i may have been talking about the 369 manifestation method, which apparently is a thing. I may be on to something!

It is disruptive, since it changes the status quo, but that is not a negative.

I think he is trying to defend it because he feels the term “disruptive” has some negative connotation.

Edit: also no clue if this guy been playing mobile games lately. I don’t remember finding any decent paid games on mobile, everything these days (that any store is willing to highlight) is either free to play or a pre-existing huge IP.

@Moonglow "Disruptive" is almost always a very good thing in tech and I've rarely heard anyone not wear it as a badge of honor (I work in tech). Disruptive technologies change the ecosystem, shake up the status quo, and make everyone rethink what's possible which is exactly what Gamepass did.

Gamepass was a marketplace disruptor and the market is changing to accommodate (see PS+ following suit).

The word 'Disruptive' is often seen as a 'negative' but that doesn't always mean that is 'detrimental' to the end Consumers.

In the past, the ONLY way to watch a film was to go to the Cinema, wait for it to come out on VHS to rent/buy or wait 'years' in the hope it will come to a TV channel. Cable/Satellite changed how we access TV/Film content and now you have more options than ever with Streaming too.

You can argue the 'internet' was very disruptive for 'Magazines' and Trade Shows like E3 because the Companies that 'relied' on Trade Shows to tell the 'Press' what they were planning for the year ahead to reach Consumers, now have a way to communicate 'directly to Consumer' with a video over the internet...

Game Pass has certainly 'disrupted' Microsofts business model - which was once like Sony's - Games were 'sold' to bring in revenue to keep making games because that was the 'only' way to get income. Now with 'conditional' licences and digital delivery systems, you don't have to 'buy' a game and releasing day and date into a Sub service is certainly going to 'disrupt' sales but that doesn't necessarily make it 'worse' for consumers.

Its disrupted the Status Quo but I also think its been a positive change as more people can now access more games and on more devices than ever. Having 20m+ playing a Game in the first week isn't a negative in my opinion either and those games are 'reaching' far more people than ever before...

@Kaloudz hahaha you're right.

That Xbox One era, eh?

@J_Mo_Money hahahaha I didn't knew that method!

I will use it from now, and maybe Hellblade 2 will manifest

@Kaloudz I've been here, but not much going on news wise while push has my attention more due to vr, horizon dlc, and arguing about why Dante of War shouldn't be a numbered FF main line title.

@Kaloudz Went as you'd expect There's the split in the 4 types of FF fans. There's the fan that accepts nothing but turn based top down FF games. The fan that will accept anything named FF as naturally the one true perfect game even if it were an NFT football card game called FF MMCXVI and didn't get past the menu screen. There's the FF 14 superfan that thinks anything the game's director does is automatically perfect because he saved one MMO he didn't design from failing and that automatically means he's the next Kojima, and then there's the people that have no idea why an over the shoulder single character driven QTE-based action adventure spinoff is now called a mainline FF game, though they also called two subscription MMO spinoffs a mainline FF game, so who can say with Square, anymore? I'm surprised they didn't try to make Deux Ex 3, call it FF17, and see if it sold better. The true fans would have argued that it's a true FF game it just changed with the times, because anything is a true FF game if the company says it is.

How could GamePass be "disruptive" anymore when Sony has fully embraced the subscription model with PS+ Extra?

@JayJ Sony seem to rely more on "older" games with the odd day 1 indie though, like if you want to play FF16 or Spider-Man 2 at launch you will have to buy them. Not a dig at MS or Sony though as i can see why both do it the way they do, personally i prefer the Day 1 releases of Gamepass but i will say Sony has done well in giving Plus a diverse line up off games.