Matt Piscatella: Sub. growth has flattened & sub services account for only 10% video game spending in the US. |UP| Still stagnant & stalled.

Dr Bass

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Stole this from 4chan but it’s a great point:

“The best way I've seen it put is that imagine any exclusive you can think of on Xbox. Now imagine that it's releasing on Epic Game Store. Is that game saving EGS? Is it moving the needles in anyway and helping EGS compete against Steam? Xbox fans don't like to hear it, but they're in the same state that EGS currently is except that EGS even has Fortnite as an exclusive and it can't seem to move the needle. EGS tried giving away free games and nothing, it tried nabbing major exclusives and nothing, people wait until the game is off EGS and then buy it on Steam in droves. Phil was correct that exclusives won't save Xbox because there is no saving Xbox. Mattrick killed the brand over a decade ago.”
It's a good point but I kinda feel like Spencer killed it even more ...
 
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flaccidsnake

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It was foreseeable imo. From my own experience, I don't have enough time to play subscription games. And if you look at the market, a lot of F2P and live service games are being played. That's why EA FC and CoD are so successful.
I wonder how many people who played hundreds of hours of Baldur's Gate continued subscribing to Game Pass barely using it for months. As they raise the price, that fucking stings.
 

Evilnemesis8

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I wonder how many people who played hundreds of hours of Baldur's Gate continued subscribing to Game Pass barely using it for months. As they raise the price, that fucking stings.

Just think of how many people who don't really use Netflix still pay monthly for that, all subscription services just hope you never bother unsubscribing, which is why they more often than not make the process a bit more tedious than users would like.

Speaking of BG3, a few weeks back in December I saw a review by a steam user that basically said : This is the best game ever. Her time played? something like 1.1k~ hours. That's around 45 days played... The game came out in August, lmao.
 

Gediminas

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Stole this from 4chan but it’s a great point:

“The best way I've seen it put is that imagine any exclusive you can think of on Xbox. Now imagine that it's releasing on Epic Game Store. Is that game saving EGS? Is it moving the needles in anyway and helping EGS compete against Steam? Xbox fans don't like to hear it, but they're in the same state that EGS currently is except that EGS even has Fortnite as an exclusive and it can't seem to move the needle. EGS tried giving away free games and nothing, it tried nabbing major exclusives and nothing, people wait until the game is off EGS and then buy it on Steam in droves. Phil was correct that exclusives won't save Xbox because there is no saving Xbox. Mattrick killed the brand over a decade ago.”
No, Phil killed it.
 

Gods&Monsters

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Why did Xbox buy Activision?
I'm going to copy/paste the post I did about this. I posted the tweet first but the thread died lol

I should have started this thread 😅

The plan was to own all the most popular content to force customers into a subscription and cloud future where MS would be the only company left standing. That was the vision Phil sold to Nadella by using the google, amazon and China bogeyman.

Secretly, Phil wanted to kill Sony and be at the top of the industry so he started targeting Sony's closest partners and the way they made money (selling games and exclusives). None of his moves was about google or Tencent. It was all about Sony and consoles.

Nadella and Co. are completely unaware of the gaming industry so they just went along like dumbasses and now they are stuck with this mammoth gaming division.

Basically they thought they could bully and scare Sony into becoming Blockbuster and bankrupting themselves.
 

flaccidsnake

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Just think of how many people who don't really use Netflix still pay monthly for that, all subscription services just hope you never bother unsubscribing, which is why they more often than not make the process a bit more tedious than users would like.

Speaking of BG3, a few weeks back in December I saw a review by a steam user that basically said : This is the best game ever. Her time played? something like 1.1k~ hours. That's around 45 days played... The game came out in August, lmao.
yeah 100%. i'm on my 2nd playthrough, well over 300 hours since august. if i'm not playing that, maybe i'm dipping into The Finals, but more likely Rocket League or Spelunky 2. there aren't enough hours left for gamepass to add any value. there's like 20 other aaa games I can play if i finally get bored with bg3. i'm only like 30% into Elden Ring.
 

anonpuffs

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I'm going to copy/paste the post I did about this. I posted the tweet first but the thread died lol

I should have started this thread 😅



Basically they thought they could bully and scare Sony into becoming Blockbuster and bankrupting themselves.
If I have to give Jim Ryan credit for anything it's that he navigated the threat very well, maybe not perfectly but well enough that they actually came out of the gamepass push doing better than ever financially/console saleswise.
He didn't panic, but he didn't sit around either. He spent enough time and thought to craft a strong counterpunch to gamepass that, while still damaging their game sales a little, prevented the collapse of the b2p model and stopping gamepass momentum in its tracks. On top of that it completely revitalized PSNow and they're making a bunch of extra revenue now.

*edit* we're famous lol
Screenshot_20240117_151624.jpg
 
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Gamernyc78

Gamernyc78

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If I have to give Jim Ryan credit for anything it's that he navigated the threat very well, maybe not perfectly but well enough that they actually came out of the gamepass push doing better than ever financially/console saleswise.
He didn't panic, but he didn't sit around either. He spent enough time and thought to craft a strong counterpunch to gamepass that, while still damaging their game sales a little, prevented the collapse of the b2p model and stopping gamepass momentum in its tracks. On top of that it completely revitalized PSNow and they're making a bunch of extra revenue now.

*edit* we're famous lol
View attachment 3702
Now give me Gane streaming to my Portal and the world may be mended.
 

Gods&Monsters

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If I have to give Jim Ryan credit for anything it's that he navigated the threat very well, maybe not perfectly but well enough that they actually came out of the gamepass push doing better than ever financially/console saleswise.
He didn't panic, but he didn't sit around either. He spent enough time and thought to craft a strong counterpunch to gamepass that, while still damaging their game sales a little, prevented the collapse of the b2p model and stopping gamepass momentum in its tracks. On top of that it completely revitalized PSNow and they're making a bunch of extra revenue now.
Yes to all of that. And he was right about the Series S and the "we believe in generations" too. He stood strong even with all the attacks from MS in the media and the online discourse.

Horizon Forbidden West had to suffer because of it tho 😅 but the rest:

well done good job GIF by America's Got Talent


I see you Mat 👀
 

Say1nMan

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Sub services aren't the entree. Never was. People are going to buy what they want and PC dudes will rather pirate a game rather than subscribe for $1.00 to access it. Lol.
 

Plextorage

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If I have to give Jim Ryan credit for anything it's that he navigated the threat very well, maybe not perfectly but well enough that they actually came out of the gamepass push doing better than ever financially/console saleswise.
He didn't panic, but he didn't sit around either. He spent enough time and thought to craft a strong counterpunch to gamepass that, while still damaging their game sales a little, prevented the collapse of the b2p model and stopping gamepass momentum in its tracks. On top of that it completely revitalized PSNow and they're making a bunch of extra revenue now.

*edit* we're famous lol
View attachment 3702

Actually, well said!
 

Plextorage

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Yes to all of that. And he was right about the Series S and the "we believe in generations" too. He stood strong even with all the attacks from MS in the media and the online discourse.

Horizon Forbidden West had to suffer because of it tho 😅 but the rest:

well done good job GIF by America's Got Talent's Got Talent


I see you Mat 👀

Jim surely knew when it is time to something to say in the media
 
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xollowsob

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But we already know mobile accounts for more than half of gaming revue, it's been like tht for years.

In 2022, mobile games generated approximately 91.8 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue, accounting for 50 percent of the global gaming market during the measured period. Console games were ranked second with 52.2
Billion U.S. dollars in global revenue.

Mobile has only grown since 2022. Tencent has and is number one company in gaming.
Which means subs are worth 20~ billion a year? That's a significant amount.

If Xbox earn 50% of that, while never having to eat the cost of R&D and hardware, is it game over for Xbox? If they expand the reach of gamepass and earn a few more percent of 20 billion, then it isn't a bad business decision.

Fwiw I hate streaming. Mobile games and their consequences have been a disaster for the console industry.