As “a man of age” I remember the excitement, the sheer thrill of receiving a Nintendo or Super Nintendo game as a gift, or bought with my birthday or Christmas money. Now, with the existence of the Microsoft eco-system’s subscription service, we have found ourselves with an abundance of choice of games, right at our fingertips. So many, in fact, we are spoilt for choice, with many gamers having so many games at hand, they struggle to settle on one title, to really settle in to a game without the omnipresent thought of the many other games that are just a few button presses away.
This may be my age rearing its ugly head but I can’t help but feel that this ever-growing catalog of games has taken a very special aspect of our beloved hobby away. While it’s a huge leap forward for the gaming industry, it has – in a way – taken away that cherished spark, leaving those distant memories fading away into the ether.
With that being said, there’s no denying that Game Pass isn’t without its benefits. The service offers ample opportunities for gamers to experience its extensive and eclectic selection of games to those that wouldn’t otherwise go out and buy them for themselves before having the hands on experience that only Game Pass can offer up in the absence of available playable demos.
The Advantages of Game Pass for Development Studios
At a glance, it would be easy to think that a studio – thriving or otherwise – would be out of their minds to give offer up their games to the service and lose any potential sales during the time its available to subscribers but Game Pass can offer developers a magnitude of advantages in the long run.
Increased Exposure is always a positive for any product and its no different for games, regardless of a short-term decrease in sales. The monumental exposure that Game Pass offers a fresh lease of life for older games and increases awareness surrounding the titles through both word-of-mouth and hands-on experience. This would especially make sense if the developer has a sequel of DLC in the pipeline.
Monetization opportunities are the main motivation for the release of games and while developers will lose out on initial purchase prices, they can more than make up for their losses with in-game purchases, conveniently aimed at newer users of previously unknown games.
After sales are another driving factor behind developers allowing Game Pass to host their games. While no money is made through the retail of their games during the period they remain on the subscription service, it’s inevitable that a portion of those that enjoy the game while its free will go out and buy a copy once it leaves the service. This is especially true for those that haven’t had the chance to finish the game during the limited period.
Free advertizing comes the way of the developers through Xbox promotion campaigns. It goes without saying that Xbox have a huge following across all of the main social media platforms and the console giants often promote freshly added games to their many followers. Such exposure offers a huge boost to the game’s creators as the word spreads far and wide.
Summary
Despite Game Pass often being taken for granted, it’s a crucial part of the future of gaming. As the snowball gathers momentum, we are seeing an increase in the quality of games being added, with Diablo 4 recently landing and many more AAA titles in the pipeline. It will be interesting to see where it is in the distant future. One day we may even see every title going straight to the much-loved service; who knows?