posted in Technology

FoxtrotDeltaTango@FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works

Game Pass Was Supposed To Save Xbox – Instead, It’s Killing the Company

cross-posted from: piefed.ca/…/game-pass-was-supposed-to-save-xbox-i…

“Netflix for games” has proven to be far from the ideal solution.

www.ign.com/articles/game-pass-was-supposed-to-save-xbox-instead-its-killing-the-company
IGNGame Pass Was Supposed To Be the Netflix-Style All-You-Can-Play Subscription That Would Save Xbox – Instead, It’s Killing the CompanyGame Pass was supposed to be the all-you-can-play subscription service that put Xbox on top after a disastrous generation. Instead, it's a failure that's threatening to ruin the company.
Zagorath@Zagorath@quokk.au

Replying to an earlier post

The Xbox this article talks about is much, much broader than the console. Xbox is the name of the division of Microsoft responsible for games. If Xbox dies, so do Bethesda, Activision, Blizzard, and World’s Edge. We lose Elder Scrolls and Fallout, Call of Duty, Halo, and all three of the top real time strategy franchises: Warcraft, Starcraft, and Age of Empires.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really care about 99% of what Xbox does and it could go away in a heartbeat and I wouldn’t care. But that last 1% would be devastating. Age of Empires 2 & 4 and Age of Mythology are my top 3 played games of the last decade. In fact, aoe1, 2, 3, 4, and aom collectively make up 9 of my top 20 games by playtime on Steam, thanks to various rereleases. I would be gutted if I’m that went away.

Plus, there’s the wider impact. Half those mergers never should have been allowed, but now that they have happened, the amount of game devs who would lose their jobs if Xbox died would be devastating. That’s all their lives impacted. Many would probably have to leave the industry entirely and hope they can find work elsewhere. Others would be in a precarious position with a glut of workers making it easier for new employers to exploit them.