Microsoft reveals a rare look at concrete Xbox Game Pass earnings, with the subscription breaking $230 million in subscriber revenues in a month's time.
You can still buy 100% of the games on gamepass. I don’t see Microsoft stopping individual sales as I’d expect that action to draw the attention of regulators
Considering Microsoft is supposedly releasing a new revision of the Xbox Series X and S next year without disc drives, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Given the direction the industry is moving, I wouldn’t be surprised if the PS6 and whatever Microsoft calls the next Xbox are all digital only.
I’m a little fuzzy as to why the first-sale doctrine exists for physical goods but not for digital goods. It seems to me that any reasonable economic rationale should affect either both or neither.
The Series S and Game Pass have shown that people like discounts; so either competing console is going to run into issues attracting customers if they never offer them in any form. That’s currently an issue for the Nintendo eShop.
It’s this or buying nothing. I play most games for a few hours to see what they’re like and then ditch them. I love the current system as it is kinda making me feel like I’m part of gaming still while mostly being too tired to play. Starfield is the first game in years I’ve spent more than 5 hours on (dozens by now) in years. Never would’ve played it without gamepass.
I haven’t used a disc in a long time. Even before I got my series s most everything I played was gamepass or a digital purchase. When used physical games barely cost less than a new game, why bother?
“You will rent everything and own nothing”.
You can still buy 100% of the games on gamepass. I don’t see Microsoft stopping individual sales as I’d expect that action to draw the attention of regulators
Pretty sure you get a discount on them for being a game pass subscriber too. At least in some of them
Those discounts are nothing as compared to buying used.
I so hope that the next consoles will have disc drives…
Considering Microsoft is supposedly releasing a new revision of the Xbox Series X and S next year without disc drives, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Given the direction the industry is moving, I wouldn’t be surprised if the PS6 and whatever Microsoft calls the next Xbox are all digital only.
My money is on Series Z(ed)Xbox
I’m a little fuzzy as to why the first-sale doctrine exists for physical goods but not for digital goods. It seems to me that any reasonable economic rationale should affect either both or neither.
The Series S and Game Pass have shown that people like discounts; so either competing console is going to run into issues attracting customers if they never offer them in any form. That’s currently an issue for the Nintendo eShop.
Microsoft has shown that nothing will turn the attention of toothless regulators worldwide. They can do anything they want.
It’s this or buying nothing. I play most games for a few hours to see what they’re like and then ditch them. I love the current system as it is kinda making me feel like I’m part of gaming still while mostly being too tired to play. Starfield is the first game in years I’ve spent more than 5 hours on (dozens by now) in years. Never would’ve played it without gamepass.
So a yay from a guy in his late 30s
I haven’t used a disc in a long time. Even before I got my series s most everything I played was gamepass or a digital purchase. When used physical games barely cost less than a new game, why bother?
“Until you consciously decide to buy an Xbox game instead of rent it, causing those weird arguments on the internet to sputter out.”