Microsoft asks many Game Pass subscribers to pay more for less

“Launch day access to first-party titles now restricted to $19.99/month ‘Ultimate’ tier.”

  • @retrospectology
    link
    English
    5224 days ago

    This is exactly what people were warned about with “games as a service” nonsense. No one wanted to listen.

    They wouldn’t be doing it if there wasn’t a plan to get consumers to be paying more in the end.

    • @NOT_RICK
      link
      English
      824 days ago

      I knew this was coming. I’ve still gotten a lot of value out of gamepass in the interim. I’ll just cancel when the value prop is gone. Thankfully with sites like cdkeys or eneba it’s pretty easy to get a few months of gamepass for 10-20 bucks.

      • @retrospectology
        link
        English
        2224 days ago

        Unfortunately your support has helped bolster the viability of the model, it’ll be the norm eventually and there won’t be a way of getting most games without a paid service. Canceling won’t be an option at a certain point, that’s how these things work.

        • @NOT_RICK
          link
          English
          524 days ago

          I’m not so sure, Microsoft seems pretty content to take people’s money however they want to give it. They came back to steam two years after gamepass launched when they didn’t necessarily have to.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            524 days ago

            But they get more money if people have to rent their games forever than if they can own things. It’s happening with everything really and companies always want the most profit.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          424 days ago

          Bud AAA’s have been getting worse and worse for over a decade now, the indie scene has never been as fucking good as it is now. Stop buying AAA games if their monetization politics upsets you, I did, and I’ve never been thirsty for a good game.

    • @CatZoomiesOPM
      link
      English
      724 days ago

      Agreed. It isn’t a sustainable model. Eventually game companies will want their own proprietary ‘Game Pass service’, and we’ll see a great schism in the next 10 years - the very same that fractured video streaming. Customers will get more choices, but prices will remain high(er) rather than lowering.

      For now, depending on the type of customer, Game Pass is a good deal for those that want to try out games or have the time to justify the subscription. For an oldie like me, it’s not a good deal as I prefer to own my games (where possible, considering licenses and DRM).

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        224 days ago

        The only time I even entertained this “game pass” idea was when I first got my vive, they offer infinity so you can play many/most (I havent used their portal since a year into owning the vive) of the games listed as part of it. By the time I had almost convinced myself I realised I already bought and had enough free steam games that it was no longer a good idea, for me.

  • @saltesc
    link
    English
    1024 days ago

    Oh yeah, I still have the sub. Just reminded me to cancel it lol. Don’t think I’ve used it in about 3-4 months.

    • @CatZoomiesOPM
      link
      English
      1024 days ago

      LOL. You’re Microsoft’s ideal customer to pay for a service you don’t use. Happy I could remind you to cancel!😃

      • @saltesc
        link
        English
        223 days ago

        Yeah, back in 360 days I forgot I had Xbox Live, started playing again after like a year, signed up to Xbox Live, didn’t realise I was paying for the old one as well until another year later.

        I’m so bad at that stuff. I get paid, then next day all the stuff comes out, and I just assumed that’s that, forgetting to check if any of it I still use anymore lol

  • @Jaeger86
    link
    English
    724 days ago

    And the enshitification hits game pass. It was only a matter of time

  • @GuStJaR
    link
    English
    424 days ago

    Every now and again I’ll sign up for EA pro, or ubisoft connect and cancel when I’m done with whatever game or games I signed up for. Xbgp is the only one I just keep paying for, despite not playing much via it. When they send me an email saying the price is going up, that will be when it becomes like the others and I will cancel.

  • @fluckx
    link
    English
    124 days ago

    Strange. The PC game pass still shows it has access to the latest releases ans is only 12$ ( in the article twitter link )

  • @HeyJoe
    link
    English
    024 days ago

    They won’t even offer a yearly plan? This is awful… please Playstation, do not follow this model. It’s $240 a year compared to the top tier psn plan at $160.

    • @CatZoomiesOPM
      link
      English
      624 days ago

      Sony slipped into the chat:

      “We heard our name so we came running. We must keep up with our competition. Gamers proved they’ll pay anything, so to stay competitive, we will be increasing our prices in order to stay competitive with our offerings. Sure the publishers are raising their rates, and servers aren’t cheap, but we hope that with this new increase, our profitability margins will increase faster than our operating revenues. We think you’re gonna love it.”

      • @HeyJoe
        link
        English
        324 days ago

        Nooooo!

        The best line I have actually heard multiple times whenever a change is made by my company is “we are changing so and so service to this to better align ourselves with industry standards.” And guess what, those standards are always worse for us. Never once seen this where it’s been a positive. I guess it’s ok to do if everyone else does it!

        • @CatZoomiesOPM
          link
          English
          324 days ago

          LOL yep. And if you ever work in the traditional corporate office job, you’ll hear these great words mixed in:

          • align
          • synergize
          • innovate
          • compete
          • streamline
          • agile

          I work the corporate game, so I use these words myself, but ooh boy it gets tiring. Thankfully I’m agile enough to synergize myself with these new standards, which are aligned best with our competitors.