Wednesday, December 22nd 2021
Access to Xbox Game Pass Worth $6,300 in Games for 2021
Microsoft is well on its way towards becoming the Netflix of videogames, considering the running success of its Game Pass subscription service. The idea is simple: players pay a monthly fee (starting at $9,99 for PC or Xbox-specific subscriptions) and they receive access to a curated portfolio of game experiences. The platform is bolstered by the fact that Microsoft's first-party titles are made available day-one for Games Pass subscribers. In 2021 alone, this approach by Microsoft gave gamers access to games like Halo Infinite, Age of Empires 4, Forza Horizon 5, and the incredibly quirky Psychonauts 2. But is it worth it to have a Games Pass subscription, thus waiving ownership of those actual games?
Your mileage will certainly vary; but in pure dollar terms, it's difficult to argue against the idea. According to The Loadout, Games Pass subscribers were given access to around $6,300 worth of games throughout 2021 - that's how much a consumer would have to pay, day one, to own all of the games that Microsoft included (and sometimes rotated out) of its Game Pass library. A yearly Game Pass Ultimate subscription (for PC and Xbox games) would give you access to the same cadre of titles for a much more modest $15 a month - $180 in total. In March alone, Games Pass subscribers saw the floodgates open to around $960 worth of games (and potentially thousands of hours of gameplay) with the addition of Bethesda Softwork's titles to the service, following the $7,5 billion Microsoft acquisition of parent company Zenimax Media.
Source:
The Loadout
Your mileage will certainly vary; but in pure dollar terms, it's difficult to argue against the idea. According to The Loadout, Games Pass subscribers were given access to around $6,300 worth of games throughout 2021 - that's how much a consumer would have to pay, day one, to own all of the games that Microsoft included (and sometimes rotated out) of its Game Pass library. A yearly Game Pass Ultimate subscription (for PC and Xbox games) would give you access to the same cadre of titles for a much more modest $15 a month - $180 in total. In March alone, Games Pass subscribers saw the floodgates open to around $960 worth of games (and potentially thousands of hours of gameplay) with the addition of Bethesda Softwork's titles to the service, following the $7,5 billion Microsoft acquisition of parent company Zenimax Media.
39 Comments on Access to Xbox Game Pass Worth $6,300 in Games for 2021
Game pass is hand down the greatest value for gamers today, but of coarse, there's always someone who's got a bone to pick about something so positive o_O
You can cancel at any minute after all but I would say it Is amazing value for money, and I did get to try some games I would not have bought.
The best value in gaming right now is the Xbox Series S + gamepass plus it makes for a great emulator box, yes you can do more things on PC's but lets be honest, budget builds are outta the question on the GPU side.
What would be interesting to know is how this is handled when it comes to third party games that are included in the Game pass. Like, is there a fixed amount of money that Microsoft pays to include games in the game pass, and then adds some sort of royalties according to the total time played each game has achieved, etc.
A bunch of turds is still turds.
Maybe it's better now than it was when I tried it a couple of years ago, but I was really not impressed, with only a small number of games I had any interest in.
On a side note, there are ways to get gamepass for fairly cheap.
Personally I like their way and I sometimes buy a good game elsewhere if I've liked it on Game Pass; just because it's not sure are those games there forever. Just bought NieR: Automata from Steam (it was on sale, 19.99EUR) after trying it with Game Pass.
Your entire save history is also tied to the service.
Good luck replaying something you loved - you'll likely end up buying it after all.
Modding is another aspect under pressure here. Not exactly something beneficial to gaming in the long run. But... if you are super casual and will only ever love the all-you-can-eat style of gaming, this is definitely for you. Who cares about replay value in games, right? You just subbed to it and forgot about it anyway. The content doesn't even have to be great- its there and its free, your time has been spent. Much like fast food. Belly full, burp. Never mind long term health. What's up for tomorrow? Ah! They have just added more burgers, cool!
There is no profit here, it just looks that way. A nice business model, but I do prefer control and actual consumer rights, instead of subbing and having just a right to access - for as long as it lasts. You have no control. Whatsoever. All your market influence/power as a consumer is transferred to MS/cloud provider. Once you're tied to the service, you're a sheep in the flock.
In the long run, this business model will destroy a lot of what's good in PC gaming. Its effectively turning it into a console ecosystem. But hey, at least you paid one dollar a month for a few months at some point in your life. Weeeee... the value! But sooner rather than later, the overall quality of the content will have devolved so far, there is no going back. In todays environment where services do NOT control the market just yet, we have space for all those indie devs reinvigorating games and concepts. Now consider a world that has been fully platformed by cloud services, and a small indie dev trying to make his thing work in that market. It won't happen. You can look at how devs struggle with app platforms on mobile right now for good examples. The amount of proper games on mobile is virtually nonexistant. Successful concepts simply get bought or stolen by Google/Apple/*insert tech corp*
And don't forget, there is a whole world of analytics behind these services. You're not in control and content is fed (and removed) to maximize profit, not maximize entertainment value. These analytics are not transparent. Its social media algorithm hell all over again. Commercial gain is the only and ultimate driving factor, killing talent and creativity, while promoting herd mentality.
I wouldn't even use these shitholes if they paid me.Yes, and if you do have actual time to do more than casual gaming, you're probably still better off just buying the stuff as you will spend lots of time in it anyway. The only way these services really generate value is if you visit a lot of content for a brief period of time. But for gaming, that's like not playing anything, or getting information overload and ultimately not enjoying much of it. Hey, but at least you can say 'you got your money's worth'!
It kind of reminds me of those buses full of Asian tourists we get in Europe. They spend thousands of dollars for a two week round trip through Europe, a crash course past all the sites that 'matter' where they're allowed to go out and walk around for all of ten minutes as if you'd walk your dog. In the end all you've got is brief flashes and the idea that you can say you've been there, plus complete exhaustion.You're just more naive than others about this. But we have examples of how platforming kills markets right now, evolving as we speak. Also, if you've paid attention, PC gaming was never expensive, it only is if you feel like diving into every launchday patch and buy maximum price to be 'first' on every release. You can also postpone everything a year and buy at 5 dollars feature complete. So much for 6300 dollars 'worth' of games. If its even a quarter realistically, its optimistic.
I remember saying similar things pre-empting the current ideas about social media and how they influenced us the wrong way. This is the same thing, all over again. And remember, if its cheap/free, you're paying with something else. I've just described how the free lunch is not free.
Realistically, the only platform that does allow you to truly keep your games is GOG.
We have no precedent yet. But that's much more likely than it going belly up and nobody caring about it.
But I figure this may cut down on my impulse game spending of buying a game and playing for 30min and just ends up another title in my rather large library of games I never play…