MLB: The Show 2021 [PS4, PS5, XO, XBSX|S, XGP]

[Deleted member 11852]

Game Pass games are free for me because Game Pass is free after using Microsoft Rewards. Sorry you plebes pay for it. LOL

This thread really isn't the place for it but if it's that easy to get GamePass without giving Microsoft any money, it's definitely not sustainable financially. Finding ways to avoid giving Microsoft money sounds like a path to destroy Xbox.

 

[PSman1700]

This thread really isn't the place for it but if it's that easy to get GamePass without giving Microsoft any money, it's definitely not sustainable financially. Finding ways to avoid giving Microsoft money sounds like a path to destroy Xbox.

For the first MS probably is looking for long term investments, second, i doubt its a problem for a giant like MS anyway, this kind of small deals.

 

[BRiT]

This thread really isn't the place for it but if it's that easy to get GamePass without giving Microsoft any money, it's definitely not sustainable financially.

Only the enthusiasts partake, which MS makes out based on word of mouth and influencing the people they know and game with. Not too different from sponsoring popular streamers, this is just more of a grass roots campaign.

It also boosts their browser share and search metrics thus helping to improve what rates they can charge for ads on Bing.

There are more financial matters in play then you acknowledge. You need to look at the bigger picture.

 

[PSman1700]

Only the enthusiasts partake, which MS makes out based on word of mouth and influencing the people they know and game with. Not too different from sponsoring popular streamers, this is just more of a grass roots campaign.

It also boosts their browser share and search metrics thus helping to improve what rates they can charge for ads on Bing.

There are more financial matters in play then you acknowledge. You need to look at the bigger picture.

Indeed, MS is just harvesting gamers, and frankly its a good strategy. Its costly, but its a long term investment. By aquiring studios/making exclusives, lower priced games against the competition, mastering AAA devs and games, its all long term investments. MS stands for many platforms. Sony just one, but slowly expanding to PC.

 

[AzBat]

This thread really isn't the place for it but if it's that easy to get GamePass without giving Microsoft any money, it's definitely not sustainable financially. Finding ways to avoid giving Microsoft money sounds like a path to destroy Xbox.

You have always had a problem with the financial viability of Game Pass. So this coming from you is not surprising. For every 1 person who takes advantage of deals like this, there are probably hundreds or thousands of others who don't. Same thing that goes for people using frequent flyer miles or people who do extreme coupons. Lots of people don't put in the time or effort & just pay full price. Like Brit said they get influencers & fans that spread good word of mouth. It's an investment that should have higher returns. I just don't have to be a streamer to get the benefits.

Tommy McClain

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Eh? For free? I mean you still have to either buy it or subscribe to Game Pass, in either case, it's not exactly "free." Granted once someone plays 2 full priced launch games (normal sub) or 3 for Ultimate, then I guess they can consider games after that "free" for the rest of that year, but that's still not exactly how that works.

It is free basically as if you divide 180 per on the amount of games there you literally pay less than 1$ per game. And the more games there the cheaper they are for you.

 

[rumaki]

i think what always gets lost in the gamepass discussion is that it's not a zero sum proposition. You can play the games as long as you want and if the game leaves gamepass you can still buy it. You even get a small discount for doing so.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

It's interesting. I'd love for single player games to head more toward the 10 hour focused experience, rather than these meandering epics that are padded with fluff. I'd rather play 10 of these a year on GP then buy 2 mega games every year that never seem to end. Occasionally it's cool like Witcher 3, but most of the time games overstay their welcome.

 

[dobwal]

Wait. A Sony first party game is going to the Xbox and be on game pass on day one?

What in the marvel alternative universe is this?

 

[see colon]

Game Pass games are free for me because Game Pass is free after using Microsoft Rewards. Sorry you plebes pay for it. LOL

Tommy McClain

You and me both. 10 minutes every morning spamming bing searches and a variable amount of time at night doing gamepass quests. They've made my real life into a game.

This thread really isn't the place for it but if it's that easy to get GamePass without giving Microsoft any money, it's definitely not sustainable financially. Finding ways to avoid giving Microsoft money sounds like a path to destroy Xbox.

If you understand the big picture of why MS is giving away reward points that can be redeemed for gamepass (or real money), then it is sustainable. There are metrics that determine success. Microsoft is incentivizing people to help them hit those metrics. You want growth in the search market? Give people rewards points for doing Bing searches. It doesn't matter if the searches are jibberish, you just want to hit that metric. You want developers to see an influx of people playing their games? Give them an incentive and a goal (kill 2 enemies, smash 3 pots, ect) that makes them play a game for 10 minutes. Many people will continue playing, and sometimes that's enough to drive up interest in a title. Most people never will do the work to get free gamepass. But I will. I haven't payed for gamepass since October and I have until July to get enough points.

 

[fehu]

To add to this thread about the gamepass' sustainability.
I've reached 100+ consecutive days on bing, then realized that even if it was a small fast ridiculous commitment, it had become tedious and added to the anxiety.
Plus, often I had to repeat the searches on google, and bing maps is just useless.
I still don't have gamepass, but when the moment will come I'll pay and I'll be happy.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Only the enthusiasts partake, which MS makes out based on word of mouth and influencing the people they know and game with. Not too different from sponsoring popular streamers, this is just more of a grass roots campaign.

One the biggest draws upon which scams are predicated is people wanting things for free. If there is legitimate way to get to GamePass for free then as GamePass gets bigger people will be making use of this. Christ, people *clough* for soldering EPROMs into their PlayStations to enable to them to use copied games.

There are more financial matters in play then you acknowledge. You need to look at the bigger picture.

I don't know what you have to do to get GamePass for free it's difficult to acknowledge it, particularly if it's only spread by word of mouth ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

 

[iroboto]

This thread really isn't the place for it but if it's that easy to get GamePass without giving Microsoft any money, it's definitely not sustainable financially. Finding ways to avoid giving Microsoft money sounds like a path to destroy Xbox.

it's not that easy. Honestly it is easy, in that sense, as it doesn't require any particular technical knowledge or wizardry to perform. You just need to do it daily. So you start your day off doing all the Bing rewards, and if that's for you, go for it.

MS was doing this program well before Game Pass came along. The cost to acquire customers and data is expensive, so this is their method in doing so. Even in doing so, and Bing being the #2 search engine, it's like barely 1% penetration. You can trade in your Microsoft rewards for a bunch of stuff and the program has been like this for a long time; they haven't given up on Bing like they have their other services.

Microsoft Rewards - Earn free rewards

I mean, you could get office and windows and other MS services for free as well. Doesn't need to be Xbox. I think if they reach the numbers they want they'll start pulling back on the rewards program. Bu it's there to keep loyalty and build data points.

If I'm being frank about it, how much work goes into the Bing rewards, seems more costly than giving out the rewards themselves lol.

 

[snc]

Genghis Khan: The first fanboy?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulta...-deal-is-a-bad-look-for-sony/?sh=56f1c57434bf
and now forbes is another fanboy

 

[see colon]

Plus, often I had to repeat the searches on google, and bing maps is just useless.

Well, you don't have to use bing as your real search engine. Just click through the headlines every day and they count as searches. I use Edge to do it because you get a few more points. Then, I use a web panel in Vivaldi to do it again, because web panels have a mobile user agent. And I click through the quizes to get the daily points there. Once you get gamepass, there are quests you can do (only on console and cloud) that involve launching the mobile app, the rewards app on console, playing certain games or doing in game actions. They vary a bit, and there are daily, weekly, and monthly quests. They are usually pretty easy, and I do most of those using xcloud so I don't have to install the games. As a marketing tactic for games, it's worked pretty well. I've found a few games I enjoyed more than I expected this way, and then I'll install them on PC or Xbox and play them more. As a money making endeavor, well they aren't getting any real money from me. But I really like the gamepass quests. It's silly, but I like that list of things to do. My reward is more gamepass, and thus more quests.

Well, the one thing it's done is made me want a Series X. I started last generation with a PS4, upgraded to a pro, and then picked up a One X. But now, well I'm not married to gamepass, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to leave it right now.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

it's not that easy. Honestly it is easy, in that sense, as it doesn't require any particular technical knowledge or wizardry to perform. You just need to do it daily. So you start your day off doing all the Bing rewards, and if that's for you, go for it.

Cool, thanks. So it's just a time investment and having to use Bing and other Microsoft services. I wasn't aware how much Microsoft were trying to incentivise people to use their services. But it sounds like some folks are just clicking things randomly. At some point Microsoft are going to notice, right? They must be working on ways to separate the wheat from the chaff so they only reward those genuinely using their services in earnest.

 

[iroboto]

Cool, thanks. So it's just a time investment and having to use Bing and other Microsoft services. I wasn't aware how much Microsoft were trying to incentivise people to use their services. But it sounds like some folks are just clicking things randomly. At some point Microsoft are going to notice, right? They must be working on ways to separate the wheat from the chaff so they only reward those genuinely using their services in earnest.

yea I do try here and there but I give up all the time lol. I suspect they also must incorporate anti-bot activity as well because I would seriously bot it because I can't bring myself to do this daily - and I think this is where a majority of unseen sunk costs are.

A lot of points are handed out for purchasing/renting during sales periods
like 2500 and 5000 points etc. So it's not just using the tools, there's a discount component as well.

 

[BRiT]

Then, I use a web panel in Vivaldi to do it again, because web panels have a mobile user agent.

Thanks for this tip.

 

[see colon]

Thanks for this tip.

No problem. It stopped working for a week once, not sure if it was a browser update or a bing thing.... Drove me nuts having to do searches on an actual phone.

Cool, thanks. So it's just a time investment and having to use Bing and other Microsoft services. I wasn't aware how much Microsoft were trying to incentivise people to use their services. But it sounds like some folks are just clicking things randomly. At some point Microsoft are going to notice, right? They must be working on ways to separate the wheat from the chaff so they only reward those genuinely using their services in earnest.

I don't think they really care. Again, I think for sure this is just a way to spoof the metrics to be the #2 search engine in the world. Search engines are all about advertising, and advertising needs metrics to prove that your ads are being seen. "Hey look how many searches people do a day!"

 

[zed]

I don't think they really care. Again, I think for sure this is just a way to spoof the metrics to be the #2 search engine in the world. Search engines are all about advertising, and advertising needs metrics to prove that your ads are being seen. "Hey look how many searches people do a day!"

I though huh, obviously they are number 2 in the world as apart from duckduckgo I couldnt think of another searchengine off the top of my head, so looked it up
I was thinking google 85, bing 10, rest = 5. But its even more lopsided than that
google 92.4%
bing 2.46%
yahoo 1.5% <- ppl still use this!, next I'll find out theres ppl swearing by lycos or altavista
baidu 1.3%
duckduckgo 0.6%

I actually use bing quite a bit intentionally maybe ~5% of the time (personally I find google has gotten worse over the years), duckdusckgo about 10% of the time, then theres all the other times when I'm searching for something locally but bing hijacks my search to search on the web (very annoying). Im genuinely shocked at that 2.5% number, as there are a lot of ppl that exclusively use bing for search (or so they say) plus the bing rewards ppl, plus the hijack searches on windows, HTF can it only be 2.5%!!