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[12Dannu123]

The approach to gaming that Microsoft is taking is very different from what people have been used to. However, I think if Microsoft is going to succeed in winning over consumers and future consumers to the Microsoft/Xbox Ecosystem. They should push for all in one Subscription service at a cheap price.

What I mean is something similar to Amazon Prime. Where Amazon includes all their Amazon Ecosystem services in one bug bundle.

Satya Nadella teases Microsoft 365 subscription for consumers

It seems like Microsoft is currently preparing something like this.



Phil Spencer has also mentioned that they are open to the idea of having Mixer Benefits included into XGPU, and competing with Twitch Prime and XCloud Cloud gaming will likely be included into XGPU as well.

If Microsoft 365 can include

• Office 365 Personal
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (Mixer, XGPU, XCloud)
• Windows 10 with additional features
• Skype Credits and Minutes.

at a price of $20-25 per month. They will likely have massive success since PSNow + PS+ cost $30 and that still can't compete against Microsoft 365. If Sony reduced the price of PSNow + PS Plus to $15, why would anyone subscribe to the service if for $5 Extra they can get M365 or for $15 they can get XGPU for the same price but for extra features?

The tactic worked for Office 365 and pretty much made competitors, asside from Google irrelevant.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Microsoft can do this.
Microsoft can do that.

It’s always like only Microsoft can do things and Sony is not capable...

 

[12Dannu123]

Microsoft can do this.
Microsoft can do that.

It’s always like only Microsoft can do things and Sony is not capable...

Well, Sony doesn't have a strong ecosystem outside of Playstation, Microsoft absolutely does, that's a fact. From a value perspective, why would anyone pick PSNow and PS+ over something like a hypothetical MS365 Subscription that includes the same features and more at a cheaper price?

 

[Damian black]

Because people who buy consoles do it for games, not services or office.

 

[Klayzer]

As always, lots of ifs scenarios put forth.

 

[Vawn]

Microsoft could release quality, highly sought-after games that you can only play on Xbox. That might help.

Maybe I'm just an oddball, but picking the console with the most monthly fees I need to subscribe to, has never been my goal.

 

[MightySquirrel]

Why not propose a plan for 10 a month that gets consoler a new xbox with live or ps5 with psn. You already must pay for online.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Nothing excites me more than multitasking right into Excel to keep track of how many bullets I fired.

When I think of gaming subscriptions, the last thing on my mind is office productivity.

This is getting to be a bit too much with how many subscriptions there are, period.

 

[Deleted member 740922]

Personally, I don't need Office and I wouldn't pay a penny for Mixer (I don't want to watch anyone play games. Ever.)

I've got Ultimate Gold Whatever until December 2021 so I'm happy enough.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

All Microsoft needs to do to win me over is offer exclusive games I want to play.

 

[Reallink]

I'm not sure how many gamers are buying Skype minutes or Personal MS Office subs. Probably not very many. I guess maybe your accountant would try downloading some PC games if MS force installs a Gamepass Live tile on his laptop and it's bundled with his Office sub, but the idea that something like this would win next-gen seems pretty ridiculous. Unwanted, unnecessary, and more expensive bundles are more of a detriment to Gamepass. They would be much better off running heavily discounted annual subs (like they do with Gold), and working out deals with publishers to get more AAA (and big name Indie) games sooner, even if they're only available for a short while. I do agree that if MS goes whole hog into Gamepass and gets super aggressive it could very well win next-gen for them (assuming Sony can't come up with an answer fast enough). The value is great now, but if it were improved dramatically it may well prove unstoppable. Bundling it with Skype Minutes and fucking Office definitely ain't it though.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Sony lovers have entered the chat.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Why not propose a plan for 10 a month that gets consoler a new xbox with live or ps5 with psn. You already must pay for online.

They already have this I believe. Xbox All Access let you do monthly payments on a S/X w/ Game Pass and Live. Not sure if they ended that though.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Sony lovers have entered the chat.

Well in fairness to the topic, he said win over consumers. Xbox lovers are already won over.

So it’s the skeptics that need winning over, no?

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Well in fairness to the topic, he said win over people. Xbox lovers are already won over, no?

So it’s the skeptics that need winning over, no?

Yep. It is hypocritical to say that only Xbox fans are welcome, as it defeats the entire point of this thread's existence.

 

[Danjin44]

As long as Microsoft can bring the games I care about then I'm more than happy to buy the system next gen, I don't care about anything else.

 

[12Dannu123]

I'm not sure how many gamers are buying Skype minutes or Personal MS Office subs. Probably not very many. I guess maybe your accountant would try downloading some PC games if MS force installs a Gamepass Live tile on his laptop and it's bundled with his Office sub, but the idea that something like this would win next-gen seems pretty ridiculous. Unwanted, unnecessary, and more expensive bundles are more of a detriment to Gamepass. They would be much better off running heavily discounted annual subs (like they do with Gold), and working out deals with publishers to get more AAA (and big name Indie) games sooner, even if they're only available for a short while. I do agree that if MS goes whole hog into Gamepass and gets super aggressive it could very well win next-gen for them (assuming Sony can't come up with an answer fast enough). The value is great now, but if it were improved dramatically it may well prove unstoppable. Bundling it with Skype Minutes and fucking Office definitely ain't it though.

Tell that to Amazon, with Amazon Prime. They bundle Twitch Prime with Amazon Music subs etc yet they have 100 Million Subs. The reality that crosses selling different products is a successful business model.

General Consumers will rather have 1 sub for everything than have specific subscriptions. Even if they aren't good as alternatives.

 

[DForce]

Damn, you make a lot of threads about how MS can take over next generation with Xcloud and subscription services being mentioned in your posts.

It's going to take way more than that.

 

[MightySquirrel]

They already have this I believe. Xbox All Access let you do monthly payments on a S/X w/ Game Pass and Live. Not sure if they ended that though.

Nice. Prob US only.

 

[Pallas]

It can be enticing but ultimately it’ll need great titles to supplement that subscription, which I have no doubt that Microsoft can achieve that next gen if they really put effort into it and honestly I don’t care if their great game are on PC or that their lower budget titles appear on other platforms.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Well in fairness to the topic, he said win over consumers. Xbox lovers are already won over.

So it’s the skeptics that need winning over, no?

That's true.

 

[Klayzer]

Damn, you make a lot of threads about how MS can take over next generation with Xcloud and subscription services being mentioned in your posts.

It's going to take way more than that.

Unofficial Microsoft services VP is the way his posts come off as. That guy badly wants a MS takeover next gen.

 

[newtypepilot]

I'm sure asking people to pay for more subscriptions will "win them over" /s

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Tell that to Amazon, with Amazon Prime. They bundle Twitch Prime with Amazon Music subs etc yet they have 100 Million Subs. The reality that crosses selling different products is a successful business model.

General Consumers will rather have 1 sub for everything than have specific subscriptions. Even if they aren't good as alternatives.

Except that those two markets have a lot of crossover.
Office users and Sony probably don't.
It's pretty silly to think a Sony guy is all of the sudden going to switch to Xbox because he can now get Office 365 bundled at a slightly lower price than before.

 

[Pallas]

I'm sure asking people to pay for more subscriptions will "win them over" /s

I thought the hypothetical plan that OP laid out would require less subs by bundling several together into a affordable price? It’s not a bad idea, Amazon already does it with Prime/Stream/Music.

They just have to entice consumers with high quality titles, which Amazon has been doing lately for their streaming service.

 

[Reallink]

Tell that to Amazon, with Amazon Prime. They bundle Twitch Prime with Amazon Music subs etc yet they have 100 Million Subs. The reality that crosses selling different products is a successful business model.

General Consumers will rather have 1 sub for everything than have specific subscriptions. Even if they aren't good as alternatives.

LOL hardly. People pay Prime for the shipping and the shipping alone. If Amazon dropped shipping they would lose 70-80%+ of their subs overnight. The remaining 20-30% would stick around for Prime Video and Prime Video only. No one gives a shit about Twitch Prime or Prime Music/Reading, those are just gateway trials to lure subscribers to the real plans (Music Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited) that are billed separately, and into buying additional Twitch channel subs. MS would not have the luxury of pretending to add Gamepass to Office/all this other shit (or vise versa) for "free" like Amazon has done, you would immediately see a straight price increase and realize you are paying for crap you don't want.

 

[Vawn]

General Consumers will rather have 1 sub for everything than have specific subscriptions. Even if they aren't good as alternatives.

I'd rather not pay for stuff that I don't want.

It's like the cable company telling me what a great deal I'm getting with 200 channels and how little I'm paying every month for each channel. It doesn't sound like such a deal when I realize I only ever watch 5 or 6 channels, yet I'm still forced to pay for the other 195 too.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Well, Sony doesn't have a strong ecosystem outside of Playstation, Microsoft absolutely does, that's a fact. From a value perspective, why would anyone pick PSNow and PS+ over something like a hypothetical MS365 Subscription that includes the same features and more at a cheaper price?

Aside, from the advantage of 40M+ users, you're forgetting one thing that Sony has that MS doesn't:

Playstation Vue, which is a cable TV subscription.

With so many people cutting the cord, offering Vue at a discount that includes PS+ and PS Now could be a value too.

Sony could offer Vue and PS Now in a bundle, too.

Such bundle would be many many many times more enticing than bundling something like Office.

Not saying such a thing would happen, but if we're gonna create all these hypothetical bundling scenarios let's recognize that Sony does have the means to play that game.

 

[Kamfair55]

That's not going to cut it people buy video game consoles to play video games not stream twitch or subscribe to service xyz. Those services are supposed to compliment the game, like cod? Well take it online with Xbox live! Etc now but a 300+ console to gain access to twitch YouTube and Netflix. Even with the game subscription service you're not going to sell that many consoles contrary to the industry push physical discs still matter and provide a benefit to the customer either trading or borrowing games or hell taking it back for a refund not to mention the issue of throttling by monopolistic cable companies and the piss poor speed quality. It seems like companies are trying to push the future while still nickel and dining the customer with obsolete outdated technology and services.

 

[Ten_Fold]

More games, more Japanese games( like the 360), along with mixer benefits and keep the game pass games coming and I might pick it up over the ps5. I just need some games.

 

[newtypepilot]

I thought the hypothetical plan that OP laid out would require less subs by bundling several together into a affordable price? It’s not a bad idea, Amazon already does it with Prime/Stream/Music.

They just have to entice consumers with high quality titles, which Amazon has been doing lately for their streaming service.

what he's suggesting is no different than cable companies bundling channels together so they can make people pay more. Instead of letting consumer decide what they want, they are being forced to pay more for things they might not want, under the guise of "value".

Most people get prime for the shipping. Like another user said, there would be sharp drop in subs if Amazon dropped the free shipping in prime.

 

[Winter John]

If they really want to win people over they should just dump their shitty online paywall.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I´m so fucking tired of these subscription services. It seems you need like 30 something services today to get all the entertainment you want, pay this, pay that, with content cut up between every player in the industry, yet I only have time for maybe 2 or 3 of them. Just give me a solid console that does just one thing: Play games. Oh, and produce some top notch games too while your at it, Fucking sick of this bullshit GaaS-shit.

 

[Pallas]

what he's suggesting is no different than cable companies bundling channels together so they can make people pay more. Instead of letting consumer decide what they want, they are being forced to pay more for things they might not want, under the guise of "value".

Most people get prime for the shipping. Like another user said, there would be sharp drop in subs if Amazon dropped the free shipping in prime.

I never said you wouldn’t pay more if you were only interested in some but not all of the content that his hypothetical bundle sub would have, you’ll just have less subs to manage. To some that in itself is a blessing. I’d much rather them have different sub packages myself but then you’ll have people complain “ugh more subs they want to sell to me”

 

[Korso]

Well, Sony doesn't have a strong ecosystem outside of Playstation, Microsoft absolutely does, that's a fact. From a value perspective, why would anyone pick PSNow and PS+ over something like a hypothetical MS365 Subscription that includes the same features and more at a cheaper price?

A lineup of great games...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Bundling is a great option. And MS is going gung ho with it with GP Ultimate. Even allowing gamers for probably two months to top up their Gold plan to GP Ultimate for $1.

Never understood why Sony (with all it's entertainment divisions) could never do the same. Even last gen when their TVs and PS3 were struggling, do some promos like working with retailers to bundle a TV, stereo and PS3?

I don't think I ever saw it.

Yet somehow Samsung and MS can work together to do bundles at Best Buy? Samsung and MS don't even have anything to with one another and they teamed up.

And Sony's gaming, TV, music and movies can't do deals?

 

[Vawn]

If they really want to win people over they should just dump their shitty online paywall.

Yeah, good luck. Microsoft is extremely focused on getting more monthly revenue that they can count on. There will never get rid of the pay to play plague they forced upon the console gaming landscape.

 

[Winter John]

Yeah, good luck. Microsoft is extremely focused on getting more monthly revenue that they can count on. There will never get rid of the pay to play plague they forced upon the console gaming landscape.

Gamers like myself who mostly play on pc will never pay for an online console sub. So that leaves MS with uh, well, nobody. Die hard Sony ponys won't buy an Xbox. Ninty's won't either. If MS really wanted to make a serious effort to attract people, then dropping the dumb online paywall would be the most obvious move.

 

[DESTROYA]

How about no.
Just make great games,a competitively priced console with top notch specs . That’s how they’ll win customers over.
No one likes paying extra monthly subscription fees . Do you work for MS?

 

[TaySan]

MS should continue their play anywhere program. I've been playing more and more MS games over Sony games.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

People love sub fees. And this doesn't even involve stuff like Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu.

Sony brags about record PS+ subs every quarter and Nintendo (out of all people) has a cheap sub plan too.

You guys got to stop with the MS sub plan, because the others do it too.

On the plus side, Xbox Gold is better than PS+ and Nintendos, has more free games per month, and for the past two months you can top up your plan to GP Ultimate for $1. I think it's still active.

 

[Vawn]

Gamers like myself who mostly play on pc will never pay for an online console sub. So that leaves MS with uh, well, nobody. Die hard Sony ponys won't buy an Xbox. Ninty's won't either. If MS really wanted to make a serious effort to attract people, then dropping the dumb online paywall would be the most obvious move.

They're the ones who created it. They'll never drop it.

The obvious move is to get more and better exclusive games.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

They're the ones who created it. They'll never drop it.

The obvious move is to get more and better exclusive games.

Yep, it's like how Nintendo was the last to drop region locking of videogames, because they invented it.

The whole point of making consoles was originally to collect 3rd party game fees. But now it is that and monthy subscription fees. There is no way the customers they attract by dropping the fee, would make up for the money they lose.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Microsoft can do this.
Microsoft can do that.

It’s always like only Microsoft can do things and Sony is not capable...

Sony are a bunch of losers who know nothing about video games, so obviously MS has to come and save us with some recurring payments!

If people think that somehow they will get a single monthly fee without any market segmentation (choices) probably have not been around.... Either way, as I said many times, service delivery, backward compat, etc. are all very nice platform features, but they're useless if no one cares for the content you have on the table.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Sony are a bunch of losers who know nothing about video games, so obviously MS has to come and save us with some recurring payments!

If people think that somehow they will get a single monthly fee without any market segmentation (choices) probably have not been around.... Either way, as I said many times, service delivery, backward compat, etc. are all very nice platform features, but they're useless if no one cares for the content you have on the table.

Let’s see Gears of War didn’t bring Sony fanboys over.
Halo 5 didn’t.
Backwards compatibility didn’t.

But goddamn it, being able to bundle Office 365 subscription with Xbox Live...


That just might be the magic MS needs to turn the tide in their favor.

 

[12Dannu123]

A lineup of great games...

And that alone will sway new consumers? If a consumer can get a good deal and value, they will pick it. That's why Amazon Prime is so successful.

 

[EverydayBeast]

You are out of your mind if you think Microsoft will even touch the levels of Amazon Prime.

 

[Klayzer]

And that alone will sway new consumers? If a consumer can get a good deal and value, they will pick it. That's why Amazon Prime is so successful.

Consumers are getting great deals on Live/Gamepass right now and it's not moving the needle at all.

 

[12Dannu123]

You are out of your mind if you think Microsoft will even touch the levels of Amazon Prime.

Why not? Amazon Prime and Microsoft 365 serve different markets. Office 365 currently has around 35 Million Subscribers.

Consumers are getting great deals on Live/Gamepass right now and it's not moving the needle at all.

We don't even know the user base for GP, so lets not jump to conclusions. We know the userbase of Office 365.

 

[12Dannu123]

Aside, from the advantage of 40M+ users, you're forgetting one thing that Sony has that MS doesn't:

Playstation Vue, which is a cable TV subscription.

With so many people cutting the cord, offering Vue at a discount that includes PS+ and PS Now could be a value too.

Sony could offer Vue and PS Now in a bundle, too.

Such bundle would be many many many times more enticing than bundling something like Office.

Not saying such a thing would happen, but if we're gonna create all these hypothetical bundling scenarios let's recognize that Sony does have the means to play that game.

Office is far more important and valuable than PS Vue and the user base of Office 365 shows that.