Xbox CFO Wants Game Pass on 'Every Screen' Possible, Including PlayStation and Nintendo - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 December 2023 / 8,190 Views
Xbox CFO Tim Stuart speaking during the Wells Fargo TMT Summit said he wants to see first-party Xbox games and Xbox Game Pass on "Every screen" possible, including rival consoles like PlayStation and Nintendo.
"It's a bit of a change of strategy. Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games," Stuart said (via GameSpot). "That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo."
Game Pass is a "high margin" business for Microsoft and the company plans to expand Game Pass, first-party games and advertising significantly. Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard King helps them reach their goals faster. When it comes to advertising, Candy Crush from King brings in a lot of money with ads and microtransactions.
Microsoft wanting to expand Game Pass to rival consoles has been discussed in the past. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in December 2018 said Game Pass "will come to every device" and in October 2020 said he is "open" to discussing with Nintendo and Sony about bringing Game Pass to their consoles. In August 2021 he said closed platforms, like PlayStation and Nintendo, don't want Game Pass on their platforms. Sony also previously blocked EA Play from being available on PlayStation consoles.
Microsoft does have several first-party games available on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. This includes Minecraft, Fallout 76, The Elder Scrolls Online, the majority of games from recently acquired Activision Blizzard King, and more. Call of Duty will also be available on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles for the next 10 years. The company also releases all of its first-party games day one on PC.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Incorporate PC gamepass with Steam first
I have no idea why they haven't done this yet. PC Game Pass isn't going to grow much anymore, if at all, if it remains stuck on the MS Store. Valve has made clear they'd be more than happy to bring the service to Steam. It a win-win for both companies.
Valve likwly will want a share of GP revenue. 30%? 20%? Anyway, it's not gonnabe free.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they would still make more money that way than if PC GP was just on the MS Store xD
True.
Gabe Newell had previously stated he is willing to work with Microsoft to add Game Pass on Steam. This was in February 2022, but we haven't heard anything since.
https://www.vgchartz.com/article/452705/valve-willing-to-add-xbox-game-pass-to-steam/
They could charge more on Steam like Youtube Premium does, and Spotify did on iOS.
It could even be a separate subscription if necessary, since they are already doing that with Game Pass PC vs Game Pass Xbox.
I think it all comes down to profitability. While at the latest news, GamePass is profitable, it is all but a razor-thin margin, add to that a 30% cut to all those that Subscribed through Steam and it might not be that worth it.
Add to this the fact Steam will most likely accept those who did subscribe elsewhere which would probably lead them to ask compensation on the pro rata of utilization through Steam and not just new subs. And if Steam does accept to serve all PC GP subscribers, it might lead to a high conversion rate of PC GamePass users to Steam and essentially have the effect of MS just giving away big checks to Steam for customers they already acquired.
I think this would be pretty hard for a number of reasons. But the main one being. When users try a game on gamepass where do they go to buy it 90% of the time its on steam not on the MS Store.
I imagine devs who put their games on gamepass also know this and have a say in it.
I dont know but i think its a bit more complicated than it seems.
Not only does that make little sense to make since both run off Windows, but why would MS surrender loyalties just so someone who already owns Windows and a PC can access it via Steam. All users have access to both on a Windows device.
Plus what a nightmare to incorporate it.
What nightmare? EA did it with EA play
Incorporating GP in Steam. Whats the point, just open GP off your Windows and you are in. Why add extra steps?
Why would Sony let a competitor to PS Plus exist on their platform? I'm not saying it couldn't be beneficial to customers but I don't see how it could benefit Sony.
Je pense que le point de vue est différent si vous n'êtes pas un pro-Sony :) Je trouve qu il est très difficile de parler de Microsoft sans avoir plusieurs personnes qui viennent commenter ou dérailer la thread pour bitcher Microsoft ou Xbox (j'avous que c'est toujours les mêmes trois ou quatre mais ca reste vrai)... Juste voir tous les articles concernant Microsoft versus Sony... Incluant celui ci... La moitié des commentaires pour les articles Xbox sont d'anti-Microsoft, si tu regardes les articles concernant Sony, cela n'arrive pas (ou très rarement)
Aussi, pourquoi est-ce qu'on parle en Français :D ?
Je veux dire, s’ils faisaient mieux, ils ne seraient pas autant critiqués à chaque étape du processus.
Et si leurs fans inconditionnels n'étaient pas aussi agressifs dans leur comportement, cela ne deviendrait peut-être pas une guerre de mots lorsqu'on discute des consoles.
Honnêtement, je vois que cela vient beaucoup plus du côté Xbox que du côté PlayStation, car le côté PlayStation est fracturé. Deux fans de Playstation peuvent avoir des goûts complètement différents et ne même pas être d'accord sur ce qui est bon dans la marque/les jeux, alors que pratiquement tous les fans de Xbox poussent Gamepass, Halo, Gears et maintenant Call of Duty.
Why are we speaking in French. Only the one fellow spoke it, I was responding to them.
Cela n'a aucun rapport avec "S'ils faisaient" mieux. Ta réponse démontre mon point. Le problème est que les personnes sans lien avec Xbox ou Microsoft s'acharnent à commenter (et à dire qu'ils devraient "faire mieux") alors que ceux qui sont intéressés par Xbox/Microsoft (comme moi, Randy ou d'autres) ne partagent pas cet avis. Ce sont toujours ceux qui n'ont aucun intérêt pour Xbox qui critiquent, affirmant que "Xbox doit faire mieux" ou qu'ils "ne font rien de bien". Et non, les fans de Xbox ne se limitent pas à promouvoir GamePass, Halo ou Gears, c'est une perception erronée (typiquement vennant d'un fan de Sony qui pense que Xbox se résume à cela) que tu as. Je pourrais dire la même chose à propos de Sony et stéréotyper 99% de ce que "je perçois" des fans de cette plateforme...
Par ailleurs, je ne vais pas lier tous les commentaires ici, mais si on regarde les 10 derniers articles, on voit que ce sont les mêmes personnes (pro-Sony, donc sans rapport avec Xbox, et je ne parle pas de toi :D) qui postent et se plaignent sans arrêt dans les articles sur Xbox. Ce phénomène ne se produit pas dans les articles sur Sony. Cela a toujours été un problème sur ce site, au point qu'il a fallu modérer car c'était devenu ridicule d'avoir n'importe quelle conversation à propos de Xbox...
Je veux dire, nous pouvons débattre pendant des jours là -dessus, tu vois un aspect des choses et moi un autre. Mais les articles et les commentaires sont là . Quand les mêmes personnes postent constamment le même type de commentaires dans les articles sur Xbox, et que ce n'est pas le cas pour les nouvelles de Sony, c'est évident, ce n'est pas une simple impression.
Quant au français, ma question était davantage pour le premier commentaire que pour ta réponse :D
Le problème serait que ça forcerait la main à Sony pour adopter une strategie similaire. Si les utilisateurs avaient accès a tous les jeux Xbox sur PS avec GamePass ça pourrait avoir des impactes significatifs sur la vente de leurs propres titres. De plus, si Sony accepte un service qui propose des jeux AAA dès le premier jour il deviendra impossible pour eux de continuer à justifier ne pas aussi adopter une telle stratégie.
i can't even read french, but i will downvote all 3.
Sony receives 30% royalities on sales of Microsoft titles and Game Pass on PlayStation. Moreover, that also allows PlayStation to significantly increase its competitiveness and market share against Xbox.
No way in hell MS would agree to give 30% of gamepass revenue to Sony. They want GP on Playstation and Nintendo, and 100% revenue back to MS.
You should never sell something on other company's platform without paying the required royalties. I don't think MS is that stupid.
Makes sense. But i'm sure MS don't want a 30% cut.
But wouldn't Game Pass cannibalize PS Plus sales? Surely that has to be Sony's priority N1 in this regard. Selling MS titles on PS is pretty much a guarantee though considering how many developers MS owns now.
They make money, but then they lose money because of time lost gaming on a seperate platform.
Translation: "PEople aren't buying our consoles at the rate we would like so we need to push our services elsewhere."
I mean, Gamepass is basically all they have, so of course they want everyone to subscribe to it.
I actually disagree, MS was always going in this direction no matter if they were selling more consoles or not. MS made this shift as soon as Phil became top dog. His first move was GP and second putting all first party games on PC and console. This shift aligns exactly with MS as a company because MS as a company is primarily a service provider. Once you really look at how MS is structured as a business, how they have put all their products behind services you start to see the overall strategy for their gaming division. The Xbox console itself is not as important to MS as GP is and putting it on everything that can play games. GP was always going to be the main and center direction for MS no matter how the Xbox sold because as a service provider its the area MS can throw all their resources at because its part of their business. ABK was not bought because of Xbox the console, it was bought for GP.
He didn’t really say this if you listen to the entire back and forth. He said between their software and subscriptions, they want to reach all the screens possible. They are already on PC, Xbox, and mobile with GamePass. Software wise they’re on Switch, PlayStation, PC, Xbox, and mobile. They’ll expand on all of these further with the ABK acquisition.
There’s zero chance Sony lets GamePass on their console unless MS makes massive changes.
I don't know I think the whole interview is open for interpretation as you can clearly see from the way people are reacting. IMO I do think the overall goal is to drop hardware.
The xbox need Playstation plus with 4k streaming :-D
Now THAT is megaton lol
Of course they do. Zero chance.
That's easy to do.
Just drop Xbox as a hardware company and go third party. Once Microsoft takes itself out of the market as a competitor, Sony and Nintendo would be much more amenable to having them on their platforms.
Called it.
Value wise sure. Microsoft benefits of course. An approach like MS Office or other software and their focus/PC focus business model to other devices makes sense why they do it and well MS Office is on everything and the quality of life is 'yes' better than open source office suites I have tested and gone ok I get it but for the price eh MS Office is really expensive let alone like Adobe suites people would have wanted the individual apps instead but nope can't do that anymore got to have that subscription money.
But for gaming I mean sure but many competitors won't for different reasons. Putting games on multiple platforms sure but a service I doubt it as they want their own, their own offerings and rules/policies to suit them hence PS+/NSO. In terms of TVs besides Samsung or maybe the Apple TV box/Fire TV and more I'd say may be likely but it who knows.
Crossbuy and crosssave was cool from Sony (or Sega with PS2/PSP with Outrun 2006 save progress carry over before the PS3/Vita/PS4 cross period Sony did it) but I can see why it wouldn't happen between other platforms of crossbuy/crosssave as the well profits and well save file formats would be different, then again Nintendo tried it with one game in the most eh crossbuy way possible.
Mobile it's clearly already more accessible then just if it were Pixel with Stadia but at the same time Vita while it had been limited there for years until 2019 to then go to Android (officially besides the third party games that existed prior) then Apple around the time of the Backbone for remote play at least so then I assume the service for whenever Xbox did it I forget the Xbox One remote play period for the console let alone mobile I didn't even know SmartGlass died in 2017 for 360/Xbox One and other cool features I like the idea of now and I'm too late on experiencing them after 2 dashboards and the 3rd onwards removing them and also being eh to me.
I see them getting into different places but more TVs, more devices when possible with each maker of devices they can. If people don't want a console/a console isn't needed then well with mobile gaming already being internet connected apps usually besides handful of offline as no need to be online then well and phones are everywhere then well I get the any screen as it is possible and they have the tech to do it it just varies on what games still. The services may be fine but if people don't care regardless of first party and are fine playing third parties on a different system and with difference of visual quality/audio and more then just what their phone has then I mean that says enough.
Some people don't care and just experience something but if some people or more people step back and go yeah I want to experience that this way in a better way like people that want the best customer film experience (even if most don't care and just want to watch whatever shows/films they can easily) they can get then by all means then streaming and the connection being eh or an appealing enough game/can't binge games as much as you can something with less or no inputs but watching/listening then controlling it.
These corporate clowns say some crazy things, and it's treated as a demonstration of ambition.....laughable.
Oh, and I want Steam Big Picture mode on my Xbox.
Yeah PlayStation could happen, if Xbox hardware doesn't exist anymore, but I dont see Nintendo allowing it. Nintendo in that regard is a bit like Apple.
Nintendo or sony will.never allow gamepass , they can put games on the console if they want and thats it
Pass.
Game Pass.
Lmao yup. "Microsoft wanting to expand Game Pass to rival consoles has been discussed in the past." It's literally in the article if you care to read. Been brought up since 2018
