Dr.brain64
Member
Making online free on xbox sx would be huge
Thats exactly the point. Having a barrier to Fortnite hurts your ROE on your entire ecosystem. Which has a much higher chance or netting your more money than the barrier plus the revenue stream.
OK, I see your point now.
That said, I still don't believe this would move the needle in any significant manner, as the only net benefit is for people who only play games on Microsoft game consoles and absolutely nowhere else. Everyone else is unaffected, they can already play the game on their platform of choice for free and have nothing else to gain.
This is effectively "preaching to the choir".
Except Sony had that advantage and it did not make much difference. Plus, Sony could always roll back to their original PS+ where you get free online play but pay for the games you each month.If this is true, Microsoft bringing serious heat to the next-gen competition. Free online would be an incredible tactical advantage.
Why would Sony be forced to follow suit? Was Xbox forced to follow suit last generation when PS3 online was free?
Microsoft isn't adding value to GamePass by removing Gold, unless they lower the price (as GP already includes Gold). This move actually devalues GamePass because GP currently includes the cost of Gold.
Sony is much less interested in pushing PS Now. If they made online free, it wouldn't increase PS Now numbers. If they ONLY allowed online play for PS Now members, they'd piss a lot of people off, unless they made it as cheap as PS+ currently is (they wouldn't).
I'm not sure what the point would be. As it stands now, PS Plus and PS Now combined cost less than Game Pass Ultimate. Forcing PS Plus and PS Now to merge into a single service would do nothing to benefit the consumer...it would just eliminate the choices for people like @Vawn above who only want one service and not the other. A merged service would cost these users more than what they were paying previously.
If Microsoft were to make online play totally free, with no strings attached, then Sony and Nintendo would likely do the same.
Sony would probably make some tweaks to PS Plus, since it would no longer be required for online play. If Microsoft consolidates to a single subscription, then Sony could follow suit, and (despite what I said above) merge PS Plus with PS Now, since it would be still be cheaper than Microsoft's offering. People like @Vawn would then decide whether this service is worth purchasing, or just drop subscriptions altogether and stick with free online play. Don't forget that players on Xbox One would also have to make a similar decision--either pay more than what they were paying before, or play online for free and forget about the other subscription stuff.
As much as some people here are rooting for Microsoft to "go free" and somehow stick it to Sony and Nintendo, I doubt that it's going to be that simple, or that they have purely altruistic intentions here. I wouldn't put it past Microsoft to "giveth" free online play and "taketh" some other "freedom" in the process--for instance, restricting certain DLC/perks to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers only.
Want that new Call of Duty map pack? It's available exclusively to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers for 60 days! Extra bonus for GPU members: get exclusive access to the golden guns with double the firing rate and quadruple the ammo load!
Be careful what you wish for.
Something doesn't add up...
90 million subscribers at around 10 USD per month Is almost 1 billion per month.
I just don't see them removing that? Because they are focussing on game pass... - must be more to it?
Except Sony had that advantage and it did not make much difference.
Why? Only something like less than 50% of the install base subscribe to live. Let's guess at say 25 Million. If they start selling Gamepass to more and more of those people then Live becomes less and less value for money since instead of paying the two subscriptions it's better to merge the two into one "ultimate" subscription and be done with xbox live gold. Xbox live gold becomes redundant at that point as more and more people subscribe to ultimate.No chance.
12 months XBL will be part of game pass ultimate which of course will also offer Xcloud.They could merge them into a single product.
Read my post above .And why would they do that?
Sony’s services are actually cheaper for more (PSnow is both streaming and downloads and you don't need PS+ with it) but xbox live becoming free would really kill Sony's subs because they are mostly PS+ subs and not PSNow. It would mean Sony would really need to push Now subscriptions (maybe by offering their first party games day and date) to increase subscriptions.lol no.
they've only cancelled the 12 month plan because they want to force you to sign up for game pass ultimate which will have 12 months as standard. either pay for the premium subscription or renew every 3/6months (at a great cost). more $ for MS
if anything Sony should be the ones offering free online since PS+ doesn't have as much value compared to XBL/GAMEPASS/Xcloud.
Nope...this is Microsoft combining XBL and gamepass.
well lets say very conservatively that 10% of those are Gold members.The 90 million figure is guaranteed to include free silver subs.
I just bought 12 months. So I hope not.
They will turn the Gold subs into GP subs. Many of those people will keep subbed when they see how awesome it is. Sure they will lose some, but I think it's a good move.well lets say very conservatively that 10% of those are Gold members.
Why remove a 100 million USD a month revenue stream?
Assuming Gold is dropped and MS hopes as many people resub with GP or GPU, the starting revenue loss would be this without factoring in resubs at GP/GPU prices.
Isn't it something like 40 million Gold subs? Whatever it is, this is X
The price of a year of Gold is $60. MS's portion might be closer to $50 after you take into account people buying on deal and retailers getting their cut.
So 40 million x $50 = $2 billion in lost Gold subs
Also loss of microtrans as some people might say fuck it, I'm not doing GP, so no need for buying as much MTX as I don't need it for competitive MP
But then MS would recapture sales depending how many people resign under a higher priced GP/GPU plan (which I think is regularly priced at $120-180/year).
So making it simple ballpark math, for every new GP/GPU sign up at regular price, it can over 2-3 normal Gold gamers dropping off.
well lets say very conservatively that 10% of those are Gold members.
Why remove a 100 million USD a month revenue stream?
How many people would you estimate would make the leap from Sony and Nintendo in the first year? (rough numbers are fine)You do realise if Microsoft makes Xbox Live Multiplayer free on Xbox consoles it would bring huge amount of Sony's and Nintendo's fanbase to Microsoft's ecosystem. This would be huge for Microsoft. Just think how much revenue Microsoft would make in digital sales.
Ahhhhhh, yep I just now realized it says Gold not live. Thanks!Xbox Live isn't gold. Both completely different.
Xbox Live is really good and game pass, xcloud etc. is overrated.
How many people would you estimate would make the leap from Sony and Nintendo in the first year? (rough numbers are fine)