As someone who used to work in QA. I think its really gross how prevalent "early access" has become. It was devised as a tactic to cut costs to the QA Sector of the Industry. But has tricked people into thinking they are getting value. It sucks.
I don't think people truly understand how much Publishers. Hate QA as whole. There is no way to increase profitability out of QA. Because ultimately. You are going to ship a game with Bugs. ALL games have Bugs. And since that is a fact the only way to make "profit" from QA. Is to use the absolute minimal amount of Labour. To catch the minimum required Bugs to pass Certification.
I think the QA Unions at Ravencroft and elsewhere are so exciting! Hopefully it'll put an end to predatory QA Contracts and ensure all Testers are full time, receiving benefits, and will actually have PTO
Let’s diversify our investment, buy out a ton of studios so that we can put out all sorts of games at a good value!. Proceeds to shutter studios left and right and bets it all on COD.
I think Lawrence is partially right that the closures were specifically a Bethesda deal. Where I think he’s off is his explanation that Star Field disappointed is main reason why. It’s clear that SF did in fact underperform, but the problem is that so did HiFi Rush. I played and beat the game, and I loved it to death, but I’m sadly one of the few to do so. Ghostwire Tokyo didn’t set the world on fire either, and on top of that (and arguably most importantly) the head of Tango (Shinji FUCKING Mikami) left to form a new studio. Without him there, a large reason for Bethesda having the studio in the first place was gone, and made it an easy studio to close.
I honestly do not believe that Microsoft isn't closing Ninja Theory. They already said the weren't closing Tango a year ago and gave HiFi Rush great praise and they still closed them. There is no reason why we should believe Microsoft's word that they aren't going to close Ninja Theory.
@BillboBirsay Based on?? A closure of a studio that completely separate from Xbox's individual "Xbox Games Studio group" division, opposed to Tango Games being part of the ZeniMax Bethesda publishing division, which is also completely separate from the ABK developing and publishing division. We have no reason to believe they would be shuttering Ninja Theory
I think it won't affect the amount of subs at all. PC GamePass is way behind Steam to the point people are more likely to buy game on Steam instead of playing the same game on GamePass. People buying GamePass are like me: owners of Xbox consoles that will pay for multiplayer anyway so I am just paying a bit more to also get them games. And we are a minority in the gaming world.
While today , xbox console user might be behind sony and nintendo but we are not miniority in gaming, there is for sure more console gamers compared to pc.@@maratnugmanov
I wonder if MS would actually have been better off selling game pass as a more expensive "premium" service right from the start, rather than one that everyone was supposed to sign up for like it's Netflix in the early 10's. You can make more profit by selling something to fewer people for more money, and the prospect of having access to a massive library of games and day one releases of MS games does sound like a pretty premium service. I'm sure MS just wanted to get a lot of people to sign up so that they could get people invested in their platform, but that doesn't really work if they're not buying games from your platform, just renting access to a library of games.
I think Lawrence hit the nail on the head a few weeks back when he said that the reason we lost Tango and Arkane Austin is because they were folded in with the Bethesda acquisition. Microsoft is pruning, they'll probably eliminate more studios that came with larger acquisitions they've made, whereas Ninja Theory was directly owned and bought by Microsoft, it would make no sense to shut down Ninja Theory because the entire reason Microsoft bought Ninja Theory was so they could make games for Xbox. Whereas the entire reason they bought Bethesda was for Starfield, and the entire reason they bought Activision was for Call of Duty. Speaking of, I don't think Call of Duty will save Game Pass, or Xbox. Like the stats show, most people are playing on PlayStation, and Microsoft had to pinky swear with Sony to not make Call of Duty exclusive for at least 10 years in order for the acquisition to even go through. So unless GamePass comes to PlayStation miraculously (unlikely given Sony wants to push their own service), most console gamers are probably going to be picking up the PlayStation version, otherwise the value proposition of CoD on GamePass is defeated by the $500 buy in for an Xbox. Anyone with a capably gaming PC who also plays Call of Duty may buy into GamePass, but I feel like Activision's biggest market has always been consoles for CoD.
At GameStop, we’re not selling tons of the Xbox series, but a shockingly high amount of people are still coming in to buy Xbox One systems cause they’re so much cheaper.
I'm not surprised. I'm on PC, but I can tell you that I've bought a bunch of Xbox One games on Steam but I've bought no Xbox Series games on Steam. Xbox One just has the better library of games. And like you said, it's cheaper.
Game Pass is unsustainable. Either the value of games go down, or the price of game pass goes up while the library shrinks down. Spotify was only successful because streaming completely eroded the value of music to the point the thought of buying an album is inconceivable to most people. Games, thankfully, are not like that, they are not commoditized, they have commercial value as bespoke entertainment. For now.
Also as a side note, Nintendo is and has always been in the right in mantaining the value of their games. 3 year old game sold at full price? That's good, they're killing it, and they're a good force in the industry. Microsoft is a very very bad force, their idea is to turn games into a commodity and ultimately erode their value, and put the value into the "service" instead of the bespoke experiences crafted by game developers, that will play second fiddle to their "ecosystem". Game Pass is cancer.
On Spotify, they're not doing so great lately. Everyone that was going to subscribe to the service already has so there's no more growth. The only way Spotify can hope to increase profits is through cost-cutting measures and subscription rate increases.
As others have already said, it is very likely that Ninja Theory will be axed 6 months down the line after the bad PR from current studio closures dies down. Wouldn't be surprised if Devs there are already polishing resumes.
I've been a fan of Game Pass since it was introduced and my Steam purchases have gone down to maybe 2 or 3 per year. I like to play many games at once over a longer period of time, so a service like theirs has been perfect for me. I used to buy at least 1 or 2 games per month at full price ($80/$90 CAD), so even with a slight price bump, Game Pass is still a way better financial choice for me. This is especially true since I rarely will replay a game once I complete it.
They said on June 9th they will discuss gamepass changes! I expect another price hike or maybe paying more for different skews of games like ultimate editions and such. Xbox needs to get the money back from that activision deal. Sorry Redfall Starfield and now Hellblade 2 isn’t bringing the bacon!
I could see this becoming a change in gaming where we stop having full price games of services but subscription games were you sign up for game pass or something similar and get access to all of the call of duty assassin’s Creed and other similar titles that update annually
That Hellblade theory is probably going to happen, similar to how only no games will come to PlayStation and now 4 games will come to PlayStation and soon many more. Keep up the good work guys.
I have gamepass till next year because of the £1 upgrade but I barely use it. If they really wanted to shift some consoles half the price of gold/gamepass core ready for the new cod to release with a bundle on the cheaper series S. Parents will go for that at Christmas if it's a good enough deal right? Times are tough and maybe that market is how you catch up to the ps5
@@eceamo wait wait lol. Let's get this correct, no disrespect, Bethesda and ABK are first party. But I think you mean all of Xboxs individual "Xbox Game Studio" teams. That is an interesting idea , but I think it might make more sense to keep the whole tagline "day1 games intact and instead change up Gamepass core , make it straight up the same games as ultimate, except the day1 games come 6 months after, or whatever amount of time they want to do
@@Mmachine88 yes dude any game that Microsoft owns All Studios that are controlled and funded using Microsoft money ABK, Bethesda all Xbox games studios and Minecraft. U get all these games day one for 10$ or 11$ day one and if you have ultimate and want to play CoD day one you have to go up a Tier. I think something like this would be what, ( I’D ) Like to see.
@eceamo Gorcha, that's. Makes more sense now! Thanks for the re-phrasing , and how you put it too, basically funded by the other revenue from ABK ans Bethesda. Yeah I agree, I just know that they probably want to have the least amount of tier possible lol. PS PLUS is so confusing 😅
no it will not... same reason movies are struggling with streaming. You NEED the revenue from physical sales, not subscriptions. Actual sales are important you need to move units. Most people that would have gamepass already have gamepass.
I would have never thought that Microsoft will single-handedly destroy gaming, after they established such a great brand and deal with the Xbox Game Pass
If I’m being honest tiers make sense, will probably be more expensive for the day one exclusive games like Cod, hellblade, etc. It probably can’t be that sustainable to loose out on that many sales at such a discount. I used to buy like 25 games a year now with game pass I’ve bought like 2 or 3 in the last year and just play what’s on game pass.
I think Bruce is on the money. If I were marketing gamepass along with COD I’d make the super-ultimate-early edition part of the top tier cost and then remind people that the retail/buy to own version would cost more than a yearly subscription to gamepass. I know plenty of people that still buy into COS annually and that could be a good way to lock them into resubscribing every year.
I think Msft will fire Phil and close X Box (while only leaving Candy Crush) if COD ever fails. As for Hellblade 3, I don’t believe any of the news. It’s more likely that they just don’t wanna fire the devs because of the backlash. Don’t be surprised if they get closed a year from now
@@MrBeefTot187 Lol. Even the people in the video mention that the Hellblade devs may still be fired in a year. It’s not like Msft hasn’t ever closed something mid development and fired the studio right 😂.
I don't need "day one" new COD, or any new COD. I just want all the classic CODs on Game Pass with refreshed dedicated servers and a spike in new players.
I could see where some tiers do not even get COD. Or the basic $9 tier has to wait for COD for like 3-4 months. Or like there is a specific COD tier itself that comes with the what is essentially the ultimate edition, and it is the only tier of Gamepass that get’s COD. It can be subscribed to separately maybe or added as an add-on to an existing Gamepass subscription. Maybe with a Gamepass exclusive tier of the Battlepass. Because MS knows there are a lot of COD players that play COD 52 weeks a year. Essentially presenting a model where COD itself becomes an “opt in” subscription based service. Above even the annual price of the game and battlepass. I think there is going to be a lot of pressure to make COD generate more revenue for the privilege of being on Gamepass.
I wouldn't have played Hades without GamePass and I probably wouldn't play Senua's Saga if I didn't still have the service. I hope GamePass can survive because I really like it. I realistically don't have the time available to justify spending full price for a lot of games when I probably won't be able to put in the time to enjoy them fully.
most people buy CoD for the multiplayer and i doubt they want to pay money every month for that. don't the pc servers offer the online for free? probably cheaper overall to just get the game on pc and play it there
Ninja Theory's unmatched technical skills in performance capture and their expertise in Unreal 5 make them valuable as a support studio for other projects. I predict Microsoft will keep them.
That's assuming GamePass hasn't already reached market saturation and that Xbox won't increase the price to ~20usd a month or create another paid tier costing as much. As another commenter said. I'm sure increasing the price of GamePass will get them more subs.
Nah brothers things could possibly get even much worse. Worst case I could possibly imagine a future where Xbox gets desperate enough after not selling enough Game Pass Subs even after price hikes where they could limit Xbox studio owned games to ONLY be available on Game Pass and no more discs or buying games outright for full price, Game Pass exclusivity. It'd be a dark future if that ever happens and other companies follow suit like Playstation with PS Now if it proves profitable. They'd have to make money on that right? If the consumer had no other choice anymore but to subscribe. Know more owning games is rapidly approaching and already here tbh. Digital only consoles like Xbox and PS have been trying to push is already a step into that doorway. Buy an expensive plastic box and pay for a subscription to use that box on top of paying monthly to play online with that box. I wouldn't put it past these companies to do so unfortunately.
Microsoft acquiring all these gaming companies for the sake of profit at the cost of shutting down every company that doesn't make COD level selling games is just tiring now. All these acquisitions are killing creativity because all the companies that own everything just want money. Greed kills creativity and fun.
Game Pass would have to double in price for me to stop getting value. I play a good amount of games on it and I share it with a friend across the country by making his Xbox my home Xbox. I also only buy my new months when there's a sale and satck up my months.
What's great value for you is not for publishers. They're losing money because people won't buy their games if their on Gamepass. MS is going to have to raise GamePass sub prices if it wants ANY of the money they're going to lose by putting COD on GP.
I agree it wont save gamepass. If gamepass was so great Baldurs Gate 3 would have been on it. You know that stadia level game XBox dissed in their internal duscussions? Swen said it devalues games so he said no. Devaluing games isnt profitable.
As time moves forward and the industry attempts to make cheaper games faster, I wonder what the point even is anymore. Games were a way to escape via an immersive experience. When we stopped innovation/hampered creativity in favor of profit, did not the soul of the gaming experience die? No company is creating to deliver entertainment anymore. It’s all about cheap quick hooks, subscriptions and empty experiences.
If I had to guess I think Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks weren’t doing too well before Xbox bought Bethesda. So after Redfall flopped and Ghostwire Tokyo underperformed they were ready to close these studios. Yes Hi-Fi Rush did well, but I don’t think it did well enough for Xbox to reconsider shutting down Tango. Hellblade 2 was Ninja Theory’s first release under Xbox and I don’t see them closing down the studio unless the game seriously underperforms.
Bleeding Edge was Ninja Theory's first release for Xbox. It was a live service game that came out in 2020 and was shut down in 2021. So, it was a failure. If Hellblade 2 turns out to be a failure, then it's likely that Ninja Theory will be closed and staff will be moved over to other projects, big IP games that Microsoft wants to get out sooner rather than later.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Microsoft sat on closing any studios for a year just to save face. The greatest enemy to outrage is time. Woolie Woolz once said it really well when it came to EA's response to the Battlefront 2 loot box fiasco: "Your outage has been calculated, measured, and accounted for". This stuff is forgotten so quickly by the masses.
It’s not gonna save GPass, but CoD sales might be massive enough on PS that it doesn’t really matter. Like if you regularly sell 14 million copies/year, but 10 million are PC/PS that won’t be THAT terrible for MS.
My prediction, COD will cause Game Pass subscriptions to hit new highs, but the overall revenue will be down from the lack of actual sales of COD. Microsoft will then put more pressure on Phil and Xbox to figure out how to make up the difference.
Microsoft spent years buying devs but not making games. Now they are closing those devs ass they start making games. Meanwhile, Phil Spencer whines "exclusives don't help gamers" cause they aren't making games. I'm not buying an Xbox cause there is no game they have that I want, that isn't on Steam already.
Surprised you guys didn't mention the rumors that Microsoft was preparing an offer to buy Valve. Truly the most horrifying game news I've heard all week.
That story hadn't circulated much when we wrote & shot this episode. Also, don't worry - Valve is worth WAY more than $16 billion. We largely dismissed the story as untrue since the value was so low.
Okay you clearly don't understand the power of call of duty. There are a good amount of people that buy consoles. Just for the three holy games. Yearly call of duty Gta 5 (soon to be gta 6) Yearly fifa. Call of duty alone will blow up gamepass for sure. Will it save gamepass?? That is yet to see but call of duty will never die.
@@gormleypeach5809idk if it actually will kill COD but the idea is that there will be a shitload of lost sales cuz of game pass. My opinion? Even if those sales are significant there's still probably a shitload to be made through "micro" transactions.
I would be more open to spending more money via micro transactions if I could get COD thru Gamepass compared to now where I just buy the game straight up and don’t really participate in micro transactions. And if early access is $30 like Starfield’s was, I’ll probably drop that too since I’m already a gamepass member - just to hit the MP level cap before my PS friends get COD. And I know I’m not the only one trying to hit that first MP level cap before their PS friends 😂.
Everybody drives me crazy when they talk about Game Pass prices increasing. These idiots always make it sound like the price is going to go from $15 a month to $50 or some lame crap like that and I just can't stand everyone being such idiots about this.
Game Pass was always anti gaming, eroding the value of games as bespoke entertainment was never going to be good for the industry. No one thinks about buying and enjoying a music album ever since Spotify came out. Do you want that for gaming? If not, don't support Game Pass. Buy your games, support your favorite developers, and if you really are that broke then I literally think pirating is better than subscribing to Game Pass, because then at least you'd "own" your games and you wouldn't be supporting a cancerous tumor.
Discussed this with a few friends around the time of the Bethesda acquistion that the gamepass model would just encourage a lowest common denominator approach to games guess i was right it was laughable to think game pass could produce anything other than low quality mtx filled games
Cod will probably kill game pass. I am not paying substantially more just bc some popular multiplayer game i don't play get added. And i feel like i am not the only person who does not play cod or fifa. They should add another tier just for the cod junkies.
$60 game pass tier that includes all future expansions (not micro transactions tho) of a certain select group of game pass games would also do well I fear.
I will never purchase early access for anything. Ill just wait until it comes out. Paying extra just to "play it early." Is some bogus silly billy bullshit😂😂
Actually, microsoft/xbox Series x is sold out at Amazon on the news that the call of duty game is going to gamepass. That's a 200% jump in sales for the xbox series x. Just saying.
Impossible. The problem is COD will only boost gamepass sales ONCE then the numbers will remain constant or go down . In reality gamepass will lose microsoft hundreds of millions from Call of dutys usual profits
......as an xbox owner I just wanna ask how much paint primer your huffing man cause from where I stand gamepass won't be saved by cod especially not after the launch of xdefiant which is growing faster than expected. It is the apocalypse for cod and gamepass. And unless they don't put shite in the right direction it's over.
It sucks cause I don’t even play COD, I hate that game. I wish that the tier is a COD included tier, so it doesn’t change my current price. Moving forward I’ll just buy the in store cards 😂
As someone who used to work in QA. I think its really gross how prevalent "early access" has become. It was devised as a tactic to cut costs to the QA Sector of the Industry. But has tricked people into thinking they are getting value. It sucks.
Chivalry 2 did that. 1 year epic games "exclusive" was a scam. Game ran like ass lol.
I don't think people truly understand how much Publishers. Hate QA as whole. There is no way to increase profitability out of QA. Because ultimately. You are going to ship a game with Bugs. ALL games have Bugs. And since that is a fact the only way to make "profit" from QA. Is to use the absolute minimal amount of Labour. To catch the minimum required Bugs to pass Certification.
I think the QA Unions at Ravencroft and elsewhere are so exciting! Hopefully it'll put an end to predatory QA Contracts and ensure all Testers are full time, receiving benefits, and will actually have PTO
It’s been in development for over 2-1/2 yrs ? What if your wrong.
Let’s diversify our investment, buy out a ton of studios so that we can put out all sorts of games at a good value!. Proceeds to shutter studios left and right and bets it all on COD.
I think Lawrence is partially right that the closures were specifically a Bethesda deal. Where I think he’s off is his explanation that Star Field disappointed is main reason why. It’s clear that SF did in fact underperform, but the problem is that so did HiFi Rush. I played and beat the game, and I loved it to death, but I’m sadly one of the few to do so. Ghostwire Tokyo didn’t set the world on fire either, and on top of that (and arguably most importantly) the head of Tango (Shinji FUCKING Mikami) left to form a new studio. Without him there, a large reason for Bethesda having the studio in the first place was gone, and made it an easy studio to close.
I honestly do not believe that Microsoft isn't closing Ninja Theory. They already said the weren't closing Tango a year ago and gave HiFi Rush great praise and they still closed them. There is no reason why we should believe Microsoft's word that they aren't going to close Ninja Theory.
They are sending Ninja Theory to a big magical farm, they will be able to run, play and be happy forever...
They will 100% close ninja theory.
@BillboBirsay Based on?? A closure of a studio that completely separate from Xbox's individual "Xbox Games Studio group" division, opposed to Tango Games being part of the ZeniMax Bethesda publishing division, which is also completely separate from the ABK developing and publishing division.
We have no reason to believe they would be shuttering Ninja Theory
Ninja Theory ruined DMC. They deserve to be shut down for that alone. Even if that was 11 years ago. They can never be forgiven for that.
@@Flip86x Ninja Theory made the only DMC game worth playing
I'm sure raising the price of Game Pass will get them more subs
Of course!
This comment needs all the likes.
I think it won't affect the amount of subs at all. PC GamePass is way behind Steam to the point people are more likely to buy game on Steam instead of playing the same game on GamePass.
People buying GamePass are like me: owners of Xbox consoles that will pay for multiplayer anyway so I am just paying a bit more to also get them games. And we are a minority in the gaming world.
While today , xbox console user might be behind sony and nintendo but we are not miniority in gaming, there is for sure more console gamers compared to pc.@@maratnugmanov
I wonder if MS would actually have been better off selling game pass as a more expensive "premium" service right from the start, rather than one that everyone was supposed to sign up for like it's Netflix in the early 10's. You can make more profit by selling something to fewer people for more money, and the prospect of having access to a massive library of games and day one releases of MS games does sound like a pretty premium service.
I'm sure MS just wanted to get a lot of people to sign up so that they could get people invested in their platform, but that doesn't really work if they're not buying games from your platform, just renting access to a library of games.
None of Xbox/Phil's schemes have worked out so I'm going to just predict this will fail too at that they'll then close id software for no reason
I think Lawrence hit the nail on the head a few weeks back when he said that the reason we lost Tango and Arkane Austin is because they were folded in with the Bethesda acquisition. Microsoft is pruning, they'll probably eliminate more studios that came with larger acquisitions they've made, whereas Ninja Theory was directly owned and bought by Microsoft, it would make no sense to shut down Ninja Theory because the entire reason Microsoft bought Ninja Theory was so they could make games for Xbox. Whereas the entire reason they bought Bethesda was for Starfield, and the entire reason they bought Activision was for Call of Duty.
Speaking of, I don't think Call of Duty will save Game Pass, or Xbox. Like the stats show, most people are playing on PlayStation, and Microsoft had to pinky swear with Sony to not make Call of Duty exclusive for at least 10 years in order for the acquisition to even go through. So unless GamePass comes to PlayStation miraculously (unlikely given Sony wants to push their own service), most console gamers are probably going to be picking up the PlayStation version, otherwise the value proposition of CoD on GamePass is defeated by the $500 buy in for an Xbox.
Anyone with a capably gaming PC who also plays Call of Duty may buy into GamePass, but I feel like Activision's biggest market has always been consoles for CoD.
At GameStop, we’re not selling tons of the Xbox series, but a shockingly high amount of people are still coming in to buy Xbox One systems cause they’re so much cheaper.
I'm not surprised. I'm on PC, but I can tell you that I've bought a bunch of Xbox One games on Steam but I've bought no Xbox Series games on Steam. Xbox One just has the better library of games. And like you said, it's cheaper.
Can't say I blame those people buying xones.
Game Pass is unsustainable. Either the value of games go down, or the price of game pass goes up while the library shrinks down.
Spotify was only successful because streaming completely eroded the value of music to the point the thought of buying an album is inconceivable to most people. Games, thankfully, are not like that, they are not commoditized, they have commercial value as bespoke entertainment. For now.
Also as a side note, Nintendo is and has always been in the right in mantaining the value of their games. 3 year old game sold at full price? That's good, they're killing it, and they're a good force in the industry. Microsoft is a very very bad force, their idea is to turn games into a commodity and ultimately erode their value, and put the value into the "service" instead of the bespoke experiences crafted by game developers, that will play second fiddle to their "ecosystem". Game Pass is cancer.
I've been saying this for years.
On Spotify, they're not doing so great lately. Everyone that was going to subscribe to the service already has so there's no more growth. The only way Spotify can hope to increase profits is through cost-cutting measures and subscription rate increases.
Yea they said the same thing about Netflix
@@MrBeefTot187 Netflix is trash now. Has been for years.
I'm marking the date on my calendar, let's see if Ninja Theory is closed down by next May.
As others have already said, it is very likely that Ninja Theory will be axed 6 months down the line after the bad PR from current studio closures dies down. Wouldn't be surprised if Devs there are already polishing resumes.
These companies just bet it all on black.
I've been a fan of Game Pass since it was introduced and my Steam purchases have gone down to maybe 2 or 3 per year. I like to play many games at once over a longer period of time, so a service like theirs has been perfect for me.
I used to buy at least 1 or 2 games per month at full price ($80/$90 CAD), so even with a slight price bump, Game Pass is still a way better financial choice for me. This is especially true since I rarely will replay a game once I complete it.
Same!
They said on June 9th they will discuss gamepass changes! I expect another price hike or maybe paying more for different skews of games like ultimate editions and such. Xbox needs to get the money back from that activision deal. Sorry Redfall Starfield and now Hellblade 2 isn’t bringing the bacon!
I could see this becoming a change in gaming where we stop having full price games of services but subscription games were you sign up for game pass or something similar and get access to all of the call of duty assassin’s Creed and other similar titles that update annually
That Hellblade theory is probably going to happen, similar to how only no games will come to PlayStation and now 4 games will come to PlayStation and soon many more.
Keep up the good work guys.
That cod map at 8:09 is a carbon copy of counter strike's Ancient.
Would you guys ever consider interviewing a business expert or former eco to talk about these topics?
Holy shit, sawing you guys brought me back to the Machinima days.. Good times.
But some CoD players are kids how could they explain to their parents that the game they want is a subscription??
They can just buy it for them like they always have what kinda question is this
I have gamepass till next year because of the £1 upgrade but I barely use it. If they really wanted to shift some consoles half the price of gold/gamepass core ready for the new cod to release with a bundle on the cheaper series S. Parents will go for that at Christmas if it's a good enough deal right? Times are tough and maybe that market is how you catch up to the ps5
I wonder if Microsoft will do a first party published games only for 10$ and add something above ultimate to get CoD day one.
You do realize cod and ABK are first party right ? Or do you mean like a tier for specific "xbox games studio group" ?
@@Mmachine88 yeah a tier for 1st party only games, that is equal to Game Pass Core but doesn’t have all the third party games included.
@@eceamo wait wait lol. Let's get this correct, no disrespect, Bethesda and ABK are first party.
But I think you mean all of Xboxs individual "Xbox Game Studio" teams. That is an interesting idea , but I think it might make more sense to keep the whole tagline "day1 games intact and instead change up Gamepass core , make it straight up the same games as ultimate, except the day1 games come 6 months after, or whatever amount of time they want to do
@@Mmachine88 yes dude any game that Microsoft owns All Studios that are controlled and funded using Microsoft money ABK, Bethesda all Xbox games studios and Minecraft. U get all these games day one for 10$ or 11$ day one and if you have ultimate and want to play CoD day one you have to go up a Tier. I think something like this would be what, ( I’D ) Like to see.
@eceamo Gorcha, that's. Makes more sense now! Thanks for the re-phrasing , and how you put it too, basically funded by the other revenue from ABK ans Bethesda. Yeah I agree, I just know that they probably want to have the least amount of tier possible lol. PS PLUS is so confusing 😅
no it will not... same reason movies are struggling with streaming. You NEED the revenue from physical sales, not subscriptions. Actual sales are important you need to move units. Most people that would have gamepass already have gamepass.
I would have never thought that Microsoft will single-handedly destroy gaming, after they established such a great brand and deal with the Xbox Game Pass
“Fuck them, I’m keeping ninja theory open” died laughing
Welp, Time to sail the high seas 🏴☠🏴☠🏴☠🚢
If I’m being honest tiers make sense, will probably be more expensive for the day one exclusive games like Cod, hellblade, etc. It probably can’t be that sustainable to loose out on that many sales at such a discount. I used to buy like 25 games a year now with game pass I’ve bought like 2 or 3 in the last year and just play what’s on game pass.
"Nothing gold can stay."
I think Bruce is on the money. If I were marketing gamepass along with COD I’d make the super-ultimate-early edition part of the top tier cost and then remind people that the retail/buy to own version would cost more than a yearly subscription to gamepass.
I know plenty of people that still buy into COS annually and that could be a good way to lock them into resubscribing every year.
I think Msft will fire Phil and close X Box (while only leaving Candy Crush) if COD ever fails.
As for Hellblade 3, I don’t believe any of the news. It’s more likely that they just don’t wanna fire the devs because of the backlash. Don’t be surprised if they get closed a year from now
Absolutely dumb take go back to Sony
@@MrBeefTot187 Lol. Even the people in the video mention that the Hellblade devs may still be fired in a year. It’s not like Msft hasn’t ever closed something mid development and fired the studio right 😂.
I don't need "day one" new COD, or any new COD. I just want all the classic CODs on Game Pass with refreshed dedicated servers and a spike in new players.
I stopped my gamepass and my psn sub. Ive been playing fallout 4 and older games on my deck.
Congratulations 🎉
I could see where some tiers do not even get COD. Or the basic $9 tier has to wait for COD for like 3-4 months. Or like there is a specific COD tier itself that comes with the what is essentially the ultimate edition, and it is the only tier of Gamepass that get’s COD. It can be subscribed to separately maybe or added as an add-on to an existing Gamepass subscription. Maybe with a Gamepass exclusive tier of the Battlepass.
Because MS knows there are a lot of COD players that play COD 52 weeks a year. Essentially presenting a model where COD itself becomes an “opt in” subscription based service. Above even the annual price of the game and battlepass. I think there is going to be a lot of pressure to make COD generate more revenue for the privilege of being on Gamepass.
My enthusiasm for these AAA has plummeted to zero these days. Don't give a damn about pretty much any of them.
I wouldn't have played Hades without GamePass and I probably wouldn't play Senua's Saga if I didn't still have the service. I hope GamePass can survive because I really like it. I realistically don't have the time available to justify spending full price for a lot of games when I probably won't be able to put in the time to enjoy them fully.
Also I haven’t seen a single ad, anywhere for Hellblade 2, are they going off word of mouth?
most people buy CoD for the multiplayer and i doubt they want to pay money every month for that. don't the pc servers offer the online for free? probably cheaper overall to just get the game on pc and play it there
that strawberry shirt lawdawgg is wearing is drippy af
And thus the age old process of consolidation ==> enshittification begins for MS.
Ninja Theory's unmatched technical skills in performance capture and their expertise in Unreal 5 make them valuable as a support studio for other projects. I predict Microsoft will keep them.
That's assuming GamePass hasn't already reached market saturation and that Xbox won't increase the price to ~20usd a month or create another paid tier costing as much.
As another commenter said. I'm sure increasing the price of GamePass will get them more subs.
it was good while it lasted
Been a Xbox gamer since 2001.
Seeing that COD is coming to gamepass is the writing on the wall.
Nah brothers things could possibly get even much worse. Worst case I could possibly imagine a future where Xbox gets desperate enough after not selling enough Game Pass Subs even after price hikes where they could limit Xbox studio owned games to ONLY be available on Game Pass and no more discs or buying games outright for full price, Game Pass exclusivity. It'd be a dark future if that ever happens and other companies follow suit like Playstation with PS Now if it proves profitable. They'd have to make money on that right? If the consumer had no other choice anymore but to subscribe. Know more owning games is rapidly approaching and already here tbh. Digital only consoles like Xbox and PS have been trying to push is already a step into that doorway. Buy an expensive plastic box and pay for a subscription to use that box on top of paying monthly to play online with that box. I wouldn't put it past these companies to do so unfortunately.
Micheal Transactions lives on with new TIERS for game pass
Microsoft acquiring all these gaming companies for the sake of profit at the cost of shutting down every company that doesn't make COD level selling games is just tiring now. All these acquisitions are killing creativity because all the companies that own everything just want money. Greed kills creativity and fun.
Game Pass would have to double in price for me to stop getting value. I play a good amount of games on it and I share it with a friend across the country by making his Xbox my home Xbox. I also only buy my new months when there's a sale and satck up my months.
What's great value for you is not for publishers. They're losing money because people won't buy their games if their on Gamepass.
MS is going to have to raise GamePass sub prices if it wants ANY of the money they're going to lose by putting COD on GP.
I love game pass because of the variety. I wouldn’t wanna use it for COD because cod wants you to only play cod.
Stopped playing CoD since Black Ops 3, and don't plan on playing it even if it's on Gamepass.
Is it still gonna be available on steam i wonder?
I agree it wont save gamepass.
If gamepass was so great Baldurs Gate 3 would have been on it.
You know that stadia level game XBox dissed in their internal duscussions?
Swen said it devalues games so he said no.
Devaluing games isnt profitable.
As time moves forward and the industry attempts to make cheaper games faster, I wonder what the point even is anymore. Games were a way to escape via an immersive experience. When we stopped innovation/hampered creativity in favor of profit, did not the soul of the gaming experience die? No company is creating to deliver entertainment anymore. It’s all about cheap quick hooks, subscriptions and empty experiences.
My question is why not fold Arkane TX into Arkane proper?
Remember when EA tried to do paid Early Access? Then they did a paid early access for Anthem?
called it!
Is there gonna be a podcast this month ?
I still believe that they are going to close ninja theory
If I had to guess I think Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks weren’t doing too well before Xbox bought Bethesda. So after Redfall flopped and Ghostwire Tokyo underperformed they were ready to close these studios. Yes Hi-Fi Rush did well, but I don’t think it did well enough for Xbox to reconsider shutting down Tango. Hellblade 2 was Ninja Theory’s first release under Xbox and I don’t see them closing down the studio unless the game seriously underperforms.
Bleeding Edge was Ninja Theory's first release for Xbox. It was a live service game that came out in 2020 and was shut down in 2021. So, it was a failure. If Hellblade 2 turns out to be a failure, then it's likely that Ninja Theory will be closed and staff will be moved over to other projects, big IP games that Microsoft wants to get out sooner rather than later.
@@G360LIVE I forgot about Bleeding Edge. That’s a good point.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Microsoft sat on closing any studios for a year just to save face. The greatest enemy to outrage is time. Woolie Woolz once said it really well when it came to EA's response to the Battlefront 2 loot box fiasco: "Your outage has been calculated, measured, and accounted for". This stuff is forgotten so quickly by the masses.
It’s not gonna save GPass, but CoD sales might be massive enough on PS that it doesn’t really matter.
Like if you regularly sell 14 million copies/year, but 10 million are PC/PS that won’t be THAT terrible for MS.
Highly Doubt it.
Yet they won’t get rid of 343i
Bruce wearing the Flinn shirt once again...same shirt guy?
My prediction, COD will cause Game Pass subscriptions to hit new highs, but the overall revenue will be down from the lack of actual sales of COD. Microsoft will then put more pressure on Phil and Xbox to figure out how to make up the difference.
Microsoft spent years buying devs but not making games. Now they are closing those devs ass they start making games. Meanwhile, Phil Spencer whines "exclusives don't help gamers" cause they aren't making games. I'm not buying an Xbox cause there is no game they have that I want, that isn't on Steam already.
Yeah Microsoft’s priorities is entirely confusing I feel like they just throw shit at the wall and if it smells they act surprised it smells terrible.
Appreciated.
Amazing video
Still going to buy the physical copy of the game 🤑😎
Surprised you guys didn't mention the rumors that Microsoft was preparing an offer to buy Valve. Truly the most horrifying game news I've heard all week.
That story hadn't circulated much when we wrote & shot this episode. Also, don't worry - Valve is worth WAY more than $16 billion. We largely dismissed the story as untrue since the value was so low.
When/If gamepass goes to a tier model, I'll be canceling. I feel like it's value loss at that point
The Microsoft Gamepass hierarchy is about to change.
No it won't. Gamepass will probably kill COD.
Nothing will kill COD, they've had multiple universally hated releases that still charted #1 lmao
Okay you clearly don't understand the power of call of duty.
There are a good amount of people that buy consoles. Just for the three holy games.
Yearly call of duty
Gta 5 (soon to be gta 6)
Yearly fifa.
Call of duty alone will blow up gamepass for sure. Will it save gamepass??
That is yet to see but call of duty will never die.
@@gormleypeach5809idk if it actually will kill COD but the idea is that there will be a shitload of lost sales cuz of game pass. My opinion? Even if those sales are significant there's still probably a shitload to be made through "micro" transactions.
I would be more open to spending more money via micro transactions if I could get COD thru Gamepass compared to now where I just buy the game straight up and don’t really participate in micro transactions. And if early access is $30 like Starfield’s was, I’ll probably drop that too since I’m already a gamepass member - just to hit the MP level cap before my PS friends get COD.
And I know I’m not the only one trying to hit that first MP level cap before their PS friends 😂.
Terrible games with 0 good qualities didn't kill COD, how is gamepass gonna do it
Lmao the only way i'd consider buying gamepass is if they made it cheaper. If they make it more expensive, you damn well know im never gonna get it
People will come for call of duty, then discontinue after the first month maybe three months max, but it will not save game pass
Everybody drives me crazy when they talk about Game Pass prices increasing. These idiots always make it sound like the price is going to go from $15 a month to $50 or some lame crap like that and I just can't stand everyone being such idiots about this.
As unfortunate as it is Gamepass was TOO pro consumer to the point it hurt the business and hurt MORE when they bought Activision.
Game Pass was always anti gaming, eroding the value of games as bespoke entertainment was never going to be good for the industry. No one thinks about buying and enjoying a music album ever since Spotify came out. Do you want that for gaming? If not, don't support Game Pass. Buy your games, support your favorite developers, and if you really are that broke then I literally think pirating is better than subscribing to Game Pass, because then at least you'd "own" your games and you wouldn't be supporting a cancerous tumor.
The Musical number at the 15.50 mark was breath taking
Genuinely believe it won’t and I haven’t played cod in years. Gamepass will definitely not get me into it no matter how cheap it might be
how long until Microsoft has Xbox certificates for new pc's so they have minimum spec for the service
Discussed this with a few friends around the time of the Bethesda acquistion that the gamepass model would just encourage a lowest common denominator approach to games guess i was right it was laughable to think game pass could produce anything other than low quality mtx filled games
Cod will probably kill game pass. I am not paying substantially more just bc some popular multiplayer game i don't play get added. And i feel like i am not the only person who does not play cod or fifa.
They should add another tier just for the cod junkies.
Linus media group said gamepass hasn't met it goals in 3 years...its doomed
I hate this, but $20 tier giving 2 weeks early access to COD would unfortunately make them a boat load of money. Like a cruise ship amount of money
$60 game pass tier that includes all future expansions (not micro transactions tho) of a certain select group of game pass games would also do well I fear.
I will never purchase early access for anything. Ill just wait until it comes out. Paying extra just to "play it early." Is some bogus silly billy bullshit😂😂
Hellbalde 3 will be a tax write off and they'll close the studio
Maybe Xbox should have gone the Epic route and built up their store for sustainability.
Save gamepass by resulting in zero COD sales on xbox?
Phil isn't a business person.
I’m sorry but if they go above 18 bucks for ultimate everyone will cancel it
Actually, microsoft/xbox Series x is sold out at Amazon on the news that the call of duty game is going to gamepass. That's a 200% jump in sales for the xbox series x. Just saying.
It’s just gonna be another cut and paste then add filter COD game covered in monetized greed.
Impossible. The problem is COD will only boost gamepass sales ONCE then the numbers will remain constant or go down . In reality gamepass will lose microsoft hundreds of millions from Call of dutys usual profits
no more game pass for m- oh wait... never had it besides the 1$ deals
No it won’t. Xbox only had about 12% of the total CoD player base. I doubt anyone would sell their ps5 or pc to join Xbox over 1 game.
......as an xbox owner I just wanna ask how much paint primer your huffing man cause from where I stand gamepass won't be saved by cod especially not after the launch of xdefiant which is growing faster than expected. It is the apocalypse for cod and gamepass. And unless they don't put shite in the right direction it's over.
It sucks cause I don’t even play COD, I hate that game. I wish that the tier is a COD included tier, so it doesn’t change my current price. Moving forward I’ll just buy the in store cards 😂
Bunch of yappin from executives at microshaft trying to squeeze as much money from its customers.
Can i just buy a console with my first party interest, buy a game pop it in and play it. Christ
Wtf now I'm definitely not resubscribing to game pass, why should I pay more for a game I don't play.
Call of Duty really does just ruin everything, doesn't it