I remember when GamePass was first announced and everybody lauded Microsoft for being “pro-consumer” and outright cheered when they started buying up independent studios.
I remember being downvoted to oblivion for pointing out the very obvious 5 year plan for GP and the fact that it would go… exactly the way it’s currently going.
Lol, but here’s one anyway. - Microsoft
Especially for the companies who disappear because they were too greedy.
I’m trying to think of a single example and I’m struggling
McDonald’s is the most clear cut example, although that’s ongoing
There’s been countless little companies that sent themselves into death spirals with a price hike, but when they’re big their remains are pounced on, or they experience a slow decline before collapsing to a failed pivot
EA just had to sell to avoid continuing their downward spiral
Raising the price of hardware twice since May and now raising the price of game pass by 50% is not something a company does if they’re interested in competing against Sony or Nintendo. Clearly Microsoft has thrown in the towel on XBOX. Only thing left for Microsoft to do is announce cancellation of next gen console altogether and do layoffs. I don’t know when that will happen but it’s inevitable at this point.
yup they’ll go the route of Sega. The writing has been on the wall with the Xbox Division for awhile now that I’m honestly surprised they’re still trying to “make it work”.
Xbox was a weird one. I haven’t used one since the 360 and honestly I couldn’t even begin to tell you what the next console in the line was after the 360. was it the series x? was it the one? I dont’ know. I mean after buying like 5 360s because of red ring or whatever why would I continue that idiocy?
Raising the price of hardware twice since May and now raising the price of game pass by 50% is not something a company does if they’re interested in competing against Sony or Nintendo.
But when Sony and Nintendo are doing the same thing…?
got any source for that on the nintendo side? Idc about sony.
Nintendo have also bumped their flagship game price up to 80 USD. I recall Sony doing the same (and see articles to that effect) but it looks like their games are still mostly at the 70 USD point?
Similarly, it is well worth noting that the Switch 2 announcement/deep dive videos specifically did NOT list the price or had vague reference to prices being announced regionally. This was primarily attributed to Liberation Day Tariffs but limited analyses do argue that the “base” price of the Switch 2 is higher than the Switch 1 which is consistent with increased engineering and overhead costs.
To my knowledge, Microsoft is the only platform ones who is bumping up their subscription fee cost. In large part because that seems to be all they have (in the gaming space). But all projections and leaks are that platform hardware costs are going to be significantly higher next generation (so like 2026/2027) and game prices are similarly expected to re-stabilize with “full” games being 80 USD as a baseline and all discount prices shifting accordingly.
Like, fuck Microsoft and this reeks of trying to grab the bag before closing (the xbox) shop considering how precarious everything is. But realize this is more bad optics and timing than anything else.
In large part because development is getting more and more expensive and game prices mostly have stagnated for decades (until semi-recently bumping up to 70 and now 80 USD).
They tried to push w11-xbox compatibility to push all consoles aside, and I can’t say if it works and if it means stonks, but I can see the current lead not being enthusiastic about R&Ding and producing new hardware, exclusive games. OEM software is a stable bird feeder, and AI integration is their next big king, so they just fixed their position in gaming market by buying several big companies and seemingly quit plans on console market. They are too big and to diverse to fall, but I think ditching a brand equal to sweaty Halo parties of the past and all these long-going console holywars wouldn’t bring much in the perspective of years, not several quarter past today.
but we’re trying to reinforce by adding more value to these plans as well."
Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ ClassicsSo if you don’t play Fortnite and aren’t interested in 15 different Assassin’s Creed titles, fuck you I guess
Imagine, if you will, the possibility of NOT increasing prices 50% to give us the “additional value” of shit we don’t want.
I was happy paying for games, but suddenly I’m extremely willing to get back into piracy. Fucking weird, right?
Apparently those titles are as or more valuable than half of the entire catalog, how can you not be excited‽
Microsoft was never going to make gaming affordable. The entire goal of GP is like any subscription service, to get you hooked so they can increase the prices. Microsoft is not and never was a pro consumer company. And GamePass is Microsoft’s attempt at making a hardwareless console. It’s a BYOD walled garden. It’s bad for consumers and bad for developers and publishers. Consumers will own nothing and studios are beholden to MS gatekeepers. Some account manager basically decides how much the devs will be financially compensated before the game is even released, instead of letting the market decide. Remember those court documents which showed how much they under valued Baldur’s Gate 3. If you think the standard 30% store cut is outrageous GamePass is on another level of bad. Sure they are currently showering devs in cash, but once MS has a significant chunk of the market they are going to turn off that tap. We’ve seen it with Netflix and Spotify. Like even the most popular artists earn fractions of cents per user.
Never fun for anybody
Meanwhile, at Microsoft:
No, but, but, think of the shareholders! Nobody ever thinks about the shareholders! :(((
MSFT has been lagging behind the S&P this week. I doubt they’re super thrilled.
I would never give Microsoft money for their shitty subscription, so it is kind of fun for me.
They’re also upping the sub price for some home user office plans. Apparently it’s milk the customer time at microsoft.
Part of the problem is that most of the people making these decisions have been seeing their incomes and net worth increase steadily over the past decade. They don’t truly understand their subscriber base.
But they do understand “charge what the market will bear”. It’s all about short term profit.
Thanks for letting me know, I’ve been paying just for some spare OneDrive space but I think I’ll cut it if they’re raising the price
My boss showed me the article yesterday, but apparently it’s the old news from earlier this year. It went from 70 to 100 back in Feb.
That’s still a giant increase from whatever you would have paid last year.
They’ve made very clear that they’re reducing functionality, dropping products including their gaming companies, and raising prices across the board to somehow come up with billions for AI. They no longer care about their customers or employees, only this holy grail quest for money that will evaporate. Dump Microsoft.
So a dumb question: last email stated, if there be any changes in costs, they will notify me 60 days prior but I still haven’t got anything from M$… Aren’t they running head first into an giant lawsuit in Europe? Still going to cancel the subscription though
Yeah, £15 was pushing it, I don’t play as much as I’d like, big benefit was cloud gaming facilitating couch co-op, but at the minute it’s mostly my kids playing Minecraft, cheaper just to buy that.
Sacrifice the future for a temporary revenue/profit go up
No, it will work out for them. They just made a 50% profit increase. I doubt if even 10% of subscribers cancel.
It worked for Netflix, Disney+, Hulu… People just need to stop buying shit, but they won’t.
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Even though I personally never used it I was astonished at how quickly so many people blindly trusted it. What I’m more astonished with is how quickly Microsoft has managed to destroy that brand trust.
You’re selling an underpowered console that spies on the home for 800usd. Stfu about the price being tough on the company
Where is Xbox $800?
There’s a special edition for $730+tax so maybe they mean that.
But starts at $380, less for return.
Canceled.
So, if there had been no cancellations and their customers had just paid their bills without comment or criticism, they’d still have been telling us how terrible they felt about the whole thing?
Bovine Excrement.
