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Phill Spencer confirms via Official Xbox Podcast NO ABK games will be on gamepass this year. “2024 is an accurate timeline”



timestamp: 11:00

Thought this was worth a thread as there’s lots of speculation about this

"The truth of it is the regulatory process took so long and there was so much uncertainty until last week, that our team hasn't had the time to work with ABK to work on the back catalogue work. But now that it has closed, there is work being done"

He also mentions the 2024 date is accurate for gamepass drops. He also confirms there is NOT any surprise drops coming anytime soon. So no ABK games this year.

He knows it’s a bummer but unfortunately that is the situation and unlike what some consumers think there isn’t just a switch to get these games all on gamepass.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Hmmmm but GAF told me they increased the ABK games prices because they want to FORCE people into Game Pass... Someone is lying here.

OT: I just want WoW in Game Pass... I'll probably get into it again if I don't have to pay an monthly fee to play only that game.
 
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Mattyp

Gold Member
A shame but considering it’s nearly November and the deal of this magnitude it’s expected.
 

Fbh

Member
Kinda makes me wonder why there "isn't just a switch" to put games on Gamepass.

I guess on PC you basically need to make a separate version you download and install from the Gamepass app. But on console I can't imagine it's that hard to have a system that's like "if user has an active gamepass subscription he can download and play this for free".
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Hmmmm but GAF told me they increased the ABK games prices because they want to FORCE people into Game Pass... Someone is lying here.

OT: I just want WoW in Game Pass... I'll probably get into it again if I don't have to pay an monthly fee to play only that game.
You're not getting World of Warcraft on gamepass. There is no way even MS would ruin that revenue stream, especially when ESO still has a subscription.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Personally, the one thing I'd like to see happen right away is that those who have Battle.net accounts can have their games moved to Xbox and/or Steam.

Do that MS and that will go a long way to making me very happy at the start.
 
Kinda makes me wonder why there "isn't just a switch" to put games on Gamepass.
I guess because ABK games have no PC Gamepass versions and were mainly living in a different Battle Net launcher? Would not be surprised that PC versions need to be ported with Xbox Live support and so on. Not to mention ABK has a lot of licensed games.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
You're not getting World of Warcraft on gamepass. There is no way even MS would ruin that revenue stream, especially when ESO still has a subscription.
People still don't get MS is not about "revenues" in short terms, but engagement. All WoW players in Game Pass just for WoW, that most basically don't use the service but only for WoW would be a big win for them. They'll think on revenues after they "dominate" the market, that's as I see they see the thing
 

Hestar69

Member
Hmmmm but GAF told me they increased the ABK games prices because they want to FORCE people into Game Pass... Someone is lying here.

OT: I just want WoW in Game Pass... I'll probably get into it again if I don't have to pay an monthly fee to play only that game.
thats all I want too.. Give me WoW on game pass! I've been itching to play it again but 15 a month still! then all the expansions you have to buy.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
thats all I want too.. Give me WoW on game pass! I've been itching to play it again but 15 a month still! then all the expansions you have to buy.
I guess your problem (and mine, and some friend's too) is that you don't want to pay for the sub just to not play or to get back your nostalgia fix quickly and then forget about it then feel the money was kinda wasted. Game Pass would fix that for most players in the same situation.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
People still don't get MS is not about "revenues" in short terms, but engagement. All WoW players in Game Pass just for WoW, that most basically don't use the service but only for WoW would be a big win for them. They'll think on revenues after they "dominate" the market, that's as I see they see the thing

Isn't WOW cheaper than Gamepass per month?
 
People still don't get MS is not about "revenues" in short terms, but engagement. All WoW players in Game Pass just for WoW, that most basically don't use the service but only for WoW would be a big win for them. They'll think on revenues after they "dominate" the market, that's as I see they see the thing
Continue to burn infinite cash until people are so immersed in the service that they can't escape. And that's when we gouge them!

Don't understand why people aren't excited about how Microsoft is conducting their business.
 
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That boggles my mind even more. If cod were to fizzle , that is so much riding on a single franchise.
ABK market cap had a lot to do with King, one of the biggest mobile publishers in the world. Remember how much Zynga cost. And King's profits are much higher than Zynga's (though it was even losing money at point or something). I think King will be around 30b in this deal. Then we have Activision, which is probably 25-20b by itself. And Blizzard is 15b at best.

And also we should consider the premium. So its actual evaluation is smaller, it is just premium is around 40% or something.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
Isn't WOW cheaper than Gamepass per month?
I thought it was $15 like Game Pass Ultimate, but they lowered it to $12.

Even if they lowered the price, you can add WoW to Game Pass and keep the regular WoW-only option and see what the market prefers. Game Pass a $10 option anyway.

Continue to burn infinite cash until people are so immersed service that they can't escape. And that's when we gouge them!

Don't understand why people aren't excited about how Microsoft is conducting their business.
Well, for one they won't dominate the market or create a monopoly no matter how much money they burn, Nintendo and some others ain't no joke and not for purchase so it's ok to have options.

I support them as long as there are options.
 

Three

Member
I like how they act like bringing stuff to GamePass is some large undertaking.
Yeah, guy was making deals with third parties like EE, nvidia and Nintendo regarding Activision IP. You're telling me his hands were tied with trying to get the game on gamepass until recently?

It's more likely that they will ride the Christmas period out because they expect a gamepass influx regardless and it was beneficial for them to spread the back catalogue content into 2024s weak months. They would have milked CoD and D4 sales enough by then too.
 
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ByWatterson

Member
Will Ferrell Lol GIF
 

Matsuchezz

Member
Interesting interview, he states that this Call Of Duty beta exclusives will become a thing of the past as it doesn't help the game.
He also says that if teams want to go back to revisit old franchises he will support them as well as ways of bringing older games to Xbox.
He sounds pretty excited by the future.

Yes, but then again this is the guy that got excited when Halo Infinite was unveiled and he was ok with the state the game was in and ready to be released. He was excited when Redfall was released and he was ok with the quality of it. And then again this is the same guy that makes empty promises. So his excitement means only disgrace and sad faces for the green rats... sigh...
 
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Yes, but then again this is the guy that got excited when Halo Infinite was unveiled and he was ok with the state the game was in and ready to be released. He was excited when Redfall was released and he was ok with the quality of it. And then again this is the same guy that make empty promises. So his excitement means only disgrace and sad faces for the green rats... sigh...
Didn't both those games get delayed? Especially 343i they were given a significant amount of time to get it right, game was good as well, Redfall wasn't fit I agree about that.
 
xbox on Jan 1, 2024: we are happy to announce that our entire activistion blizzard lineup will be available on gamepass effective immediately!!!!
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Amusing how they act like bringing stuff to GamePass is some large undertaking.

It's not about the scope of undertaking, everyone has been asking about it over social media. Hence his need to clarify.

NGL I would have liked some content dropped before but ah well, I can wait.
 

MarkMe2525

Member
It's Phil with ONE L. Don't disrespect the leader of the "good guy gaming movement" (or the GGGM as i like to call it) like that.
 
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Spyxos

Gold Member
Not really surprising, Bethesda games took a while before the first games landed on Gamepass and then not even all of them.
 

Three

Member
It's not about the scope of undertaking, everyone has been asking about it over social media. Hence his need to clarify.

NGL I would have liked some content dropped before but ah well, I can wait.
He clarified by acting like it's a huge undertaking.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
He clarified by acting like it's a huge undertaking.

He says it's because of the acquisition taking longer than expected, they didn't have time to sort it out with the Activision teams because of uncertainty as late as the week of closing. I doubt they have to author different game versions just for game pass.

-

Heisenberg007 Heisenberg007 bringing in something from another topic, you said Tom knew about the acquisition date month(s) ago, Phil is directly contradicting that here when he says that they were uncertain about it as late as the week-of closing.

I doubt Tom has enough sway to know regulatory results months in advance.
 
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Three

Member
He says it's because of the acquisition taking longer than expected, they didn't have time to sort it out with the Activision teams because of uncertainty as late as the week of closing. I doubt they have to author different game versions just for game pass.

"our team hasn't had the time to work with ABK to work on the back catalogue work. But now that it has closed, there is work being done"

He's acting like it's a large undertaking that would take until next year. The reason he needed to clarify is not relevant to him acting like it's a huge undertaking.
 

Mowcno

Member
Not really surprising, Bethesda games took a while before the first games landed on Gamepass and then not even all of them.
The Bethesda acquisition was completed March 9th 2021 and 20 Bethesda games were added to gamepass on March 12th 2021. It took three days.


 
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Spyxos

Gold Member
The Bethesda acquisition was completed March 9th 2022 and 20 Bethesda games were added to gamepass on March 12th 2022. It took three days.


Huh, I could have sworn there was nothing there for a long time. Maybe I've been waiting for certain games. Well in any case I was wrong.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Huh, I could have sworn there was nothing there for a long time. Maybe I've been waiting for certain games. Well in any case I was wrong.

Yeah they did batches for Zenimax stuff. First batch after acquisition then they waited till summer for the next games.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
The only thing I could see is base game and maybe the current expansion. You will still be paying the sub.
I know everyone thinks that MS is going to put and give away everything on Gamepass, but they aren't going to pointlessly kill a significant revenue stream. MS did buy ABK to make a profit.
 
I know everyone thinks that MS is going to put and give away everything on Gamepass, but they aren't going to pointlessly kill a significant revenue stream. MS did buy ABK to make a profit.
They did not. MS is a company which literally brings in $80 billion a year in profit. They could not give the tiniest fragment of a shit how much ABK will or will not make them. Ever.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
They did not. MS is a company which literally brings in $80 billion a year in profit. They could not give the tiniest fragment of a shit how much ABK will or will not make them. Ever.
They did not. MS is a company which literally brings in $80 billion a year in profit. They could not give the tiniest fragment of a shit how much ABK will or will not make them. Ever.
Yeah,they don’t make $80 billion by being a fucking charity.
 
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