this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Microsoft gaming strategy does benefit gamers. Which counteracts the problem of losing a competitor.

Microsoft doesnt care about profits on single products much compared to the grand strategy they follow. For example AoE4 and all the aoe franchise doesnt really give a lot of profit Microsoft would care about, yet they keep investing and updating it bc they like it and like the strategic benefit.

Not caring as strictly about profit means you dont get as many greedy microtransactions and more balanced approaches. The game pass is also a really cheap deal if you play variety

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No subscription deal is ever a good financial decision long term and companies know that. Most people keep their subscriptions running and will end up paying more long term.

That's not even getting into the "ownership" vs renting aspect.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Netflix used to be cheap and look where we are now. Give it a few years and Game pass will suffer the same fate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

They already have cut benefits and raised prices. I expect more price raises in the coming years

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They went up from $15 to $17 or so; the small single digit shift does kind of make me think they've eyed the big "2-0" as the price point where a lot of people might reconsider.

I'm certainly considering the benefit of it each month, and so far I've consciously decided to keep it. If it's ever poor value like Netflix, it's going (that said, Netflix has introduced enough shows that I have weighed whether to resubscribe)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They used to under 10, and sharable, now for me and 3 family members its 51 dollars...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, I guess I was referring to Ultimate. I don’t think regular one-system pricing has gone up yet, it’s still $10. I’m just going for Ultimate for other perks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

They basic now includes ads...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Grandmas tend not to have gamepass

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Grandmas, young people. Most people are notoriously far from financially savvy. Many overpay or fail to track their subscriptions.. If you didn't know at least one person paying for a subscription they didn't actually use in the last month I would be surprised.

You have to keep up with your gaming habits long term to keep up with the subscription costs, basically never replay anything (especially not long RPGs that can take you months to finish), not waste subscription time playing non-GamePass games, or remember to cancel. And Microsoft, like most subscription services, are banking on people maintaining subscriptions they aren't fully using.