See for me that’s why subscription services are ideal - the cost of games has gone up so much but so few have demos or trials now that it can leave you pissed if you blow lots of money on a game to find you hate it or it’s too difficult.
I can try other genres and games I’m unsure about, and often then buy the ones I really love that might leave.
I agree value is hugely subjective though - I’ve got more time from Banishers and Hogwarts Legacy in the last two years than anything other than Starfield, yet both weren’t insanely priced and had hardly any bugs, while there are games I’ve played that released at 70 quid that just suck or are still unplayable months later.
I now very rarely buy 70 quid games - I play on subs, I wait for sales and yes I buy / play older games I may have missed or waited on, and to be honest I’m happier for it - so I very much agree with your approach.
There’s nothing worse than spending all that money to either find the game is in a bad way (and by the time it gets fixed you could have had it at half the price) or it’s just not for you…
Sucks but expected it. Doesn’t really change much about my Gamepass use since I tend to subscribe when MS releases first party games and stay subscribed till content I’m interested in runs dry then it’s back to chipping away at my ungodly backlog.
I only hope they don’t start locking too many game deals behind the Gamepass sub. I’ve noticed this trend in recent years, i.e. game discounts on the store requiring a Gamepass subscription.
I already had a sort of mental awareness of the actual real cost of Gamepass when viewed from a yearly angle, i.e. which is usually exacerbated when I’m playing a game which isn’t actually on the service (like Elden Ring etc.). At 18 euros a month it simple becomes too much, a bit like the Ubisoft sub (which I never tried due to its insanely high monthly fee). It also makes the reward system less interesting as a counter-measure to the cost increase.
The truth is it doesn’t matter to me how many games are on the service because if a game takes 60 hours to complete, I need to literally dedicate 2 hours per day to beat it within the month. If it takes me longer to beat, the whole concept of renting it for that fee becomes redundant.
Competition on PC games is Steam EGS and others, not PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online, meaning that the benefits - parties, messaging, online play subscription - are not a factor.
They probably see PC as a market with a growth potential for the service that’s why the price difference between the PC GP and the GP Standard (which I don’t see the point of it personally) is so big when the PC GP is a way better deal. When they’ll reach their peak on PC they will also milk those users too for sure. It would’ve been a way more clean and easy to understand proposition if they only had two options: XBLG and Game Pass. If some of us (as Sik is correctly saying IMO) thought that GP is confusing and not well marketed well now things got a lot more messy with the “Play it day one with GP” motto.
This generation is wild…80 euros new releases, almost 4 years after the launch of the consoles and both systems are MORE expensive than they were at launch, price raises all around for services/subscriptions e.t.c. I am not sure all those moves will be a good thing for the industry in the long run but what do I know right? personally the only thing that all those decisions are doing is making me want to spent less money in games and probably make the casuals/normies want to spend less money as well too…especially when they are just fine playing their f2p gaas games on their last generation consoles.
It’s hilarious seeing billion/trillion dollar companies (and I mean all of them not only MS) going for the short term gains by raising prices left and right and doing lay-offs due to inflation like they are the local bakery in my street. lol
Personally, I wish the messaging was clearer, but I get that we as a population are used to it. Like, they can’t do a “free” teir, nor an ad-supported tier, so this is the way to manage the subs and make the differentials make sense.
That being said, I do think calling them all Game Pass is a bit of a miss. I know it’s all about upselling, and making more conversions to Ultimate, but having two Game Pass levels that don’t come with the games that are Day One just means the “Play Day One with Game Pass” seem a bit hollow.
It’d be better if it was like
Xbox Core = Game Pass Core
Xbox Library = Game Pass Standard
Xbox Game Pass = Game Pass Ultimate
and then you could have
PC Game Pass still as the brand.
This would allow Microsoft to be able to say Game Pass is now on other devices, where as now you need to sub to Game Pass Ultimate to be able to use the new Xbox app on Fire TV etc.
For whatever reason, Xbox Series X went up in Amazon sales chart and Game Pass 3 months (of course) went up a lot. Mine ends in 2025, but after these recent offerings as well as future ones (thanks to non-E3), I will buy more before price increase.
As for my opinion, I was expecting this price the first time from last year, so when it was only $2 more last year, I was like “Interesting.” Now, it aligned more to my early prediction. It’s expected. Don’t like it, but can’t really be like “Betrayal! Deceptive!” I’m more surprised on the idea of subscription for no day one games. It’s better than have a CoD special package that was once rumored.
Does it remain a great value? Of course. It’s losing the massive steal feel, but it still feels like a no brainer move. I believe this is what PS+ failed at when they increased day one as it has yet to make me feel appreciated as a subscriber. Granted, I’m not one, but I can see why some feel ripped than justified. Doesn’t help when you look at this month’s lowest tier offering. I know they want to do more day one, but if we go by anything from this news, they’re worried to increase price any further.
I think issue is there’s no discounted annual payment with Gamepass. PS+ higher tiers are still much cheaper for that reason, but quality isn’t as good of course. I wish they made a discount annual price for gamepass
This makes me less sure of that. If that were the case GPU becomes essentially useless, whereas this makes it seem like they are trying to funnel as many users as possible to GPU and they’re going to want to try and keep them there.
Gamepass provides discount for games in the subscription and content for them (could be only in GPU), and deals may only be locked if publisher doesn’t want them in weekly deals. Also, since rebranding Deals with Gold are now deals with Gamepass (which I think is Core/Ultimate only). I have not noticed any additional locking of deals behind GP.
If in 2019 when GPU was 15$, if you offered people the option to add on every Bethesda and ABK game for 5$ a month more, they would laugh at you and say that would cost at least 20$ more. Price increase since then is only a couple bucks over inflation, I’m not too upset at all
Hey I just bought two 3 month ultimate gamepass from CD Keys last night at 27.99 each. I can only use one for now because I’m maxed out until May 2027. I have to wait until September to use my other key. I love gamepass ultimate. Xbox games are my priority over 3rd party games I’m glad I can save some money. Enjoy your gaming everyone. I can’t wait to play Awoved, Ara History Untold, Shattered Space, Age of Mythology Retold, Microsoft Flight Sim 2024, Indiana Jones, Towerborne and Call of Duty Blacks Ops 6.
