Xbox Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate now Includes EA Play! [XGP, GamePass]

 

This is MS talking about Game Pass at GDC.

A fair amount of information that is useful for developers, not much there for people wanting to see how much MS makes off of Game Pass.

It can be a little dry if you aren't a developer, so here's some key data points they talked about.
  • Unrelated to Game Pass, but 10k games released on Steam in 2020.
    • A LOT of crap, of course, but some gems as well.
    • Well, I guess it is semi-relevant since as a developer how do you get noticed in that sea of releases on Steam?
  • Over a 180 day average (90 days before, then 90 days after), members played 40% more games after joining Game Pass.
  • 90%+ of members report playing games across 30% more genres.
    • Basically as many of us have been saying, Game Pass is a great way to try new genres that someone may never have tried in the past since they don't have to pay for an unknown experience in a genre they are unfamiliar with.
  • On average back catalog games see an 8.3x increase in people playing the game.
    • This ranges from ~1.6x increase for games that have an existing healthy player base (usually AAA games).
    • To an incredible ~28x increase for games with a small player base (indie games).
  • When comparing games that have day and date launches on Game Pass compared to similar games that do not launch on Game Pass
    • 3.5x more people play Large Publisher games (AAA) that have a day and date launch on GP compared to ones that don't in the first 30 days.
    • 15x more people play Indie games that have a day and date launch on GP compared to ones that don't in the first 90 days.
  • When compared to Steam, 3.5x people play a new launched game (first 30 days) on GP compared to a newly launched game on Steam.
  • Social conversation (Twitch, YT, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) about a game increases by 3x after it enters Game Pass.
    • This supports what I've said before about GP being large word of mouth advertising for games which can result in purchases of the games by people who do not subscribe to GP.
  • A repeat of a former statistic. GP members spend 50% more than non members of a similar demographic.
    • 60% more on game purchases.
    • 45% more on game add-ons.
    • 45% more on game consumables.
  • Add-ons and consumable purchases within a game go up 2.8x after entry into Game Pass.
    • 67% of that increase is from people who are GP members while the remaining 33% is from people who aren't GP members.
      • Interesting that just by being on GP, add-on and consumable purchases increased even for people who do not subscribe to GP.
    • 50% are from people who never played the game before the game entered Game Pass.
  • 175+ million USD spent by GP members on F2P games that are linked to GP in their Perks program.
  • This one is really interesting.
    • Compared to Indie game developer revenue (specifically ID@Xbox) in 2016, Indie game revenue increased by 4x for 2020.
    • 2/3 of that growth was driven by Game Pass (GP participation fees and GP performance bonus programs).
    • Average Indie developer on Game Pass sees a 300% increase in revenue after their game (pay to play not F2P) is included in GP.
Regards,
SB
 
PSman1700 said:

MS is killing it. One of the, if not the best things this generation as a pc gamer.
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Game pass is huge and is only getting started. I don't think nintendo will follow suit and I think valve will just put game pass on steam. I wonder if Trencent will make a game pass. They are a huge video company now
 
eastmen said:
Game pass is huge and is only getting started. I don't think nintendo will follow suit and I think valve will just put game pass on steam. I wonder if Trencent will make a game pass. They are a huge video company now
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Theres nothing stopping gamepass now, it was an expensive project, and many were not all that positive around it, but once this was going to take off, its litterally the game changer this generation. A generation where hardware has stagnated and were seeing less jumps there, it was a good time to look elsewhere.

Its a stark contrast to the OneS/MS in 2013, they have improved alot, even on the hardware side of things.
 
PSman1700 said:
Theres nothing stopping gamepass now, it was an expensive project, and many were not all that positive around it, but once this was going to take off, its litterally the game changer this generation. A generation where hardware has stagnated and were seeing less jumps there, it was a good time to look elsewhere.

Its a stark contrast to the OneS/MS in 2013, they have improved alot, even on the hardware side of things.
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I said awhile ago that MS wants to have a big title every other month or so and once they get to that point game pass growth will just be insane. We are also seeing the consoles be more available which will only drive game pass growth. I think this E3 (or june showcase or whatever) will be the big turning point for MS. I think they will have enough of their big games ready to show real game play from and maybe release dates , they will have big game pass announcements and people can go out and buy systems and not have to go crazy trying to find them. I also think we will finally get the release of the streaming xbox stick.
 
eastmen said:
I said awhile ago that MS wants to have a big title every other month or so and once they get to that point game pass growth will just be insane. We are also seeing the consoles be more available which will only drive game pass growth. I think this E3 (or june showcase or whatever) will be the big turning point for MS. I think they will have enough of their big games ready to show real game play from and maybe release dates , they will have big game pass announcements and people can go out and buy systems and not have to go crazy trying to find them. I also think we will finally get the release of the streaming xbox stick.
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Indeed. And thats the thing with GP, they are not limited to just Xbox consoles, its the whole PC+console market and more, much more. With the latest aquistions, they have a very, very strong market position already today. It is very hard for their competitors to compete in the future. it is not just gamepass either, i think their XSS console is very impressive for the money, with the XSX their main console (its the best selling), that isnt what the One was, this time they have very competitive hardware, even having an edge further down the line.
MS wasnt that impressive last time, but this time? Their absolutely doing what i wanted them to do, new strategies (dual SKU, gamepass), competitive hardware (XSX) and serious focus on AA/AAA gaming, with true blockbusters/impressive graphics, that will probably appear on gamepass aswell.

And as a main pc gamer, i like MS focus more there aswell, with direct storage, W11 and more. GPU prices are coming down which will also widen the GP market even more. I think that Sony putting their games on pc has something to do with MS having access to that larger audience aswell.
 
PSman1700 said:
Indeed. And thats the thing with GP, they are not limited to just Xbox consoles, its the whole PC+console market and more, much more. With the latest aquistions, they have a very, very strong market position already today. It is very hard for their competitors to compete in the future. it is not just gamepass either, i think their XSS console is very impressive for the money, with the XSX their main console (its the best selling), that isnt what the One was, this time they have very competitive hardware, even having an edge further down the line.
MS wasnt that impressive last time, but this time? Their absolutely doing what i wanted them to do, new strategies (dual SKU, gamepass), competitive hardware (XSX) and serious focus on AA/AAA gaming, with true blockbusters/impressive graphics, that will probably appear on gamepass aswell.

And as a main pc gamer, i like MS focus more there aswell, with direct storage, W11 and more. GPU prices are coming down which will also widen the GP market even more. I think that Sony putting their games on pc has something to do with MS having access to that larger audience aswell.
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I think the Xss will come into its own as it gets closer to $200. The fact that game pass with xcloud can exist on more platforms is a big deal but I think it will take a lot of education for people to really understand that.

The xbox one was a great system they just messed up by putting kinect 2 in the box. I think they would have had much better success if it was $400 without kinect. I think Kincect 2 would have done better if it was released on its own and divorced from the launch of the system. A 2015 kinect 2 could have been a sizable jump in quality over kinect 2 (which was a sizable jump over kinect)
 
eastmen said:
I think the Xss will come into its own as it gets closer to $200. The fact that game pass with xcloud can exist on more platforms is a big deal but I think it will take a lot of education for people to really understand that.
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It'll be interesting to see what Microsoft do. I wonder if a better decision would be to try and get more storage space in the device. Then I wonder what kind of information could be collected to support that. Perhaps people re-downloading the same titles and a lack of available storage space on consoles?
 
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DSoup said:
It'll be interesting to see what Microsoft do. I wonder a better decision would be to try and get more storage space in the device. Then I wonder what kind of information could be collected to support that. Perhaps people re-downloading the same titles and a lack of available storage space on consoles?
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I guess there is some thought that people would exploit Xcloud to test games before really deciding to download. Which I do, just jump in and out to see if I like it. Works great for a lot of indie titles.
But you're right, they need more storage. The Series S is especially anemic.
 
iroboto said:
I guess there is some thought that people would exploit Xcloud to test games before really deciding to download. Which I do, just jump in and out to see if I like it. Works great for a lot of indie titles.
But you're right, they need more storage. The Series S is especially anemic.
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Johnny Awesome said:
I'm not sure consumers care that much about XSS storage limitations. It's a digital only console and most people have unlimited broadband now.

GamePass is on fire IMO. It's a firehose of content coming really.
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Well 1) I think a lot of people just have 1 or 2 games on their console at a time. So they wont really care about deleting something they aren't playing and downloading again.

2) I think the storage cards will start dropping as we get to the holiday season. Once the 512 gets below $100 and the 1TB goes under $200 as the offical prices it will help a lot.


I just got my brother in law a series s fortnite version for $220(employee discount) for my nephew. My nephew is 8 and loves it , he has fortnite , minecraft and madden on it to play with his friends and with game pass he has tried other games and my brother in law is loving tunic right now. There is plenty of room on the drive after those titles.
 
Johnny Awesome said:
I'm not sure consumers care that much about XSS storage limitations. It's a digital only console and most people have unlimited broadband now.
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The vast body of evidence is that most people have relatively shit internet. And people on a budget who may be more attracted to the budget-friendly Xbox option are less likely to have an internet connection that is both fast and unlimited.

eastmen said:
Well 1) I think a lot of people just have 1 or 2 games on their console at a time. So they wont really care about deleting something they aren't playing and downloading again.
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I think there are a lot of people who play just a few games, equally they are probably not going to be GamePass subscribers where is presumably where Microsoft want most people to be. If you want GamePass to appeal as an all-you-can-eat buffet of games, unless you do have really good and unlimited internet, storage space is going to be a barrier.

If storage and internet limits aren't a barrier why does the external storage option even exist.
 
DSoup said:
The vast body of evidence is that most people have relatively shit internet. And people on a budget who may be more attracted to the budget-friendly Xbox option are less likely to have an internet connection that is both fast and unlimited.


I think there are a lot of people who play just a few games, equally they are probably not going to be GamePass subscribers where is presumably where Microsoft want most people to be. If you want GamePass to appeal as an all-you-can-eat buffet of games, unless you do have really good and unlimited internet, storage space is going to be a barrier.

If storage and internet limits aren't a barrier why does the external storage option even exist.
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I don't really agree with you a 100%. I know plenty of people who watch few tv shows or movies but still subscribe to cable or netflix. For many people they will keep subscriptions for long periods of time for the convince. . Also game pass is only the cost of a few games a year. So its a pretty good value even if your only playing 3 or 4 games a year. More so if all the titles your interested in that year are on game pass.
 
eastmen said:
I don't really agree with you a 100%. I know plenty of people who watch few tv shows or movies but still subscribe to cable or netflix. For many people they will keep subscriptions for long periods of time for the convince. . Also game pass is only the cost of a few games a year. So its a pretty good value even if your only playing 3 or 4 games a year. More so if all the titles your interested in that year are on game pass.
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it will definitely vary person-to-person for sure, but if you just play a few games per year - with some or most - being free to play then paying for GamePass will not be cost effective and for a lot of people facing cost of living increases, every euro-dollar-pound per month adds up and makes you rethink your monthly outgoings.

I am also a subscribe-for-convenience person but my mortgage is paid off and my incomings vastly dwarf my outgoings. My Netflix or GamePass subs may not get a lot of use but they're also insignificant outgoings for me. I don't think I'm that typical a gamer. London Geezer and myself are clearly privileged rich London-based bastards but most aren't.

I do think GamePass represents really good value if you play a lot of games and aren't too choosey about what you want to play. The less games you play, the relative value decreases compared to buying subject to what's available in GamePass compared to just buying those titles. If the amount of games you can play also depends on your internet connection which often correlates to more outgoings then it quickly becomes a more complicated cost-proposition.
 
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Johnny Awesome said:
GamePass is on fire IMO. It's a firehose of content coming really.
Click to expand...

I didnt expect it to take-off this quick, i was quite sceptical even, but MS invested in the right things this generation imo. It sure cost them alot of resources to come this far, and it might have been a risk to take, but they sure cought onto something that is very hard for competitors to compete with now.
Also see it that way that with this much revenue gains, MS can use that to invest in more and more (AAA) content for gamepass and xbox. Its a snowball effect.

eastmen said:
. My nephew is 8 and loves it , he has fortnite , minecraft and madden on it to play with his friends and with game pass he has tried other games and my brother in law is loving tunic right now.
Click to expand...

Lol, same here, mine also love gamepass (they use laptops and an XSX at their home) for mostly minecraft and fortnite, but there are a ton of these little games for childeren they cant get enough off. The playstation does get used but a much lesser extend. In special for the younger group/market, gamepass is a killer. And i think going forward, even for those after AAA blockbuster experiences will feel at home in the MS ecosystem.
 
DSoup said:
it will definitely vary person-to-person for sure, but if you just play a few games per year - with some or most - being free to play then paying for GamePass will not be cost effective and for a lot of people facing cost of living increases, every euro-dollar-pound per month adds up and makes you rethink your monthly outgoings.

I am also a subscribe-for-convenience person but my mortgage is paid off and my incomings vastly dwarf my outgoings. My Netflix or GamePass subs may not get a lot of use but they're also insignificant outgoings for me. I don't think I'm that typical a gamer. London Geezer and myself are clearly privileged rich London-based bastards but most aren't.

I do think GamePass represents really good value if you play a lot of games and aren't too choosey about what you want to play. The less games you play, the relative value decreases compared to buying subject to what's available in GamePass compared to just buying those titles. If the amount of games you can play also depends on your internet connection which often correlates to more outgoings then it quickly becomes a more complicated cost-proposition.
Click to expand...

There's a large group of people who will sign up and continue paying forever just because.

There's also a lot of people who aren't really traditional gamers who sign up a trial and find themselves actually using it more than they thought they would.

Crap internet is a problem that continues to shrink every day.
 
AlphaWolf said:
Crap internet is a problem that continues to shrink every day.
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For those with 'crap internet' installing and de-installing might be an option, or moving to external drive solutions. Internet is probably the least things to consider for a service like Gamepass going forward, everythings going to be connected most likely. Even AAA games on PS are started to require an internet connection. I doubt this is going to change going forward.
 
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