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Microsoft announced Xbox Game Pass subscription service

anothertech

Member
This is... kind of amazing. Seriously. Great implementation. Solid list of games for launch. And that price point.

Honestly it's what psnow should have been.

Hoping this is a huge success so ninty and Sony turn their heads and do somthing similar with their services.
 

Rodelero

Member
With the gravity of this announcement and what it means for the industry yes I'd say 20 pages in nearly 24 hours seems a bit low. This is a big deal but for whatever reason the announcement seems to be getting very little traction both here and elsewhere. I figured this would dominate the news coverage and discussion in enthusiast forums but it decidedly has not done that.

I think you're falling into the same trap a lot of people are in this thread when you're overestimating the importance (and quality) offered here: the game selection is deeply unexciting. A lot of people seem to be imagining that it will be like EA Access, or gaming's answer to Netflix, but everything Microsoft have actually put out suggests it will be neither.

I feels like a lot of people are neglecting what is obviously going to be the main problem with this subscription: the game selection. To advertise this new programme they've stuck out an image with Halo 5, Saints Row IV, Mad Max, NBA 2K16, and Lego Batman in the foreground.

I'll get excited when Microsoft (or someone else) offers a subscription that could replace most of my retail buying. Until then, I couldn't care less. I'd buy EA Access before I bought this because it offers me free trials to new games and their entire lineup, free, usually within a year of release. This offers a game selection so uninteresting, going off their advertising, that I don't really know who it attracts. It's a reasonably cheap way of accessing a large number of old games, many of which weren't particularly well received... it might be able to find a market amongst gamers who spend less on the hobby, but I can't help but feel they tend to be the gamers who obsessively play a small number of games like FIFA, Call of Duty, Minecraft, etc.
 

Trup1aya

Member
I think you're falling into the same trap a lot of people are in this thread when you're overestimating the importance (and quality) offered here: the game selection is deeply unexciting. A lot of people seem to be imagining that it will be like EA Access, or gaming's answer to Netflix, but everything Microsoft have actually put out suggests it will be neither.

I feels like a lot of people are neglecting what is obviously going to be the main problem with this subscription: the game selection. To advertise this new programme they've stuck out an image with Halo 5, Saints Row IV, Mad Max, NBA 2K16, and Lego Batman in the foreground.

I'll get excited when Microsoft (or someone else) offers a subscription that could replace most of my retail buying. Until then, I couldn't care less. I'd buy EA Access before I bought this because it offers me free trials to new games and their entire lineup, free, usually within a year of release.

It's a rental program, not one meant to replace your buying.... unless you usually by used and care more about cheap access than ownership.

Regarding the catalog, the list is currently incomplete,but is going to be massive- afact that all but ensures the average gamer should be able to find $10 worth of games to play in a month- and it's just the beginning. EA Access' library wasn't all that amazing when it launched- but the concept was immediately exciting, and the offering improved over time.

There's no reason to expect anything different here. It's ironic you praise EA Access, because you sound just like the folks who criticized EA access when it was announced.
 

GLAMr

Member
Great move by MS. Not only does it steal some thunder from one of the biggest launches of the year, but the concept is awesome. Sure, a lot of the games on the list are pretty meh, but the idea has so much potential.
 

TBiddy

Member
I think you're falling into the same trap a lot of people are in this thread when you're overestimating the importance (and quality) offered here

I feels like a lot of people are neglecting what is obviously going to be the main problem with this subscription: the game selection. To advertise this new programme they've stuck out an image with Halo 5, Saints Row IV, Mad Max, NBA 2K16, and Lego Batman in the foreground.

I think you're falling in the classic trap, when you're equating what you think are good games with what everyone else should think are good games.

Do you see (decent) new releases on Netflix?

Asking for this to replace your buying is a bit much for $10/month.

Why does it need to be new? There's loads of old content on Netflix I haven't seen yet. There's also loads of games in this thing, that I haven't played yet.
 

Novocaine

Member
Do you see (decent) new releases on Netflix?

Asking for this to replace your buying is a bit much for $10/month.

It all depends. For my friends who play games occasionally this would be ideal. Or for someone new to the system this would be a great way to catch up on older stuff. For someone like me who wants certain new releases day and date there won't be much value at all. I have close to 200 games installed on my system currently. Although you never know, they might get some deals for new releases. I doubt it but we will have to wait and see.
 

Space_nut

Member
This is such amazing feature. So many games I need to catch up on that I probably wouldn't have been able to buy. $10 a month is a no brainer
 

Lima

Member
10$ is insane value just like Netflix. Doesn't even matter if it's mostly older games if there is something I haven't played and would like to try.

That some are actually pretending that this is some huge expense per month is laughable. 10 is nothing in a month.
 

Rodelero

Member
It's a rental program, not one meant to replace your buying.... unless you usually by used and care more about cheap access than ownership.

Regarding the catalog, the list is currently incomplete,but is going to be massive- afact that all but ensures the average gamer should be able to find $10 worth of games to play in a month- and it's just the beginning. EA Access' library wasn't all that amazing when it launched- but the concept was immediately exciting, and the offering improved over time.

There's no reason to expect anything different here. It's ironic you praise EA Access, because you sound just like the folks who criticized EA access when it was announced.

I guess I'll continue to make my comments based on what Microsoft are actually advertising, and you can continue to make yours based on various assumptions at what they will offer in the future.
 

EvB

Member
It all depends. For my friends who play games occasionally this would be ideal. Or for someone new to the system this would be a great way to catch up on older stuff. For someone like me who wants certain new releases day and date there won't be much value at all. I have close to 200 games installed on my system currently. Although you never know, they might get some deals for new releases. I doubt it but we will have to wait and see.

For families this will offer huge value. Imagine as a 13 year old having 100 games on tap.

I always laugh at my nice and nephew who don't know how good they have it with 24/7 availibility of endless cartoons and movies
 
What are you talking about it says that it is for Windows 10 as well

http://www.polygon.com/2017/2/28/14761576/xbox-game-pass-xbox-one-microsoft

Update: The official page has been edited to remove mention of Windows 10 devices.

“It’s important to us that Xbox Game Pass provides an enjoyable and seamless experience,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon. “Right now, we’re focused on launching Xbox Game Pass on Xbox One consoles and look forward to bringing the service to the broader Xbox community later this spring.”
 

Rodelero

Member
I think you're falling in the classic trap, when you're equating what you think are good games with what everyone else should think are good games.

Nice attempt to pigeon-hole me as someone that I am absolutely not.

I was responding to someone who was questioning why there didn't seem to be massive excitement over this announcement. The most logical explanation is that the game selection isn't that exciting to most people, and I'm basing this not off of my own opinions about the games in question, but on the age of the games, the price of the games if you bought them new, or used, today, and the general reception of those games.
 

etta

my hard graphic balls
That's probably why it's generating less discussion. There's very little in the way of negative outlooks that can be applied to it, so very little back-and-forth arguing. Whereas the EA Access thread was large because people were trying to argue that we were fucked, and Sony was trying to save us.
😂🤣👌
 
This is good for gamers on both sides. I wouldn't be surprised that Sony not far behind with PS Now.
With support for now only PS4 and PC for PS Now could be steps for this. Only time will tell.
 

TBiddy

Member
Nice attempt to pigeon-hole me as someone that I am absolutely not.

I was responding to someone who was questioning why there didn't seem to be massive excitement over this announcement. The most logical explanation is that the game selection isn't that exciting to most people, and I'm basing this not off of my own opinions about the games in question, but on the age of the games, the price of the games if you bought them new, or used, today, and the general reception of those games.

Well, I'm sorry then. But this sentence really came of as "My taste is superior."

I think you're falling into the same trap a lot of people are in this thread when you're overestimating the importance (and quality) offered here: the game selection is deeply unexciting
 

leeh

Member
That's probably why it's generating less discussion. There's very little in the way of negative outlooks that can be applied to it, so very little back-and-forth arguing. Whereas the EA Access thread was large because people were trying to argue that we were fucked, and Sony was trying to save us.
Funny cause it's true.
 
This is a mid-tier E3 announcement, something that would have been showcased like LFG/tournaments was

Makes me think theres way more to come and they had to get this out there now

Or maybe its just the update roadmap and the way things are

WHY DO THEY KEEP SAYING THEY NEED THE PHANTOM DUST RE-RELEASE OUT "BEFORE E3" YOU CANT BE THAT SPECIFIC WITHOUT HAVING SOMETHING PLANNED

Someone from MS twitted something like this: If we announced this today cam you imagine what we are saving for e3?
 

Alx

Member
I just downloaded a few of the games thanks to the preview program. It's just as easy as with EA access, all supported games can be directly downloaded from the Marketplace. Not a surprise any more, but still appreciated.
 

Faustek

Member
PSNOW included is not going to happen, I would be amazed if Sony had the infrastructure in place to support the use from every PS+ subscriber


Sorry to say this but Sony doesn't even have the infrastructure in place. I'm always baffled how slow Sony have been in actually adding features and building a robust service.

Tbh all the consoles really should just dive in, all in and try to mimic Valve more and then I'm talking about the backend. The front end is another beast all together.


______

What's more amazing is that I'm actually considering buying an Xbox again. Like honestly considering it now. Need to see all the deets first though.


Edit:



"we're not ready to announce it for PC-98* yet"


*PC autocorrected to PC-98 and I like it.
 
The exact same core issue that plagued PSNow affect this offering though, specifically how do you entice publishers monetarily into putting their product on the service?

One key difference is that Ps now has a high maintanance cost, so even with a bigger sub, i't's likely sony has less money left for deals.

Ms costs are essentially bandwidth which is super cheap for them to rent compared to the revenue. They could allocate 10% of the sub for their own profit and use 90% of the revenue to pay publishers off.

And given the price the revenue grows rapidily with the number of subs, once they reach 10 million that's over a billion a year they have to pay off publishers to release games on it.

And now imagine if they reach something close to the number netflix subscribers (this is certainly going to be on PC too eventually and I would bet in a more distant future even mobiles), it's on what already? over 90 million? With numbers like that they could outright fund games just to be released on this service, perhaps even exclusively. Just like netflix does.
 

Surface of Me

I'm not an NPC. And neither are we.
I see people saying it is a good list of games for launch, where is the list of the initial games included in the service?
 
This is... kind of amazing. Seriously. Great implementation. Solid list of games for launch. And that price point.

Honestly it's what psnow should have been.

Hoping this is a huge success so ninty and Sony turn their heads and do somthing similar with their services.

why the list isn't in the OP? will have to find it
 
Im in the preview program and its very few games, most of which are 360 games. The ad shows Halo 5, but its not part of the initial batch of games. In fact i think all of the Xbox One games that are available were at one point a Games With Gold game. So its slim pickings. Again though, its just the preview program.
 
Im in the preview program and its very few games, most of which are 360 games. The ad shows Halo 5, but its not part of the initial batch of games. In fact i think all of the Xbox One games that are available were at one point a Games With Gold game. So its slim pickings. Again though, its just the preview program.

Halo 5 is confirmed for the service launch, it's just not up for preview, as it's free to test.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
It's a rental program, not one meant to replace your buying.... unless you usually by used and care more about cheap access than ownership
I m one of those guys. I dont really spend 60$ on a game anymore h less irs something i really really really want fo play for long period like overwatch titanfall 2 etc. like. I want horizon but i know in less than 4 months it will be 40$ or less. So why rush ? Used even cheaper .

I dont sell the games i own and have no intention to do so
 
This is good for gamers on both sides. I wouldn't be surprised that Sony not far behind with PS Now.
With support for now only PS4 and PC for PS Now could be steps for this. Only time will tell.

They can expand the platform list, but they won't give up streaming unless they develop a PS3 emulator. They are currently running the service on customized PS3 servers.

They still have the option to do a Pass thing with PS4 and PSVita libraries and offer it as a separate service. Maybe throw in some PS1 and PSP titles as well.
 

Zedox

Member
Sony most likely won't do anything until they see if this takes off or not. They probably have R&D doing stuff around this and they know EA Access is still going strong but I don't think Sony is going to have something similar until at least end of next year. Sony isn't what I would call a "fast" company when it comes to game service development. I mean, it's not like they have parity with Xbox One features and especially the features that are coming for Xbox One/W10. So to me, it will be a while before Sony actually shows their hand in this.

They are in first place and they don't want to mess up their momentum...I think Sony is just gonna ride the wave...I mean, they don't even want EA Access on their system.
 

pieface

Member
Sorry if i'm a bit late to the party, but do we know what games are included in the preview for this?

With EA Access and this, I could have an amazing library pretty cheaply.

Only issue is, the games I religiously play (Halo, BF1, FIFA) I'll purchase on release day.

So not sure if this will be worth it for me.
 
They can expand the platform list, but they won't give up streaming unless they develop a PS3 emulator. They are currently running the service on customized PS3 servers.

They still have the option to do a Pass thing with PS4 and PSVita libraries and offer it as a separate service. Maybe throw in some PS1 and PSP titles as well.
I honestly have no idea how Sony thought it would be a good idea to have their streaming service built upon custom ps3 servers.

Reeks of lack of foresight and if they ever want to offer other platform they will have the same costs as starting from zero.

I'm surprised the service is even still around, the subs cant be that high and with any expansion plan possible seems kinda a miracle it still is. 
 
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