By mostly good I mean, Gamepass and the relevance of their relation to the gaming industry.
Would not say either of these are in great standing right now but whatever.
I won't lie, PS+ game catalog has been very good in alot of ways, but having games launch on your subscription is still very good value.
It's good value for end customers potentially, but if that were really the case then Game Pass sub rates would've grown a lot more than they have. Xbox console sales would be much better than they are.
Game Pass Day 1 has mainly been a marketing gimmick which isn't panning out, and even Microsoft have realized this hence they technically release their games a few days or a week ahead of the Game Pass drop, to shore up B2P sales based off FOMO.
Microsoft got a very good deal on ABK, ABK's market cap fell a shit ton, which prompted MS to make the move. Also hit its record revenue in 2023, because Diablo IV hit or exceeded its sales target.
For example if ABKs stock didn't fall MS would have to pay a 100 billion to acquire them, so they basically got 1$ while spending 0.70$, this was also primarily cash on hand, so MS just secured its gaming industry forever ticket, while getting billions of revenue every year.
The question isn't revenue; it's net profits. To cover the $75 billion payment in ABK, the Xbox division would have needed to make at least $2 billion a year in net profits for over 35 years. When the truth is, right now I seriously doubt they have been pulling in $2 billion in net profits from Xbox altogether, or getting anywhere near that prior to purchasing Zenimax & ABK.
Revenue only means so much; the changes MS are doing with their gaming division are all in an effort to increase profit margins. It's just that they can't squeeze any more money off their current base of core enthusiasts console owners, so they have to leverage revenue expansion by going multiplatform.
Gamepass, I'm pretty sure will always be valuable and relevant, they really did an amazing job implementing play anywhere and getting gamepass on PC, and we will most likely see a big subscriber jump after Activision games come day 1 on the service.
Game Pass will have a place insofar as maybe helping drive engagement of indie and smaller titles Day 1 into that type of service and, if Microsoft go multiplatform fully, they'll be able to bring the service to PlayStation and Nintendo platforms in a curated form.
But those are the only ways it's going to see a massive surge in subscribers. ABK games Day 1 won't do it most likely, because most of those won't be Day 1 games. I stand by the assertion that new CODs will NOT be Day 1 in Game Pass unless it's at the highest tier. MS are not going to jeopardize B2P sales revenue & profits long-term with any Game Pass inclusion of new CODs.
+ I don't think Xbox hardware has much potential, but I don't think MS will pull the plug at all. Nor do I think the next high-end Xbox console will have 0 sales.
Also don't think they'll pull the plug on Xbox hardware. However, I have a 90% feeling new Xbox consoles will not be "consoles", but gaming-specific/centric PC devices (mini-PCs, laptops, tablets, handhelds etc.) running Windows in a desktop environment & Xbox UI gaming frontend (as the default option), built around some common specification blueprint (CPU, GPU, RAM/RAM type, BIOS, controller IC, storage, motherboard etc.) that's scalable on the manufacturer's end and modular (to varying degrees) on the customer end depending on the form factor device type.
It's the only future they have with gaming hardware that isn't just peripherals, but it'd mean significant changes in current console model. Including things like no more Xbox console exclusives (because Xbox wouldn't be a "console" anymore), and being Day 1 on as many devices as possible (so PlayStation, Switch 2 in most cases, PC (Windows Store, Steam), mobile in some cases etc.).
They may have the rare game or two that's a timed Xbox "console" exclusive like Age of Empires or Flight Simulator but that's because they'd be timed PC exclusives before getting ported over to an actual console like PS5/PS6.
