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[Mat Piscatella (NPD)] - Subscription growth has flattened, and sub services accounts for only 10% of total video game content spending in the US.

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Subs have been more additive than cannibalistic, and offer players, devs and pubs more choice in how to play or how to go to market. Fear mongering on this topic is quite unnecessary.


Your words are falling on deaf ears Mat, just look at this topic.



MS could probably boost subs by actually releasing some of their games there but then it would have to admit doing so 4 months earlier would have lowered their sales. And to think people were cheering for and gloating that the entire ABK library would be on GP at the end of 2022, it's now 2024 and the xbox fans are still twiddling their thumbs. Hopefully soon though.

'People' were cheering that the entire ABK library will be on game pass in 2022, for a deal that closed September 2023?
 
So gamepass was never going to destroy the industry like many fearmongered?

Shocked Patrick Stewart GIF
No, just XBOX.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Destroying the industry? I think the concern was that giving away $100-200 million games 5-7 years in production in a $10 subscription would not be sustainable, and MS execs latest comments prove that it was indeed not sustainable.

You have a console manufacturer essentially looking to go third party because they destroyed their revenue stream from full game sales, and you seem to think gamepass had nothing to do with this? I'd argue it had everything to do with gamepass.

Ms Bright ABK to make bank. They have plenty of games multiplat now. Minecraft, elder scrolls online etc. They've been multiplatform for years. To what extent we will see.

If gamepass dissapears then it was great while it lasted.

My worries aren't how MS makes money or not. If they want to offer gamepass I'll enjoy it. I dont expect Sony to do the same if its not sustainable for them.
 
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"Yet". I was lucky enough to work in IT in 2013/2014 and see the beginning of the Office 365 movement and was able to load up on Microsoft stock. 10 years ago a subscription based Office license was less than 5% of the market, and now it is the standard. Same with Itunes vs Spotify, or owning DVDs or Blu-Rays vs streaming services. Gaming is slightly different because the content lasts much longer so casual players may feel like they are unable to get enough value out of the subscription, but I still see it becoming a major part of the industry. Younger generations have absolutely no problem with digital over physical, and subscription vs owning so as long as the subscriptions offer enough value they will keep growing.
 

WoJ

Member
When gamepass was first introduced I thought it was a great idea for Microsoft to expand their player base by giving players another way to get access to a lot of content at a decent price. It was never for me. I think I subbed to game pass for a total of two months to try it out and I quickly realized that my backlog was big enough and I just bought what I wanted anyways.

But good lord what a colossal failure GP is. How does Phil have a job? I love Xbox and want it to succeed in the console space, but doing nothing but promoting GP - and let's be real, a huge number of GP subs initially were on that dollar upgrade deal they did for years - and not bringing the games has fucked Microsoft. It's a shame.
 

Three

Member
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While I took advantage of gamepass/ ps extra this is good to hear. There will always be a place for indies and AA on the service but as a consumer, I have no problem putting a game I wanna try but not sure will enjoy on wishlist and wait for the invetible sale.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?

Darsxx82

Member
So gamepass was never going to destroy the industry like many fearmongered?

Shocked Patrick Stewart GIF
The OP would only need to put all of Matt's Tweets to offer the true context of that information..... But it is clear that he does not want to give the context but rather create a narrative that he knows will be well received here.... 😅

In fact, in those Tweets Matt is only exposing the same thing that you are saying and yet look at the reactions here....😉🙃

Context:
1- The subscription model is just that, just another model. It is not understood the fear of some of subscriptions and that it could be the model that prevails and at the same time defend that it is a danger that must be stopped.

2- "income from video games" includes income from mobile phones.... Yes, gaming income on mobile phones is double that of consoles... 10% is a huge amount.

3- Subscriptions are not just Gamepass as some reduce it. Why? 🤔🤣.
Subscription revenue has been flat, but not down. Account that in this period Sony has raised prices up to 35% and MS too raised prices.... It is clear that this has hit the number of subscribers and according to Matt himself very recently, the only subscription that has grown has been Gamepass in USA during this year which means that spending on subscriptions has remained flat even despite the growth of Gamepass, which has not been able to counteract the decline in other subscriptions ergo...

But you Know, like that magnificente ABK acquisition thread... "just shut up and say MS/Xbox is the worst"😏
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Well, Microsoft tried its best. But, just like their hardware and software sales, they couldn't make it work.

Otherwise, yeah, that was the plan. To increase GP's influence in the industry. And don't forget the very organized campaign we saw when almost every media outlet was writing articles like "PlayStation MUST put its games day one on PS Plus like Game Pass."

Don't forget the "Gamepass™ is the best deal in gaming" tagline that the whole video game media industry was paid to say.

Ms Bright ABK to make bank. They have plenty of games multiplat now. Minecraft, elder scrolls online etc. They've been multiplatform for years. To what extent we will see.

If gamepass dissapears then it was great while it lasted.

My worries aren't how MS makes money or not. If they want to offer gamepass I'll enjoy it. I dont expect Sony to do the same if its not sustainable for them.

The bolded should interest you. It matters if they make money or not.

"Yet". I was lucky enough to work in IT in 2013/2014 and see the beginning of the Office 365 movement and was able to load up on Microsoft stock. 10 years ago a subscription based Office license was less than 5% of the market, and now it is the standard. Same with Itunes vs Spotify, or owning DVDs or Blu-Rays vs streaming services. Gaming is slightly different because the content lasts much longer so casual players may feel like they are unable to get enough value out of the subscription, but I still see it becoming a major part of the industry. Younger generations have absolutely no problem with digital over physical, and subscription vs owning so as long as the subscriptions offer enough value they will keep growing.

The man issue here is that gaming costs too much for the companies to be fully or mainly supported through subscriptions. It's not working either for Movies and TV shows. Have you paid attention?
 

Klayzer

Member
If you extrapolate what's happened to Xbox, particularly how game purchasing habits have changed on the platform, across the industry as a whole what do you think would happen?

It's only not damaged the industry as a whole because Xbox's management have been so incompetent and inept in their approach.
Straight backfire by Dench. A gotcha moment that exploded in his/her face.
 
Don't forget the "Gamepass™ is the best deal in gaming" tagline that the whole video game media industry was paid to say.

That's such a stupid lie too. It's undisputable that Epic's free games is the best deal in gaming. It costs zero money. Not even a sub.
I'd also argue PS+ Essential getting tied to your account forever is a better deal, and often has better games than the rental services.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
"Yet". I was lucky enough to work in IT in 2013/2014 and see the beginning of the Office 365 movement and was able to load up on Microsoft stock. 10 years ago a subscription based Office license was less than 5% of the market, and now it is the standard. Same with Itunes vs Spotify, or owning DVDs or Blu-Rays vs streaming services. Gaming is slightly different because the content lasts much longer so casual players may feel like they are unable to get enough value out of the subscription, but I still see it becoming a major part of the industry. Younger generations have absolutely no problem with digital over physical, and subscription vs owning so as long as the subscriptions offer enough value they will keep growing.
Do you have actual data to back that up for Gamepass, because Microsoft sure as hell isn't providing it.
 

Three

Member
Bizarre. If the deal had closed all the way back in 2022, you think they'd still be waiting till 2024 to start putting Activision content on game pass? Why bother with hypothetical news pieces that didn't turn out to be true.
I have no idea what you mean. That has nothing to do with what I said. I said

"And to think people were cheering for and gloating that the entire ABK library would be on GP at the end of 2022, it's now 2024 and the xbox fans are still twiddling their thumbs"

So what exactly are you disputing? The reasons then and the reasons now 4 months after close why it hasn't is irrelevant, people were cheering and gloating about ABK games being on gamepass in 2022.
 
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DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Your words are falling on deaf ears Mat, just look at this topic.

He literally said growth has flattened and the idea that it would become dominant is unsupported by data.



Use Gotham Knights as an example. It benefited from putting the game on Game Pass and PS+. This helps devs reach more players.

What you don't get is that this doesn't negate the fact that growth has flattened. It will always benefit by reaching more players. If Microsoft pays third-party devs to put games on the service, it will benefit developers and players

But all putting games day one on the service comes at a cost. One of the main reasons MS spent so much money on acquisitions is to see massive growth and it has flattened. That's not good no matter how you spin it lol.
 
This 10% is even more damning when you realize it’s all subscriptions included and not just GamePass alone which is a tiny fraction of that 10%. MS made a huge mistake betting the whole farm on this business model. It’s not sustainable for AAA game development and it explains the recent rumors we’ve been hearing about them bringing their games to other consoles and Satya’s pivot.
 
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All those billions spent...all that money trying to bring content to Gamepass and "forgetting" to promote the main console for...10%. And those 10% is not even Gamepass. That's Gamepass, PS Plus (that has like almost the double subscribers, with multiple tiers), Ubisoft, EA, etc...

Gamepass probably has like 4% or something like that. Incredible...

And before someone mentions why i'm singling out Gamepass...because MS put all eggs in one basket and clearly didn't work as intended. The others didn't.
Oh we know why 🤣
 

Kacho

Member
How does Phil have a job?
Don't get it twisted. Nutella is only keeping Xbox around because he saw growth opportunity by turning it into a service based platform. Sarah Bond will continue to carry that torch after Phil retires, assuming Xbox is still around.
 

Jesb

Member
If it’s flat why not include a subscription for a year with a console purchase. Would give them another thing over a PS5.
 

Tajaz2426

Psychology PhD from Wikipedia University
"Yet". I was lucky enough to work in IT in 2013/2014 and see the beginning of the Office 365 movement and was able to load up on Microsoft stock. 10 years ago a subscription based Office license was less than 5% of the market, and now it is the standard. Same with Itunes vs Spotify, or owning DVDs or Blu-Rays vs streaming services. Gaming is slightly different because the content lasts much longer so casual players may feel like they are unable to get enough value out of the subscription, but I still see it becoming a major part of the industry. Younger generations have absolutely no problem with digital over physical, and subscription vs owning so as long as the subscriptions offer enough value they will keep growing.
Yeah, that’s the problem. They want to own nothing. It possibly the most idiotic way to spend the income you make.

You have straight morons that will subscribe to anything, but do not own. My own jeep wants me to pay for a subscription to be able to lock, unlock, start, set timing for charging my battery. Just like Netflix or any other subscription service I won’t do it because I own nothing and it has no value.

If idiots keep pushing this way we will have a subscription just to start our vehicles. No one will own anything and that is all because people are useful idiots for these companies. There is also no value on digital music, or movies as they can take them away as they wish and you can do nothing about it.

Pretty pathetic that people just go along with what they are told to do. How people bend the knee to these corporations and spend money for no value blows my stinking mind. I learned in economics in middle school never spent money on something with no resell value.
 
The Xbox app is also genuinely one of the absolute worst apps I've ever used on a computer, it's so ridiculously buggy and awful. I've had it REFUSE to install games until a total hard drive/SSD wipe on 3 separate fucking computers.

One of their biggest mistakes IMO was not partnering with Steam to get GP on there. I don't really care what Gabe wanted MS should have taken that $70 billion and invested in getting GP on Steam. They wont see the kind of growth they want on PC without that.
 
So gamepass was never going to destroy the industry like many fearmongered?

Shocked Patrick Stewart GIF

Lol,

You're missing the point that if GamePass didn't become the defacto disruptive force that MS wanted it to be (which would have had a deleterious effect on the industry), then there is no possible way that it could ever generate the kinds of revenues MS want... so expect them to massively cut back on investment in content for the service.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
He literally said growth has flattened and the idea that it would become dominant is unsupported by data.



Use Gotham Knights as an example. It benefited from putting the game on Game Pass and PS+. This helps devs reach more players.

What you don't get is that this doesn't negate the fact that growth has flattened. It will always benefit by reaching more players. If Microsoft pays third-party devs to put games on the service, it will benefit developers and players

But all putting games day one on the service comes at a cost. One of the main reasons MS spent so much money on acquisitions is to see massive growth and it has flattened. That's not good no matter how you spin it lol.



You're feeding into more of that fearmongering Mat is talking about, which is what I was pointing to as well.

Phil, himself, has said he doesn't see a future where game pass is 50% or more of Xbox's total revenue, i-e the whole dominant idea is sort of a forum-creation than anything they realistically expect, it is doing what he intended to at the moment, and is profitable to them as it stands.


For me, and many others, it is an incredibly valuable service. I reckon the same is true for many PS+ subscribers as well, but no one expects it to become the dominant gaming medium any time soon.
 
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