Gamepass reach 15 millions subscriber

[mrcorbo]

Probably not until the user base is much, much larger. It was a long while before Netflix functionality was a basic feature of smart TVs and, as somebody mentioned in a similar discussion on this earlier in the year, not all TV hardware is well suited to this. A dongle could be an inexpensive interim solution. Wifi to your router for xCloud, Blue-tooth for the Xbox (or other supported) controller.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an xCloud app for Samsung TVs relatively soon given the existing partnership. This is exactly the kind of feature that would allow them to distinguish their offerings in the market.

 

[iroboto]

I know I'm doing their advertising for them but...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1308526489621667840

Untitled Goose Game 2 on Gamepass?
I didn't know they made a sequel

 

[cheapchips]

Untitled Goose Game 2 on Gamepass?
I didn't know they made a sequel

It's a coop upgrade for the existing game.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an xCloud app for Samsung TVs relatively soon given the existing partnership. This is exactly the kind of feature that would allow them to distinguish their offerings in the market.

I could see that happening, the partnership being Microsoft promoting and subsidising. I think LG would make agood partner given how popular their Series B and Series X TVs are with gamers.

 

[mrcorbo]

I could see that happening, the partnership being Microsoft promoting and subsidising. I think LG would make agood partner given how popular their Series B and Series X TVs are with gamers.

LG would be another good candidate due to their complete platform control. Being able to minimize the latency on the display end via engineering work on the hardware, OS and application level could make for a measurably better play experience.

The ultimate commitment would be integrating the custom radio for the Xbox controllers to eliminate the Bluetooth latency.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

LG would be another good candidate due to their complete platform control. Being able to minimize the latency on the display end via engineering work on the hardware, OS and application level could make for a measurably better play experience.

webOS is an insanely good platform, I have really impressed by it and just cannot imagine using another television lacking it. Being able to switch seamlessly between Plex, YouTube, Netflix, Prime and several other apps suggests LG invested in a decent CPU and a good amount of RAM.

 

[Cyan]

I know I'm doing their advertising for them but...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1308526489621667840

Poorpass is getting better by the day.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Btw, GamePass resolves an issue that MS (and others) have had over the years: Spending all sorts of money on a new unproven IP like say Sunset Overdrive only to have it not take off at full price in the marketplace and the whole thing is a flop.

Now they put it up on GamePass and people download it and try it and it adds value to their subscription. You might end up with a million people playing a game they might have otherwise passed on. Then they can analyze gameplay statistics beyond just raw sales data to decide what should get sequels etc...

It allows MS to take more chances with things like Battletoads and Grounded for example. Things that would rarely get the 1st party green light.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Btw, GamePass resolves an issue that MS (and others) have had over the years: Spending all sorts of money on a new unproven IP like say Sunset Overdrive only to have it not take off at full price in the marketplace and the whole thing is a flop.

I'm sure this isn't what you meant, but the logical extension of this solved issue is that Microsoft could just put games that would otherwise be commercial flops into GamePass and subscribers would be expected to value them. Microsoft need to keep a hand on the tiller vis-à-vis quantity/quality balance.

Now they put it up on GamePass and people download it and try it and it adds value to their subscription. You might end up with a million people playing a game they might have otherwise passed on. Then they can analyze gameplay statistics beyond just raw sales data to decide what should get sequels etc...

And this is the biggest plus of GamePass, it's easy to try risk-free. But trying something risk-free is not something new, it's something we lost as playable demos mostly disappeared. Last generation there were way more playable demos on PSN than there are this generation. I know demos are more work for devs and I know some games just don't lend themselves to it.

 

[goonergaz]

Btw, GamePass resolves an issue that MS (and others) have had over the years: Spending all sorts of money on a new unproven IP like say Sunset Overdrive only to have it not take off at full price in the marketplace and the whole thing is a flop.

Now they put it up on GamePass and people download it and try it and it adds value to their subscription. You might end up with a million people playing a game they might have otherwise passed on. Then they can analyze gameplay statistics beyond just raw sales data to decide what should get sequels etc...

It allows MS to take more chances with things like Battletoads and Grounded for example. Things that would rarely get the 1st party green light.

There was a name for this back i the old days...’demos’. You could play a free demo of a game to decide if you wanted it. I believe also on Steam if you only play an hour or something you can get a full refund?

Anyway, I’m unsure why devs can’t have some kind of timer that gives you the first hour free then insists on a code/purchase to continue.

 

[cheapchips]

There was a name for this back i the old days...’demos’. You could play a free demo of a game to decide if you wanted it. I believe also on Steam if you only play an hour or something you can get a full refund?

Anyway, I’m unsure why devs can’t have some kind of timer that gives you the first hour free then insists on a code/purchase to continue.

EA do this with a fair few games. 6-10 hours for things like Battlefield, ME:A and Titanfall 2 etc. In some ways I found it a little off-putting. Long enough to get into the game but if I do, then I'll have to buy it.

 

[eastmen]

There was a name for this back i the old days...’demos’. You could play a free demo of a game to decide if you wanted it. I believe also on Steam if you only play an hour or something you can get a full refund?

Anyway, I’m unsure why devs can’t have some kind of timer that gives you the first hour free then insists on a code/purchase to continue.

Most times a demo is just an hour or content mostly from the start of the game. Some games are 20 , 30 , 40 , 100 hour long experiances. What is fun for an hour might not stay true for that many. Also the start of the game might not be as fun as later on. I could play a game pass game for 20 hours say damn its a lot of fun but its cycling off game pass and i should buy it while i get a discount. Or wow i've played 20 hours of this game and the dlc looks cool let me buy it so i can continue with it longer.

 

[goonergaz]

Most times a demo is just an hour or content mostly from the start of the game. Some games are 20 , 30 , 40 , 100 hour long experiances. What is fun for an hour might not stay true for that many. Also the start of the game might not be as fun as later on. I could play a game pass game for 20 hours say damn its a lot of fun but its cycling off game pass and i should buy it while i get a discount. Or wow i've played 20 hours of this game and the dlc looks cool let me buy it so i can continue with it longer.

Did you actually read the post I was responding to? It might give context

 

[eastmen]

Did you actually read the post I was responding to? It might give context

I did , its different downloading a gig or two of a demo vs downloading a 100 gigs of a game and having an hour timer on it.

I would download a full game to play it all , i wont download a full game to try out an hour of it

 

[goonergaz]

I did , its different downloading a gig or two of a demo vs downloading a 100 gigs of a game and having an hour timer on it.

I would download a full game to play it all , i wont download a full game to try out an hour of it

Have you not heard of smart delivery? On A lot of games you don’t have to download the whole game (nice one using an outlier too).

Point remains @Johnny Awesome is using GP as a demo service to try games instead of risking money on games and there are other (free) ways of doing it.

 

[eastmen]

Have you not heard of smart delivery? On A lot of games you don’t have to download the whole game (nice one using an outlier too).

Point remains @Johnny Awesome is using GP as a demo service to try games instead of risking money on games and there are other (free) ways of doing it.

I have heard of smart delivery but you said it would be based on a timer. How far you can get in a game is different than how far I can get in a game.

 

[goonergaz]

I have heard of smart delivery but you said it would be based on a timer. How far you can get in a game is different than how far I can get in a game.

It was just a suggestion!? The developer could just set a marker that when the player hits a certain point in the game the demo ends. There's loads of ways to slice the cake - it could be game (type) dependent. Open world game - only one section of the world map. Sports game, first 10 games (etc).

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I'm just saying that it's an interesting phenomenon, especially since demos are pretty much a thing of the past.

A good example is Battletoads, which went something like this:

- I heard it was fun from the XOne Bros podcast
- Downloaded it on my son's GamePass since it was "free". Would never have downloaded it at $39.99 or even $19.99 probably.
- We tried it and loved it. It was a refreshing change from the usual RPG or FPS shooter. Great couch co-op experience.
- It made us love GamePass more.

It's weird, but we don't need much other than GamePass. I don't really care if I had to wait 3 years to play the Witcher 3, for instance.

Over the last couple months I played Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Hellblade, Demon's Tilt (pinball), Witcher 3, Wasteland 3, and Battletoads. All on GamePass.

Granted I'm catching up on a few years of gaming right now so it seems like there is more content than their really is, but once MS's 35 development teams (23 studios) start pumping out content I don't think I'm ever really going to need to get more than one 3rd party game every year basically. This year it'll probably be Cyberpunk 2077 after the true patch comes out. I might also get The Medium if it turns out well.

At launch I'm going to play Gears Tactics, Doom Eternal, Ori 2 and Gears 5 and hopefully Flight Sim 2020 will come out soon too. Then Halo Infinite, Fable, Forza 8, Hellblade 2, Everwild etc...

I'm never going to run out of stuff to play for $15 per month (for two people because I use my son's account). It's ridiculously good.

Unless you're stuck on something specific, like you have to have Call of Duty, GamePass is going to be enough to keep most gamers satisfied. I'm betting MS adds at least 5 million subscribers per year as the generation rolls on. 50 million is a conservative estimate for this generation IMO.