Based on a recent report from the The UK Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft admitted that their Games Pass model has been mostly negative when it comes to long-term game sales for games released on their Xbox Marketplace.
The main issue is while the service has been a big success and great revenues generator for Microsoft, it comes at a big cost for publishers and developers in terms of their game sales cratering after their games are removed from Game Pass rotation.
This contradicts earlier statements made by Xbox boss Phil Spencer who stated that Game Pass would be a long-term benefit for game sales.
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Originally Posted by Destructoid
Xbox has confirmed that the launch of its hugely successful Xbox Game Pass subscription service has had a notable negative impact on the long-term sales prospects of many of the titles added to its rotating catalog of games.
The admission comes as part of a report by The UK Competition and Markets Authority, (as seen by GamesIndustry.biz) which was commissioned as part of Microsoft’s proposed purchase of publisher Activision Blizzard. According to the report, many titles that were made temporarily available in the Game Pass service then saw a decline in physical/digital sales for the 12-month period following their removal from the service.
The average percentage by which sales have declined was redacted from the record.
While it would make sense that players would leap on the opportunity to play the latest games as part of their subscription, rather than roll out $30-$60 elsewhere, the admission is notable as it contradicts previous comments by Xbox head of gaming Phil Spencer, who had suggested that adding a title to the Game Pass service boosted its long-term sales, rather than reduced them.
“When you put a game like Forza Horizon 4 on Game Pass, you instantly have more players of the game, which is actually leading to more sales of the game,” Spencer told GI.biz back in 2018. “You say, ‘Well isn’t everyone just going to subscribe for $10 and go play this thing?’ But no, gamers find things to play based on what everybody else is playing.”
But it seems, according to the CMA’s report, that the numbers themselves are proving quite the opposite.
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Link:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/micros...ibalizes-sales ,
https://www.destructoid.com/xbox-con...rm-game-sales/