ChuckeRearmed
Regular
Guess we will see in the call next week
Xbox Live Gold not needed for Free-To-Play MP, No Price Changes [2021-01-22]
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Doubtful. Again, and not to dismiss the important of Xbox, but Xbox is not currently a significant profit centre for Microsoft. Xbox is just part of the wider group which includes devices like Surface. This is always an issue when your business is dwarfed by more profitable areas. In Apple, the Mac was the product for decades until the iPhone. Now the Mac is a byline. It's a matter of perspective.
Not to get off the interesting aspect of what happened and how, but wanted to ponder what would have been "acceptable" or least not cause drastic outlash.
I think they could have managed a slight bump of MSRP of $10 for 12 months and $5 for 6 months. Maybe that is to give more leeway to brick and mortar stores to have more sales on them.
I think they could have managed a slight bump of MSRP of $10 for 12 months and $5 for 6 months. Maybe that is to give more leeway to brick and mortar stores to have more sales on them.
They could have made f2p multiplayer free for everyone then just merged xbox live gold into the basic tier of gamepass and called it a day. It would have been a very minor price increase of $1 per month but would affectively increase the annual price to what they were going to get with the new gold price, because game pass doesn't offer a discount when you purchase multiple months. That way at least you get something in return for getting your yearly xbox subscription literally doubled without any additional benefit.
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I also thought about that. Merge GP with Gold, retire Gold, drop F2P and it would pass just fine. But not instead of gaining additional $ they lost some $.
Thats what is so puzzling about this, there are so many easy ways they could have handled this
I think multiplayer should be free across the board. Right now Gold only gives you multiplayer, Deals with Gold, Games with Gold & Free Play Days. Xbox Live Gold was created with the 360 to differentiate it from the free Live Silver accounts. Gold gave you premium features like Party chat, Cloud Saves & access to video apps that weren't available to Silver users. So it was well worth paying for. But with the launch of the Xbox One, most of those premium features have now been included with the free accounts. If you make multiplayer free then there are only the deals, free games & free play days left. I think those should be included with Game Pass Ultimate or a similar premium tier. The cheapest subscription plan should be the standard Game Pass(consoles, mobile, or PCs) with no premium offers other than the standard 20% off if you buy the game. More expensive tiers should allow multiple libraries & then include exclusive Store deals(like Deals with Gold) or free games that you get to keep even if they leave Game Pass(like Games with Gold). Maybe they should allow you to mix & match 3 or more libraries like cable TV packages? Say you only want console, mobile & Ubisoft libraries because you don't need access to the PC or EA libraries? Or maybe you don't need the console & mobile libraries but just want the PC, EA & Ubisoft libraries? With 3 or more libraries that also opens up exclusive offers like Deals with Gold, Games with Gold, exclusive Game Pass Quests & Perks offers.
Microsoft has an opportunity to really simplify its subscriptions & make Game Pass the service to have. They just need to get rid of Gold to do it. With their latest 180°, it's a great time to make those changes. I understand the odds of them doing that are probably slim, but I think it would definitely increase their Game Pass subscriptions & that seems like that was their whole motive for increasing the Gold subscription prices anyways.
Tommy McClain
Microsoft has an opportunity to really simplify its subscriptions & make Game Pass the service to have. They just need to get rid of Gold to do it. With their latest 180°, it's a great time to make those changes. I understand the odds of them doing that are probably slim, but I think it would definitely increase their Game Pass subscriptions & that seems like that was their whole motive for increasing the Gold subscription prices anyways.
Tommy McClain
This is part of the problem.
When they removed the yearly subscription in preparation for this.
There was no way to increase the yearly subscription by a reasonable amount.
They probably could've got away with $10 with people winging but not enough that MS couldn't ignore them as they have all the years people have complained about F2P pay wall.
But the price hike made the F2P really egregious at that point, that they couldn't ignore it by just walking the hike back.
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
I don't really think that free games are needed for GamePass anymore
They are already in Ultimate no?
I believe they want to push as many GPU as possible, so if the basic GamePass will have consoles, mobile and PC it will make people not to go after Ultimate (though I presume people go after Ultimate not for this things as XCloud & PC are limited for now)...Then again if Ultimate includes EA Play, then maybe it is a fair deal too.
They really need to rethink what should be included and where because with Gold right now everything that is not GamePass Ultimate is a mess.
That big 180 reminds me the always online gaming cancellation and Kinect removal in 2013.
I knew it!my emails
You obviously don't play very many Game Pass games that have left the service & you weren't done playing the games & weren't aware they were leaving. My kids have been pretty sore about a few of theirs that left the service(Untitled Goose, Farming Simulator, etc).
Yes, as part of Gold. But I was talking about making multiplayer free. The rest of the Gold services wouldn't be enough to continue the Gold service. So they would need to merge with Game Pass Ultimate & not standard Game Pass.
I had the word "OR" in there. Pay the smallest fee for either Console Game Pass, or PC Game Pass or Mobile Game Pass. Not for all 3. Ultimate could stay the same(include all 3) & be the highest tier. Mix & Match could be the middle tier. All kinds of way to structure it.
BTW, I don't expect EA Play to stay with Game Pass Ultimate forever. It wouldn't surprise me if it gets replaced by UPlay or something similar. I could see them opening Game Pass Ultimate to premium add-on packages like cable TV does for HBO or Showtime.
Tommy McClain
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
But free games are not the necessary the same that left the service or were on gamepass at all.
You said they needed to be merged with Ultimate, but the thing is they are already with ultimate no? And I agree that Gold should be eventually merged with GamePass Basic. But for Ultimate to be more attractive it should include something else because it already has Gold.
The weakest link here is GamePass PC because for obvious reason unless MS purchase Valve they cannot provide the same quality content on GamePass PC (though it all boils down to the moment they start producing games. So far everything is rather dry).
I for one expect it for a long time though, but it all depends whether EA Play are actually will work good for EA without GamePass - like whether it generates more income on its own. I full expect EA to appear on Luna though.
True, but they don't need to be. But if they are going to keep Games with Gold, I believe they should evolve it so that the free games come from the Game Pass library. Either you get to pick a couple of titles yourself or they pre-select which titles become free. Maybe pre-selected titles are ones that are leaving the service at the end of the month? Download them before the end of the month & you get to keep them even after they leave & as long as you continue to subscribe. Great way to keep people from only subscribing to the service for one title & then cancelling after it leaves. Happens quite often in Netflix, Disney+ etc.
I don't share that belief. I said make multiplayer free. Multiplayer gaming should be available to everybody, not just those that pay for a subscription. Game Pass Basic should only have the basics like it currently has. The rest of the exclusive Gold offers(Deals with Gold, Games with Gold & Free Play Days) should only come with a premium Game Pass tier, not the Basic. The Basic tier does not need more value to it. You risk having to raise the price. Current Game Pass Basic-only owners would riot. They're not subscribing to Gold or Ultimate because they're not interested in multiplayer or the other benefits. They're not going to be happy when MS decides to raise the rate after adding more value to it.
Basically, what happens is that people that were only subscribing to Gold for multiplayer can quit paying $10/mo & they're not losing anything. Or they continue paying $10/mo & get Game Pass. I don't believe many Gold subscribers actually took advantage of the rest of the benefits. If they were, then they can continue to get those benefits with Game Pass Ultimate. Anyway, Game Pass Basic subscribers don't get anything extra except for multiplayer that's now free to everybody. The people who were subscribing to Game Pass Ultimate would continue to get all the same benefits they were getting. But I still think they need to add a mix & match mid-tier.
Tommy McClain
cheapchips
Veteran
Gamepass isn't supposed to host every PC title under the sun, just a compelling selection to justify the subscription. You don't need Valve for that.
ChuckeRearmed
Regular
Oh, they idea to keep pre-selected titles while you are subscribed sounds nice.
Wait, Netflix allows to keep movies or series?
No. He was saying people sub to those services for a series or movie and then cancel the subscription after that month.
This is my biggest issue with game pass (outside the future concerns of costs vs quality), you have no idea when a game is going to leave and could be half-way through a big story game where you're then left with no option but to give up or pay up. Another example was the recent removal of PES - I was halfway through a season (which is some 50 odd games x 10 minutes!) - that's some significant game time which went up in smoke. Then they add the new PES and I'm thinking, better be careful and not get too 'involved' in and long-term game modes.
Also happens on Netflix, I was wanting to watch Train to Busan but waiting for the opportunity, when it came the film had been removed. Thanks Netflix! I don't care for 95% of your content and the thing I wanted to watch was removed before I had chance!!
Wouldn't it be great if these services worked like - say a blockbusters, where you have access to a full library but can only 'rent' a set number at any one time, similar to how many devices you can have registered...or how about a points system for how many months of service that be traded for games that are leaving.
I can see why GP is so popular, for people with endless game time they are ideal...but alas I don't have such luxuries.
Most of the games that rotate in and out are on the service for a full entire year. I think some titles may have been on it for only 6 months before they rotated out. So if you're concerned about a game possibly leaving soon, check how long its been on the service before hand.
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