Game News Does Game Pass really lower the quality of Microsoft’s video games?

Game news Does Game Pass really lower the quality of Microsoft’s video games?

Up to 3 billion players?

Xbox Game Pass is a service launched by Microsoft on June 1, 2017 which provides access to a catalog of games – regularly updated – on your Xbox console and on your PC. Against a subscription whose price varies depending on the type of offer, the player has access to a catalog of around 300 games on different devices. In its Ultimate version, Game Pass offers streaming gaming on mobile devices using the Cloud. It also allows you to play on PC directly in a browser and integrates EA Play. The big plus of Game Pass compared to PlayStation Plus is that it allows you to play Microsoft/Bethesda software from the first day of their release. And normally, Activision Blizzard titles should also be part of the catalog soon.

On July 6, 2023, the American firm made a general increase in its prices. Xbox Game Pass for console increased from 9.99 euros to 10.99 euros (+10%) while Game Pass Ultimate increased from 12.99 euros to 14.99 euros (+15%). Industry analysts said the new prices indicated that subscription numbers had surely reached a target, and that the Redmond firm felt comfortable doing so. move on to the next phase, that of maximizing returns.

Officially, the Microsoft service had 25 million registered users at the start of 2022. Since then, the figure has not been updated, but it would have reached 30 million faithful in March 2023, it is that is to say 7 months before the finalization of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. What is the objective stated by Phil Spencer, the head of gaming at Microsoft? May the 3 billion gamers on our planet adopt the Xbox ecosystem, whether they play on console, PC, mobile or even connected TV. “There are only 200 or 250 million households in the world interested in console video games. This remains less than 10% of the three billion players. We must look for users where they are, that is to say on mobile and on other screens or devices” indicated Phil Spencer ahead of the 2021 Showcase.

Are Microsoft’s first-party games worse since the arrival of Game Pass?

“It will be more difficult to have quality content if subscription becomes the dominant model” declared on X/Twitter Swen Vincke, the boss of Larian Studios (Baldur’s Gate 3). This opinion was then compared to that of Jim Ryan, the outgoing boss of PlayStation, who assured that publishers hated Game Pass. It would destroy the value of games, according to his words. As you know, there was then a lot of debate about the viability of Game Pass, the possible dependence of developers and the quality of games that would be affected.

Yes, a stubborn prejudice would be that Game Pass forces Microsoft to release less successful games in order to meet the greed of subscribers. The company’s 20,000 developers (counting Bethesda, Activision and removing the many laid-off employees) would be forced to make passable productions to effectively feed the beast. In order to verify this hypothesis, we compared the metascore of Microsoft Game Studios games before and after the arrival of Game Pass. We’re focusing here on the Metacritic averages for first party PC/Xbox games (there’s no Mighty DOOM or Gears Pop!). We do not count games released several months/years previously but added to the service following the acquisition of a studio (The Bard’s Tale, Deathloop). We take into account games published by Microsoft via Xbox Publishing (Ori). Finally, no Activision Blizzard game is part of the data, the acquisition having been made official in October 2023. Here are the results:

Although it is not always easy to judge the repercussions of the offer on the quality of first party productions, a video game can take several years to be developed, we still note that the average rating of software published by Microsoft has been generally stable since the arrival of Game Pass. Furthermore, we have observed a clear progression in metascores on both PC and Xbox over the last three years. According to the figures, therefore, Game Pass has not caused worse games at Microsoft, it is even quite the opposite. Another stubborn prejudice would be that Game Pass forces the American giant to quickly release its games in order to expand its catalog. However, we have noticed that since 2021, we are rather in a low average with only 3 and 6 new first party releases per year.

See Xbox Game Pass on Microsoft

Will the subscription model become dominant?

Larian boss’ message shows there is growing concern among independent developers about possible domination of services run by giants. According to him, if Game Pass or PlayStation Plus became the norm, it would lead to “cost/benefit analysis exercises” which would go against what the studios want, in addition to making artists totally dependent on the decisions of a third party. “It is the subscription service that will determine which games will be created. Trust me, this is really not what you want” he warned.

Whether or not we are in favor of the democratization of subscription offers, we must not forget that unlike what Spotify offers in the world of music and Netflix in that of video, the Game Pass leaves the choice of purchasing content in a classic way in online (or physical) stores. Additionally, narrative-driven single-player AAA games aren’t left out of the equationHellblade 2, and Indiana Jones releasing this year in Game Pass, while others are still planned (Perfect Dark, Fable, etc.).

As for whether these services could one day dominate the market, Mat Piscatella, executive director and video games industry analyst at Circana (NPD), is clear: there is currently no chance of that happening.. He notes in fact that the growth of subscriptions has stabilized in 2023, and that services represent only 10% of total video game spending in the United States. “I understand that some people want to protect their favorite model” he announces, “but the idea that subscriptions will become dominant is not supported by data”. He concludes : “Subscriptions have been add-ons rather than cannibals, and they give players, developers, and publishers more choices in how to play or go to market. Alarmism on this subject is completely unnecessary”.