I am not sure it will materially change how the 3rd party industry monetizes games yet (excluding who devs get paychecks from). I expect every major pub to consider offering something similar, but will any of them have the library to really charge enough to offset sales loss from their newest games? MS has the advantage of its own platform in the console world, and they will not. If they do all go full steam ahead, then I think we will be seeing more and more microtransactions then ever before.
In terms of closing the console sales gap, I am likewise unsure and somewhat skeptical due to lingering questions. I already see value in it if you are someone who enjoys a massive catalogue of older games. And once it starts getting actual big name and current gen games, it might prove too good to resist by the masses. But I am skeptical for a couple reasons still. The first is the lack of knowledge regarding how many current subscribers are really paying full price. MS has released impressive numbers recently, but they are tight lipped about how many of those are paying full price. Retention rate is important data imo. And the bigger question to me is what will the price be once big current gen games start showing up day 1? Can it possibly stay close to the current price point, or will it start creeping close to buying a new game every two months anyway? The third question is what quality of current generation games will really be showing up day 1? One advantage tv / movie services have is you can make and release content much quicker than AAA games. Can MS thread this needle and keep content fresh and high quality is a big question.
So altogether, I think the possibilities are limitless still. We could end up where everyone has an Xbox thanks to GP. We could end up where purchases are a thing of the past even with third parties. We could also end up where GP is a PC service that is essentially a new iteration of Gold on consoles (much higher price for online, but comes with a huge library that you don't still own if you unsub). The only thing I am sure of is that MS is currently winning the subscription race, wherever that road leads.
In terms of closing the console sales gap, I am likewise unsure and somewhat skeptical due to lingering questions. I already see value in it if you are someone who enjoys a massive catalogue of older games. And once it starts getting actual big name and current gen games, it might prove too good to resist by the masses. But I am skeptical for a couple reasons still. The first is the lack of knowledge regarding how many current subscribers are really paying full price. MS has released impressive numbers recently, but they are tight lipped about how many of those are paying full price. Retention rate is important data imo. And the bigger question to me is what will the price be once big current gen games start showing up day 1? Can it possibly stay close to the current price point, or will it start creeping close to buying a new game every two months anyway? The third question is what quality of current generation games will really be showing up day 1? One advantage tv / movie services have is you can make and release content much quicker than AAA games. Can MS thread this needle and keep content fresh and high quality is a big question.
So altogether, I think the possibilities are limitless still. We could end up where everyone has an Xbox thanks to GP. We could end up where purchases are a thing of the past even with third parties. We could also end up where GP is a PC service that is essentially a new iteration of Gold on consoles (much higher price for online, but comes with a huge library that you don't still own if you unsub). The only thing I am sure of is that MS is currently winning the subscription race, wherever that road leads.