Xbox Game Pass - GUIDE TO BEST DEAL IN FIRST POST

[Mr Do 71]

10 minutes ago, shirubagan said:

Anyone else getting a Page Not Found error when trying to sign in to Cloud Gaming (iOS)?

Yes.

[James Lyon]

Me too on Windows. Cloud access on the PC app is working, though.

[bear]

 

 

I'm guessing that the console supply issues have played a part in slowing growth but the lack of big first party stuff is bound to have had an effect as well. 

 

[JPL]

56 minutes ago, bear said:

 

 

I'm guessing that the console supply issues have played a part in slowing growth but the lack of big first party stuff is bound to have had an effect as well. 

 

Plus the fact that a lot of people who want it will have it now.

 

I agree with your point about the first party titles though. I’ve been waiting patiently for years, so where are they?

[bear]

Well we know where they are, Starfield and Redfall were meant to be this year's big games but they've slipped. In theory the first half of next year is looking strong with those two, Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends,Ghostwire Tokyo and AoE2. 

 

I definitely agree with the sentiment that it's about time Gamepass started getting backboned by Microsofts own first party games and goes beyond being "the best value in gaming". 

[Lorfarius]

Only just realised this but if you go to Edge and find any MS Gamepass game on Bing, open the store page and it will have a play button. As long as you have a pad in you can use it to play any of the 1st party games. Doesn't seem to work with any of the 3rd party ones I found but its a great start,

[thesnwmn]

1 hour ago, Lorfarius said:

Only just realised this but if you go to Edge and find any MS Gamepass game on Bing, open the store page and it will have a play button. As long as you have a pad in you can use it to play any of the 1st party games. Doesn't seem to work with any of the 3rd party ones I found but its a great start,

 

Isnt this just xcloud and that's worked for all Game Pass games for a long while now.

 

I realise you might just be saying this is another way to access it if your a GP subscriber.

[Ry]

On 26/10/2022 at 21:40, bear said:

 

 

I'm guessing that the console supply issues have played a part in slowing growth but the lack of big first party stuff is bound to have had an effect as well. 

 

 

I'm stunned that GP is only 15% of revenue. 

 

There must be millions of casual players who don't even know it exists. 

 

Or maybe it's the fact we all exploited the hell out of it with cheap deals/£1 Gold conversion. 

[Unofficial Who]

I can highly recommend the Frog Detective games based on my playthrough of the first two alone. Was going to buy the third on Steam today only to see it was on GamePass!

 

They're very short mystery games with a lovely dry sense of humour. I can't remember if they're OK for kids or not (I'm pretty sure any adult jokes are obscure enough that kids wouldn't get them) but I'll report back since I plan to replay Ep 1 and 2 today.

 

(Just played through the first game and it's totally kid friendly. Some of the dry humour might not appeal but there's enough silliness there to mitigate that.)

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Unofficial Who

[Kayin Amoh]

It's games with gold really, but Thymesia (budget Fromsoft-alike from a small developer, mix of Bloodborne and Sekiro's parry system) is available for a free weekend. It's supposed to be about 10-15 hours long, and judging by the start of it, it's a lot of fun. I'll be hammering it to completion for sure.

[footle]

8 hours ago, Ry said:

 

I'm stunned that GP is only 15% of revenue. 

 

There must be millions of casual players who don't even know it exists. 

 

Or maybe it's the fact we all exploited the hell out of it with cheap deals/£1 Gold conversion. 

what do you think their series install base is?

they’ve got about 25 million game pass subs. If they’ve hit 60% penetration they’re going well.

 

if you add pc, sure, but that’s much more difficult to get in front of eyeballs and get buy in for. Look at all the folk who still purchase MS titles on steam, “because”.

[PikaStu]

5 hours ago, Kayin Amoh said:

It's games with gold really, but Thymesia (budget Fromsoft-alike from a small developer, mix of Bloodborne and Sekiro's parry system) is available for a free weekend. It's supposed to be about 10-15 hours long, and judging by the start of it, it's a lot of fun. I'll be hammering it to completion for sure.

Awesome, quite fancied trying this cheers!

[bear]

10 hours ago, thesnwmn said:

 

Isnt this just xcloud and that's worked for all Game Pass games for a long while now.

 

I realise you might just be saying this is another way to access it if your a GP subscriber.

I think he is talking about this which got added fairly recently.

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/you-can-launch-xbox-cloud-games-directly-from-bing-and-microsoft-edge

[earlymodernsteve]

6 hours ago, Kayin Amoh said:

It's games with gold really, but Thymesia (budget Fromsoft-alike from a small developer, mix of Bloodborne and Sekiro's parry system) is available for a free weekend. It's supposed to be about 10-15 hours long, and judging by the start of it, it's a lot of fun. I'll be hammering it to completion for sure.

The first boss is probably the hardest obstacle in the game. If it causes you trouble 

Spoiler

Upgrade the parry window and spam it when he attacks. Make sure your claw attack is levelled up too to prevent him gaining health back.

I fully completed it at launch and found it to be a really decent Soulslike that focused on high energy combat rather than exploration and didn't outstay ots welcome.

[Lorfarius]

11 hours ago, Ry said:

 

I'm stunned that GP is only 15% of revenue. 

 

There must be millions of casual players who don't even know it exists. 

 

I don't think that's possible, its plastered in leaflets in the box and pops up on the Home page all the time even if you are a member. There's a whole section of it that rolls by as you go down too.

[Gabe]

Well the key takeaway, even if it is only 15% of revenue, is that it is profitable and that they are realistic that a huge number of people just aren't interested in subscriptions. I think that's important in their ongoing strategy. 

 

It will be interesting to see how the PS equivalent stacks up after a year or so in terms of installed base, to see if - and what - the fundamental differences between the services are.

[metallicfrodo]

What you've got to remember is that they are saying revenue there not profit. I would imagine most of their revenue comes from selling the boxes themselves, every £450 quid box is going to equate to to be a few years of GP* revenue per person even if you are paying full wack.

 

Profit per pound though you'd have to image that GP is going to be higher.

 

* Don't now how many exactly as I don't know the wholesale price of the Series X for MS.

[Kayin Amoh]

4 hours ago, earlymodernsteve said:

The first boss is probably the hardest obstacle in the game. If it causes you trouble 

  Hide contents

Upgrade the parry window and spam it when he attacks. Make sure your claw attack is levelled up too to prevent him gaining health back.

I fully completed it at launch and found it to be a really decent Soulslike that focused on high energy combat rather than exploration and didn't outstay ots welcome.

 

Yep, I'd just passed him before posting. He's weirdly hard for a first boss if you go defensive, but if you attack him until he deflects and counters he only has two options which are both easy to parry. I got the achievement for a boss kill with no potions once I starting wading in instead of playing it cautious.

[Sarlaccfood]

I also thought that 15% was low but that’s including all of their gaming revenue right? So stuff like Minecraft?

[Stanley]

1 hour ago, Sarlaccfood said:

I also thought that 15% was low but that’s including all of their gaming revenue right? So stuff like Minecraft?

Yeah everything, and I’m sure people with Gamepass still buy games too, so for the whole division it’s impressive. 

[Sarlaccfood]

5 minutes ago, Stanley said:

Yeah everything, and I’m sure people with Gamepass still buy games too, so for the whole division it’s impressive. 

Yes although not impressive enough apparently. 
 

They were targeting 75% growth and only got like 25 or something.
 

75%! A tad ambitious surely.

 

[deerokus]

The 75% would trigger executive-level bonuses. That's not quite the same as an ordinary target for the business - probably a much higher threshold to hit.

[Sarlaccfood]

Well spare a thought for those execs in this time of need.

[Stanley]

I wonder why subs are slowing though, no wonder they want COD on Gamepass. 

[Sarlaccfood]

8 minutes ago, Stanley said:

I wonder why subs are slowing though, no wonder they want COD on Gamepass. 

Like others said upthread, it’s the lack of big 1st party. 
 

The smaller indie stuff we like is great for us but won’t do big corpo mainstream numbers. It needs games that you can put on the side of a bus or at the start of a movie to keep on that steady upward tick. 

[MattyP]

1 hour ago, Sarlaccfood said:

Like others said upthread, it’s the lack of big 1st party. 
 

The smaller indie stuff we like is great for us but won’t do big corpo mainstream numbers. It needs games that you can put on the side of a bus or at the start of a movie to keep on that steady upward tick. 

True. Actually what was the last MS first party game? Forza Horizon 5? Halo Infinite? They probably need something like the calibre of a God Of War type game.  Even Forza Motorsport has been pushed back to next year. There is a lack of big first party big hitters for sure.

 

It's OK saying all first party day and date with launch will be on the service. If they release any! I expect it will pick up over the next few years as all those studio acquisitions start delivering. Oh and when CoD makes it on there as mentioned the numbers will pick up. 

 

Personally happy with it because I don't mind the Indie titles or playing some older content. Currently enjoying Plague's tale which is great. 

 

[Stanley]

Yeah I didn’t even stop to consider that when I said it. I suppose technically their last big game on there was Deathloop, but that was on PS5 a year ago, and even appeared day & date on Sony’s premium sub. 
 

Last year was good with Halo, Flight Sim etc. but this year, zilch. 
 

Doesn’t bother me because it’s such a good service with loads to choose from, but for your average punter who plays COD, Assassins Creed etc. it is lacking. 
 

Next year should be good but let’s be honest, we’re probably not going to be playing Starfield until 12 months from now, late ‘23, so that leaves Forza being the only one I can think of with an actual release date/window. 
 

Didn’t one of their execs say something recently like first party games aren’t that important, maybe even Phil Spencer? 
 

But can you imagine the numbers GP would be doing if they had Sony first party stuff, or Nintendo? 

[thesnwmn]

Is Forza really a draw? Maybe a Horizon. I'm not convinced racing games matter to the widest audience (there are of course exceptions). Yes Mario Kart, Forza Horizon and GT are big but how do they compare to the big action titles?

 

Breadth of the service is very important obviously but its biggest hole is the probably new release big action games.

 

To really grow the service to a much wider audience they probably need to be dropping 4-6 'big' action games a year (i.e. one per 2/3 months). They don't have to actually be 10s.

 

And when I say big I don't mean expansive or push boundaries. They must be good though. The story needs to be that maybe they're not quite top tier but still going to consume the time of many players in single and multiplayer (where appropriate) for a few weeks or a month.

 

They also have to be competently delivered. Announced between a year and 6 months in advance to keep players hooked. Arrive on time without fuss. The story cannot be that these grandiose projects like Halo Infinite limp onto the platform. Those are allowed but you cannot rely on them. They are not the mainstay of your service they're too slow. They're meant to arrive when they're ready and not be rushed. In between you must feed the beast.

 

I also don't think things like Starfield are all that useful either. They're obviously great but this stuff that takes years to turn up is such a double edged sword. Again like Halo Infinite, they sour quickly when you build them up like this. Churn out an Assassin's Creed or CoD every year of roughly the same quality and the masses will be happy enough.

 

Of course none of this matters to many here. We enjoy the service pretty much as it is. I like the variety. And I don't care about some executive bonuses based on insane growth so long as it's a profitable venture and keeps going at a reasonable price.

[Sarlaccfood]

Today’s Hit Points is about this actually:

 

https://hitpoints.substack.com/p/156-pass-notes?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=342532&post_id=81212955&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

 

 

[Majora]

2 hours ago, thesnwmn said:

Is Forza really a draw? Maybe a Horizon. I'm not convinced racing games matter to the widest audience (there are of course exceptions). Yes Mario Kart, Forza Horizon and GT are big but how do they compare to the big action titles?

 

 

Forza Horizon is probably Microsoft's most successful IP right now. I think you're underestimating how popular it's become. And Mario Kart is probably Nintendo's most important IP these days.

 

The disconnect between what the average forum dweller wants and what the actual general public wants can probably be most neatly summarised from this screenshot.

 

 

We obsess about big single player narrative driven action adventure games while the most popular games chart for Gamepass is always absolutely dominated by service games. Our own Nate even dismissed Grounded in his latest newsletter when it's been doing really well.

 

It reminds me of how Sea of Thieves has been dismissed for years on forums like this when it's been a huge success for Rare. These kind of service games often seem invisible to us lot but are actually the perfect kinds of games for Gamepass. Much moreso than a one and done 15 hour action game.