With Microsoft’s long list of poor messaging and poor decisions this week, combined with rumors of behind-the-scenes problems with some of its top games, one frequent point that keeps coming up is how much weight has been thrown behind Xbox/PC/Ultimate Game Pass.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launched last week to solid reviews from both fans and players. But its playercount? That's another story.
That's awful. This combined with the really low Steam numbers paint a disastrous picture imo. Really bad timing too because Tango was closed down for a similar thing. Great reviewed game, and low sales and/or player count. Hi-Fi Rush reviewed a hell of a lot better and it was widely loved by everyone, Hellblade 2 nowhere near that.
I know the rumor is that the studio has their next game already green-lit, but if I worked at Tango, I would be furious. "Why do they survive while we get binned?" I'd be telling myself.
But the suit woman will have you believe "Oh we have different metrics for the success of one studio compared to another studio. We judge each studio and game on their own set criteria" or something like that, I'm paraphrasing here but you get the idea. But no one who works there knows what the hell that even means. I mean the DLC for Redfall was getting worked on days before they even got the news their studio was getting dumped in the trash. So what are these mysterious metrics to let studios survive and others perish? I bet this is all hogwash, I bet MS don't even really know. They just had to make cuts and certain studios just found their way on the chopping block. Someone had to bite the dust, why not you?
Well I bet all this does nothing for the confidence of other employees in other studios. The truth is you have no idea where your career will be in a year from now working at one of their studios that aren't the mega big ones. MS just have too many studios to manage efficiently. "We'll just throw money at them and buy them and worry about the details later on. I mean we can do it, we're Microsoft."
...have you seen what the top 10 consists of? Its things like fortnite, roblox, CoD, apex... etc. This being a new game that has a niche appeal is actually surprising to see at 23. Its also the 33rd top paid game on the PC through the MS store.
Those are dreadful numbers any way you slice it dude. They hyped this game to hell for the last 4 plus yrs. It was supposed to be xboxs big game this yr. Ninja Theory is probably sweating right now.
And it's already slipped out of the Top 100 on Steam. Meanwhile a port of the 4-year old Ghost of Tsushima is sitting comfortably at #8.
One of the biggest games of the year, a multi million sequel and heavily advertised game, at 23 most played? There's no way to justify those numbers.
^^heavily advertised game...?
I mean, I knew the game was coming but outside of a boot screen ad for it, there has been little to no marketing. And yet it still managed 23rd. Make of that what you will.
Here in the East Coast on NY/NJ on cable tv Hellblade 2 has been advertised pretty well. I see the commercials every day at least 3 times a day for the past 3 weeks. It's even advertised as YT commercials.
What an idiotic comment. Let me guess the next comment would be GTA V outsold everything so....
Absolutely terrible numbers all round for this game. Ghost of Tsushima at number 8. Good games going to sell regardless of excuses
What a disaster, 2 failures in a row for Ninja Theory, first Bleeding edge, now Hellblade 2, any way you slice it these are not the numbers the most awaited game of the year for Xbox should show (before Activision purchase), also player numbers is extremely low and even more surprising considering is day 1 on gamepass.
If this game cost more and took longer to develop than Hi-Fi Rush, then I would worry if I were Ninja Theory. Projects may have been greenlit, but the increased scrutiny over at MS may very well put them on the chopping block. The incredible irony here is that it was PlayStation players that pushed the original game passed its 1 million copies sold milestone. With that purchasing power cut out, and the Game Pass effect having trained Xbox players to not purchase games, it seems that the sequel may have been set-up for failure.
And that's exactly what pisses me off about Hellblade 2 not being on PlayStation, Sony promoted the original game and I bought it basically on D1 back in the day because I liked what I saw and ended up really enjoying it!
I really hope Hellblade 2 is next on the porting list because I would buy it in a heartbeat, asshole microsoft robbed me of this game!
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Xbox Wire: “We're excited to confirm that Game Pass members will be able to jump into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on day one.”
Here's hoping for a drop of all 19 of the other cod games on gamepass. That would be a wild trip down memory lane.
Rip Xbox 😭 this will be the point when you can say it was Microsoft biggest mistake that cost Phil head to roll when the investors expect to see a billion on sale and get 1/3 only from PS.
Anyway congratulations to all those CoD players that have game pass.
Edit: never mind is black ops 6 but if they do this for the main cod it’s goodbye Phil
I'm not sure how this move will play out but I do think it could devalue the Call of Duty brand Microsoft paid so much for.
Also, if after the release Microsoft compares sales revenue of the game on Xbox compared to last year, and then logically it will be less as Xbox gamers will be able to get it for 'free'. If it then looks to see if Game Pass new subscriber revenue makes up for the loss profits - if it doesn't It could potentially be the nail in the coffin for the Xbox console business and Game Pass.
So normally I'd just buy COD every year. Now if they keep the prices the same, I might get PC GamePass. The way I see it, I get GamePass for a difference of $50/year. And they would get $50 from me that maybe I would have otherwise not spent with them. It's not obvious to me whether it's a bad move or not
After being burnt with MW3 (really enjoyed mw2019 and MW2 (2022) as well as cold war). Guess I can give it ago on pc GP for a month. If I like it buy it on PS5 or PC or don't if I don't like it. I may dislike gamepass. But since it's Microsoft who potentially looses out on my money I don't mind.
There is nothing to dislike about Gamepass. People can dislike the company behind it but fundamentally the service is excellent. I truly do not care about the politics behind it... I just like what it offers.
That's fair. I just don't like how it's pretty much killed Xbox as a platform. Because of it and in my honest opinion Xbox is now a service rather than a platform. Say what you will about the Xbox one it didn't do as well as the PS4 but before gamepass at least people where paying for the games. Now it's ill just rent on gamepass and if it ain't on gamepass I'll wait untill it's on gamepass.
It's changed a whole bases buying power. It's not good no matter how you look at it. Sure your looking at it as a consumer but when it goes under, no more consumer
Should probably just buy it on xbox with the 20% gamepass discount otherwise you'll be giving Microsoft more of your money twice.
Nice!
All those rumors were dead wrong and COD fans will be able to play Black Ops 6 day one on Gamepass!
This doesn't prove or disprove anything about the rumors of either a price increase or a new tier.
...true, but those were separate rumors. The one OO is directly referring to was the idea that CoD would be coming to GP as a result of the merger. To which we can put that one to bed now with this news.
@Obscure_Observer There's nothing wrong with being a consumer and being delighted that you be able to play it for free. But like with the many Xbox YouTubers who celebrated the ABK purchase by Microsoft who didn't consider the possible negative consequences for the console platform they enjoy most, I wonder if you have considered this could be a damaging move for the Xbox ecosystem? It might not be, it might turn out to be a genius move! It could be Phil Spener's last hurrah. Come Christmas when it is bundled free with new Xboxs via a Game Pass trial it will definitely shift units - but will it be enough to move PlayStation-exclusive owners to buy it and significantly boost the Xbox Series S/X market share?
@rippermcrip
"This doesn't prove or disprove anything about the rumors of either a price increase or a new tier."
You can ask Geoff Keighley about that:
"Microsoft has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be playable on Xbox and PC for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass for Console members.
"BTW per Microsoft, the pricing on tiers is:
Game Pass Ultimate - $16.99 USD/month
Game Pass for Console - $10.99 USD/month
PC Game Pass - $9.99 USD/month
Game Pass Core - $9.99 USD/month OR $59.99/year"
https://x.com/geoffkeighley...
I can see gamepass ultimate being $20.99 (the price of core and GP individually together) and GP solo $13.99 GP PC $11.99
So Microsoft is willing to take a financial hit? Could have done that with Tango. This was the correct move. Any other move would have piled on what happened recently whether it be, price increase, new tier, or not releasing it on GP at all.
What happened with Tango, while unfortunate, was done at the discretion of Bethesda. We don't know what the conditions of the MS/Bethesda merger are but can assume there is still some semblance of autonomy where they can make certain decisions without the approval of MS.
On the flip side, its a shame that MS was not inclined to offer TG a place under their own direct management like NT has. As for this CoD deal... that too could be under some special consideration by ABK as part of their merger as well. MS looks to benefit either way due to possible increased subs/sales of GP/XB as well as sales to PC/Ps users.
If they grow gamepass because of COD, have Another paid tier and selling the game on PS5 and last gen consoles.
Especially if this COD is the best one in ages, which equals more sales I have a hard time seeing how this game will take any financial hit. Whatever potential loss would pay itself back 10 fold.
Hmmm, I think they will announce a price hike in between now and BO6 coming out.
Most certainly, tbh I thought they were going to go the 2 tier route, with game pass premium ONLY having cod as part of the subscription and the lower tier you'd have to buy it discounted at like £50
Well fancy that. A Forbes article with common sense.
Microsoft's only shot to get more gamers, being the devils advocate, is to go Mobile and free to play with ads to grow their fan base. With maybe a subscription to games like cod on Mobile to get more to buy in what they are offering.
But mobile isn't like consoles or PC at all. You can't charge huge amounts for games because that platform is used to cheap or free content. Can't go to Nintendo and Sony with game pass because they'(competitors) aren't stupid to destroy their own platforms with Microsoft's rental service. And PC gamers dabble with it but they're fine with Steam and other, similar offerings. Casuals are their target but do casuals really care because up to this point, they haven't.
They put themselves in a bind and I'm not sorry for them in the least. When you kill your own sales of hardware and software, you groom your base to not buy but to rent, and do everything you can but do what works for Nintendo and Sony in creating games that grow the industry, this is the results. Dead last.
Why was/is it so hard to just make great games and from that, EARN respect that would lead to an increase in consumers? Never made sense how stupid they are when they had the finances to compete and pretty much outdo Nintendo and Sony combined. They just chose greed and annual fees and lack of effort instead.
Home console sales seemingly peaked with PS2 20 years ago. Even if a console does outsell it now, it's going to be by a small amount.. like, what I mean is we aren't suddenly going to get a console that sells 400 million units out of nowhere. So yes, I think the article is spot on with their assessment.
Microsoft 365 had 155 million subs in 2018. Today it sits at just shy of 300 million. The games industry was never going to be able to have growth at those levels, not to mention how much more expensive development is.
MS went all-in with Game Pass (and Xbox Series S) and now they're stuck. The model has failed and it's difficult to see what they do from here. They either carry on digging in, kill it completely (which will be a PR disaster for people who have paid to stack up years of service or purchased a Series S with the promise of being able to play all games this generation) or copy Sony and do away with Day One Game Pass and change their Series S policies.. Option 1 & 2 kills Xbox off overnight and Option 3 makes it utterly irrelevant.
The future of everything is subscription. Or at least that's the plan they have for us. Own nothing, rent everything.