Elsewhere, certain folks think that Microsoft removing 'some' day one releases from lower Game Pass tiers is an attempt to push players towards Xbox Game Pass Ultimate; the team's highest tier. Ampere Analysis reckons almost 75% of current subscribers have Ultimate - meaning over a quarter of Game Pass users are there and waiting to be convinced by Microsoft's Game Pass Ultimate tier.
Finally, an ad-supported tier has also come up in conversation here. Joost Van Dreunen of Parsec Gaming expects a pretty big shift towards a cheaper Game Pass tier with adverts in the near future. Here's what he had to say on that potential strategy:
"There will be three phases, roughly. Initially, I expect ads to show up as banner ads inside of the Xbox and Game Pass menus. Mostly as a test case, it will start slow.
However, once Microsoft develops this capability over the next few years, I anticipate interstitial ads (during loading screens, for instance) as a second phase.
Finally, and assuming that this works out well for its ecosystem, Microsoft is likely to make an acquisition in the ad tech space to acquire the capability to both facilitate programmatic ads and a centralized inventory using existing ad industry metrics and tool sets. This last component is obviously the furthest out."
As is always the case with analysts and such, these are informed opinions based on experience and importantly, data - but that doesn't mean they're all going to happen. Anyway, the full IGN piece is well worth a read, as they've gathered up plenty of information for this broad look at Xbox Game Pass. Oh, and as you ponder these potential changes in the future, you can check out what has been confirmed by Microsoft down below.
