Jim Ryan's statements about Xbox Game Pass, where he stated that companies don't like it because it destroys value, sparked controversy, and today social media is filled with both supportive and critical comments about Microsoft's service. Yesterday, we discussed the support from Bohemia Interactive, stating that Xbox Game Pass is beneficial for them and their games. However, now it's time to see the other side of the coin with a developer who predicts an unpleasant future.
Former Blizzard producer criticizes Xbox Game Pass
Mark Kern, who was a producer on Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo 2 at Blizzard, sparked a heated discussion on social media after posting a criticism against Xbox Game Pass on his Twitter account, warning about what will happen with the service in the future. Firstly, the creative director pointed out that the only one benefiting from Xbox Game Pass is Microsoft because the service actually operates on a model that favors predatory practices that will eventually lead to a greater presence of games with microtransactions, turning it "into a casino":
Gamepass is great for Microsoft and horrible for individual games.
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 29, 2023
You know how games have to make money if they are so cheap on Gamepass?
In game purchases and predatory monetization.
The goal is to get you in cheap, then monetize you like a casino. y’all cheering this.
"Xbox Game Pass is great for Microsoft but bad for individual games. You know how games have to make money if they are so cheap on Game Pass? With predatory purchases and monetization. The goal is to get you in cheap, then monetize you like a casino, and all of you are cheering this on."
Later, Mark Kern explained his point by criticizing Microsoft's dominant position and predicting that Xbox Game Pass will become, in terms of business model and its relationship with non-AAA developers and projects, something like Spotify: "It is about the conglomerating of content into dominant single sources. It is the transferring of wealth | benefits from individual devs in favor of a central publishing channel that ultimately owns the bulk of the profits. To build this pipeline, Microsoft has to pay for titles to get onboard. This is the initial strategy to acquire the critical mass of content needed to fuel the Game Pass machine. But the math simply doesn't work, and the upfront payments will disappear or be drastically cut once they have the dominance (except for special deals for the biggest AAA games). To make up the game revenue deficit, the pressure to monetize within games will increase. Look at the music industry and Spotify. Where is the music market value now?"
This is about conglomeration of content to single dominant sources.
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 29, 2023
It is wealth/profit transfer from individual developers to favoring a central publishing pipeline which eventually own the lions share of profit.
To build this pipeline, Microsoft has to pay for titles to be on…
Stay tuned, at LEVEL UP.
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