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Microsoft Store & PC Game Pass Thread

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Codex 2014
Game Pass sales interviews from Xbox top guys.

"How Game Pass is transforming Xbox": https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-11-14-how-game-pass-is-transforming-xbox

More announcements are coming. Probably TGA and GDC:

Halo, Ori, Age of Empires, Flight Simulator, Bleeding Edge, Battletoads, Everwild, Tell Me Why, Gears Tactics, Grounded... and there's more to be announced. Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, tells us that they'll be further reveals before Christmas and even more in early 2020.

"Game Pass itself takes care of being the service and the platform so when we go to design a game, we don't need to be thinking about what our plan is to sustain this for three or four years," Booty explains. "We don't need to think about how we come up with a set of content updates so that this thing can run as a service, or whether we're going to be doing Fortnite-style updates every three weeks. It frees us from having to think about that.

"It allows our game creators to do what they do best, which is make a game. Whether that's Outer Worlds, where it's a standalone single-player game that's about 25 hours long, or a game like Bleeding Edge, which probably structurally looks closer to a free-to-play game. It has really freed us up from having to think about designing around a service or around a business model and being able to just design the games that the team wants to make."

This means developers ought to consider the fact that they might have an influx of first-time users into a genre or franchise.

"It certainly is something we think about with our games right now," Booty says.

"We call it the FTUE -- the first time user experience -- which is how do you bring people in? I think you'll see that in some of the work we're doing in things like Age of Empires. Age of Empires has been around for 30 years. The people that play it know every mechanic in their sleep, but if suddenly there's a new audience for Age of Empires that's never played it before, how do you bring them on board? There are game franchises that have been around for a while where, as a player, I've just seen they keep adding features every year, controller complexity every year... it almost gets to the point where I could barely sit down to start to play this game because it is so much more complicated than what I remember. That first 30-minute experience, that onboarding and tutorial is definitely something we're spending more time on these days."

"Right now, quality and curation is so important to us," he says. "I don't want Game Pass to become the place where half-finished or lower-quality games end up. Given some of the challenges we've had with some things coming out of Xbox Game Studios that may not have been at the quality level that we'd want, I think for the time being we're going to stay very focused on improving our execution and the quality of games that we make."

"Xbox Game Pass is an antidote to everything needing to be a live service game, Phil Spencer says": https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...g-to-be-a-live-service-game-phil-spencer-says
 

DalekFlay

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The reaction to announcements like the recent games list is all you need to see to know subscriptions will soon be taking over gaming just like they have movies and music.
 

Infinitron

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https://www.thurrott.com/games/xbox/238570/microsofts-updating-xbox-game-pass-branding

Microsoft’s Updating Xbox Game Pass Branding

For the past few weeks, we have seen a few changes to Xbox Live and now we can add Xbox Game Pass to the equation. Microsoft announced today a subtle, but important change.

The company is rebranding Xbox Game Pass to simply Game Pass. This move distances the companies Game Pass subscription from being explicitly tied to its gaming console. The company is also changing Xbox Game Pass for PC to simply Game Pass for PC.

While this is a minor update, this may be the start of a bigger transition for Microsoft. The company recently removed Xbox Live pre-paid cards for 12 months from its website and many, myself included, believe that this is the start of phasing out Xbox Live Gold.

What will be replacing Xbox Live Gold? The logical conclusion is that GamePass will be the new way that you pay for online services from Microsoft. Does this mean that you will need to subscribe to GamePass instead of Live Gold?

Possibly, but keep in mind, Xbox Live Gold is $9.99 a month before discounts and GamePass is also $9.99 a month as well. Ultimate, which will include xCloud when it is publicly available, is $14.99 a month and also includes Games Pass on PC too. The point here is that this likely won’t cut out a significant amount of revenue from users migrating to the updated service.

Microsoft also recently announced that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer will be free too. This is likely more evidence pointing to the fact that you may no longer need Xbox Live Gold to play online in the near future.
 

Markman

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Microsoft is pushing their services like the new console/s never existed.

Launching new Xbox like a random Surface release.
Guess, no wonder when their revenue split looks like this


I bet if Sony let em they would release xCloud app on Playstation in a second.
They talked about supporting Dualshock for xCloud last year I think, guess we will see when it releases officially in a month.
 

DalekFlay

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Sony will "win" again with the traditional console model, but I bet MS has the long-term advantage because of this stuff. Not saying I'm happy about that.
 

Markman

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Cringe trailer imo


And yes, Dualshock 4 is supported.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/08/04/xbox-game-pass-ultimate-cloud-gaming-on-september-15

To enhance the mobile gaming experience, we’re partnering with Razer, PowerA, 8BitDo, and Nacon to create all-new accessories specifically designed for cloud gaming. These include different types of phone clips that adapt to a wide range of devices, travel controllers that fit in any bag, and exclusive Xbox-branded controllers that split apart and attach to the side of your phone. You can also play with your Xbox One Bluetooth Wireless and PlayStation DualShock 4 controllers.
 

Markman

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Microsoft struck a deal as expected with Samsung, all who preorder new Note gets a free game controller and 3 months of Ultimate.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...-game-pass-bundle-with-the-new-galaxy-note-20

Otoh, world domination plans had to be delayed. They are pulling the plug on iOS and leaving market of 1 billion devices cause Apple thought it needed to review and approve every single game they have on Gamepass.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/2...le-stadia-ios-app-store-guidelines-violations
 

Infinitron

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Impressive:



https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/09/09/get-ea-play-with-xbox-game-pass-at-no-additional-cost/

Get EA Play with Xbox Game Pass for No Additional Cost

When we created Xbox Game Pass, we did so with the vision of bringing you more great games to discover and play with your friends. Over the last three years, we’ve delivered on that vision by bringing more content to our 10 million members, and we’ve expanded the service to reach people wherever they play, across devices. At E3 in 2019, we introduced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC – and last month, we shared that Ultimate members can play more than 100 games from the cloud on their Android phone or tablet beginning September 15.

Today, we’re excited to announce the next step in this journey. We are teaming up with Electronic Arts to provide Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC members with an EA Play membership at no additional cost starting this holiday. This means Ultimate members can enjoy EA Play on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and Windows 10 PCs, and Xbox Game Pass for PC members get EA Play on Windows 10.

Formerly known as EA Access and Origin Access, EA Play will bring the best of EA to Game Pass, including:
  • More than 60 of EA’s biggest and best console and PC games like FIFA 20, Titanfall 2 and Need for Speed Heat, as well as titles from some of EA’s most popular franchises like Battlefield, Mass Effect, Skate, and The Sims.
  • Exclusive in-game challenges and rewards, special member-only content, discounts on EA digital purchases for DLC, games, and more.
  • Access to trials of games for up to 10 hours from best-loved franchises and top titles like Madden NFL 21 and FIFA 21.
  • Not only will EA Play titles be available on console and PC, this holiday, some of the best EA Play games will also be available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to play on Android devices via the cloud at no additional charge.
Since we launched Xbox Game Pass, you’ve shared that it creates amazing experiences for you and your communities. Together, we have seen it amplify the power of gaming – to unlock discovery of new adventures, bring fun and enjoyment to a day, and make it possible to connect from afar. If you haven’t tried Xbox Game Pass yet, you can join the community for just $1 for your first month. With EA Play bringing the best of EA to Game Pass across devices there is no better time to jump in to the Game Pass experience! Learn more at xbox.com/gamepass.
 

Tehdagah

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I wish I had signed the Game Pass when it was $1 a month for 3 years.
 

Shackleton

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Impressive is the word, certainly. Not so much about the shitty EA games, but the effort and cash MS are putting in to make GamePass THE subscription service for the next gen. Origin was always the weakest of the online catalogue services but it's still a coup for Microsoft. What's left? Just Uplay?
 
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Impressive is the word, certainly. Not so much about the shitty EA games, but the effort and cash MS are putting in to make GamePass THE subscription service for the next gen. Origin was always the weakest of the online catalogue services but it's still a coup for Microsoft. What's left? Just Uplay?
I saw the EA Play ad on Steam yesterday and it looked like a pretty good deal to me.
https://store.steampowered.com/subscriptions/ea
Dragon age series, mass effect series, dead space series, sportsball games, star wars games, shooter games, racing games, sims, ...
It's a lot of games for 5 dollars a month, I can see the value for most normies
 

Markman

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Just checked Twitter and major Nelson said it will convert to Gamepass Ultimate at ratio 3:1. So I'll get extra 3+ months or so.

For those thinking to subscribe do note that you need to be online to play. Even if you download a game and your internet is down then games are inaccessible.
 

DemonKing

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I wish I had signed the Game Pass when it was $1 a month for 3 years.

I just let my sub expire and then resub for $1 again straight away. Might not work though anymore if they're really gonna push the price up.
 
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That EA Pass thing sounds like it's only for Ultimate subscriptions, which is the Xbox and PC combination. Not sure my PC-only game pass will include that or not. Currently have a year of banked game pass subscription though, so even if the rate I get it slows down with the price raising I should be alright.

Edit: I'm blind. Ultimate AND PC users. Unfortunately it doesn't look like there's anything I'd want to play from that, but eh. Always good to have a larger library on game-Netflix.
 
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