The gaming subscription service thread (Game Pass, PS+ etc)

[MattyP]

6 minutes ago, Unofficial Who said:

I can see the ports of God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn working in Microsoft's favour.

 

PC guy "These console games are pretty decent. Hang on, for the price of these two console games I could get access to 100 console games on my PC over the course of a year (and far less if I'm canny.) Hmmmm."

Not really as God Of War and Horizon Zero Dawn aren't on GamePass.... Just like many PC games aren't on GamePass. Don't think PC gamers in general are looking for low cost solutions to gaming they are looking for choice which is why I have a PC anyway....

[HarryBizzle]

3 minutes ago, Boothjan said:

I do chuckle at the argument that 'nothing on Game Pass appeals' to some people.

 

If you can't find ANYTHING on Game Pass that appeals, I daresay that video games aren't really for you.

They won't have to worry, as everything will be on Game Pass soon enough.

[Unofficial Who]

19 minutes ago, MattyP said:

Not really as God Of War and Horizon Zero Dawn aren't on GamePass.... Just like many PC games aren't on GamePass. Don't think PC gamers in general are looking for low cost solutions to gaming they are looking for choice which is why I have a PC anyway....

 

So my gateway into gamepass.

 

"I'd best grab Forza 3 before it disappears."

"Oh, the Microsoft store isn't a complete mess anymore?"

"This port it pretty good."

"Hang on, Microsoft is saying I could fold my Games with Gold plan into GamePass? And there's a few games I can play on the PC, couldn't hurt. I'll just try it for the introductory few months and then I'll cancel."

"Shit, this is a bit good isn't it?"

 

I could easily see the case where PC gamers who are usually a bit snobby about console games get a taste from Forza, or God of War or Horizon and then try out gamepass. It's more expensive than Epics free game a week thing but it gives you loads more than a Humble sub.

[SuperCapes]

38 minutes ago, Unofficial Who said:

I can see the ports of God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn working in Microsoft's favour.

 

PC guy "These console games are pretty decent. Hang on, for the price of these two console games I could get access to 100 console games on my PC over the course of a year (and far less if I'm canny.) Hmmmm."

 

PC gamers are still flocking to Steam and paying full price for games they could get on GP like, Forza, Sea of Thieves, Halo 6, etc, so this argument doesn't really work. 

 

PC gamers love Steam so much they will pay £50 quid for something they could have played for next to nothing. Like people who buy third parties on one system when owning multiple, they like that ecosystem. 

[Unofficial Who]

Just now, SuperCapes said:

 

PC gamers are still flocking to Steam and paying full price for games they could get on GP like, Forza, Sea of Thieves, Halo 6, etc, so this argument doesn't really work. 

 

PC gamers love Steam so much they will pay £50 quid for something they could have played for next to nothing. Like people who buy third parties on one system when owning multiple, they like that ecosystem. 

 

I can only speak anecdotally but my spending on Steam dropped big time last year. Although I did buy Undermine on Steam because it was cheaper than buying it on the MS Store once it had left Gamepass.

[SuperCapes]

Just now, Unofficial Who said:

 

I can only speak anecdotally but my spending on Steam dropped big time last year. Although I did buy Undermine on Steam because it was cheaper than buying it on the MS Store once it had left Gamepass.

 

For sure, there will be people like yourself who are happy to just play them on Gamepass, but there are still tonnes of people playing the games on Steam, at full price. 

 

I don't think gamepass will pull many of those PC die hards away, because they have nearly a lifetime invested in Steam. 

[Lorfarius]

6 minutes ago, SuperCapes said:

 

For sure, there will be people like yourself who are happy to just play them on Gamepass, but there are still tonnes of people playing the games on Steam, at full price. 

 

I don't think gamepass will pull many of those PC die hards away, because they have nearly a lifetime invested in Steam. 

 

You do realise that a PC can run more than one? I mean I've got Steam, Xbox, Epic etc.

[dfq23]

As a PC gamer, with Epic freebies and Prime freebies I barely buy any games anymore and if I do it's cheap from CD Keys or with an Epic voucher.

I do pay for GP though.

 

Football Manager day and date for free? Ta very much!

[SuperCapes]

6 minutes ago, Lorfarius said:

 

You do realise that a PC can run more than one? I mean I've got Steam, Xbox, Epic etc.

 

Not my point. Steam being a place to store their games, Steam Achievements, Friendlists and more. 

 

I agree, I am the same, I use whatever is going to get me the game for the best price. Look at the Steam sales for Halo Infinite and FH5, and a tonne still would rather pay full price to own it on Steam. 

 

Edit: and no doubt MS are still loving that! Extra coins in the old purse.

[amorenod]

5 minutes ago, SuperCapes said:

 

Not my point. Steam being a place to store their games, Steam Achievements, Friendlists and more. 

 

I agree, I am the same, I use whatever is going to get me the game for the best price. Look at the Steam sales for Halo Infinite and FH5, and a tonne still would rather pay full price to own it on Steam. 

 

Edit: and no doubt MS are still loving that! Extra coins in the old purse.

 

There's also that UWP nonsense, the sooner they go with their plans to allow full control of the installs, the better 

[MattyP]

15 minutes ago, SuperCapes said:

Edit: and no doubt MS are still loving that! Extra coins in the old purse.

Which just shows MS strategy here embrace everything where there is a deal to be done and get their software as many places as they can, xCloud, Steam, Xbox, GamePass. Its about getting your games to as many channels as possible and giving people the flexibility of where they want to play.

 

I appreciate the way Sony/Nintendo are doing things in that they are curating an experience based on their specific hardware and ecosystem however long term not sure how that is going to pan out - especially for Sony as dev costs for their AAA games will only ever spiral upwards.

[Unofficial Who]

3 minutes ago, MattyP said:

Which just shows MS strategy here embrace everything where there is a deal to be done and get their software as many places as they can, xCloud, Steam, Xbox, GamePass. Its about getting your games to as many channels as possible and giving people the flexibility of where they want to play.

 

I appreciate the way Sony/Nintendo are doing things in that they are curating an experience based on their specific hardware and ecosystem however long term not sure how that is going to pan out - especially for Sony as dev costs for their AAA games will only ever spiral upwards.

 

See that was the genius of Sony. Sony had this wide swathe of games covering all genres.  But they decided recently to narrow their focus to a few AAA games to maximise income and lower their risk and....here we are.

 

If Rockstar and EA were to stop publishing on the PS5....

[MattyP]

15 minutes ago, Unofficial Who said:

 

See that was the genius of Sony. Sony had this wide swathe of games covering all genres.  But they decided recently to narrow their focus to a few AAA games to maximise income and lower their risk and....here we are.

 

If Rockstar and EA were to stop publishing on the PS5....

Indeed. I was surprised at the closure of Japan Studio etc. . Personally think the £70 RRP on games will come back to bite them and not allowing them onto some sort of sub service. They don't even offer demos of the games. I know they did offer something where you could play for a time-locked amount of time but really when you are spending £70 and you can't give things a try not great. Which is one of the plus points of course with GamePass... no investment other than time to give something a quick try to see if its for you.

[SuperCapes]

27 minutes ago, MattyP said:

Which just shows MS strategy here embrace everything where there is a deal to be done and get their software as many places as they can, xCloud, Steam, Xbox, GamePass. Its about getting your games to as many channels as possible and giving people the flexibility of where they want to play.

 

I appreciate the way Sony/Nintendo are doing things in that they are curating an experience based on their specific hardware and ecosystem however long term not sure how that is going to pan out - especially for Sony as dev costs for their AAA games will only ever spiral upwards.

 

Sony will be absolutely fine, Nintendo even more so. 

 

Video game development tools have never been better, and we are at a point now where the return on investing in bigger teams will not yield good financial return for the product output. It is one of the reasons I disagree with the £70 price tag, but I am too eager to pay it. AAA Games have hit a bit of a wall in terms of cost to make, and will likely stay this way for a while. Object density, animations and other visual costs aren't needed more than what we had last generation, so those team sizes will likely stay they same, if not outsourced in the same way. 

 

At most, teams will have additional Technical Artists and Backend Engineers to deal with new rendering techniques, but will save substantial time for other departments. 

 

So unless people suddenly stop buying PS5 consoles I cannot see them being in trouble. The stock fall is not nice to see but it will climb back up. 

[MattyP]

50 minutes ago, SuperCapes said:

 

Sony will be absolutely fine, Nintendo even more so. 

 

Video game development tools have never been better, and we are at a point now where investing in bigger teams will not lead to better games. It is one of the reasons I disagree with the £70 price tag, but I am too eager to pay it. AAA Games have hit a bit of a wall in terms of cost to make, and will likely stay this way for a while. Object density, animations and other visual costs aren't needed more than what we had last generation, so those team sizes will likely stay they same, if not outsourced in the same way. 

 

At most, teams will have additional Technical Artists and Backend Engineers to deal with new rendering techniques, but will save substantial time for other departments. 

 

So unless people suddenly stop buying PS5 consoles I cannot see them being in trouble. The stock fall is not nice to see but it will climb back up. 

I expect they will be fine for a bit.. however as MS keep pumping money into things and making ever bigger more intricate games Sony may end up being priced out of top tier development because they cannot keep up? Anyway not going all doom and gloom... just slightly concerning that MS are throwing their weight around a fair bit of late and can't see them stopping anytime soon.

 

Sony (as mentioned) have already culled a lot of what made a Sony games library attractive (for me at least) - the breadth of what they offer. Will we ever see experiences like Shadow Of  The Colossus, The Last Guardian being made again for example? (amongst other things). I know third parties might produce such games but they will be multiplat anyway. Guess it might be natural evolution really as the costs spiral games like these become more risky to make to keep on a single platform.

 

[Giddas]

13 hours ago, dfq23 said:

 

£70 for the basic game plus expensive micro transactions for every thing else

 

Or the whole lot on GP for free including all extras or extras at a minimal cost.

 

And don't forget to play online games you have to have some sort of subscription anyway on any of the consoles, so it's £70 plus a subscription or just a subscription.

 

MS really do have so many options here 

 

Plus under the terms and conditions for all digital downloads from Apple, Sony etc etc you don't own the item, you own the right to the licence to use it so at any time they can remove it or restrict it and nothing you can do.  Even if you buy a physical game, if they shut the servers down its worthless

 

gamepass is free now? Cool.
 

[rafaqat]

21 minutes ago, Giddas said:

gamepass is free now? Cool.
 

 

Ok change it to x quid then.  Point still stands doesn't it.

 

 

Still loving the levels of copium in here.

 

 

Guys, what IF I ONLY ever played one game on a console.  Then gamepass isn't good value is it?  Checkmate!!!111

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mikeyl]

Copium? It’s not unrealistic to imagine people who play one thing only. E.g I know plenty of 24/7 Destiny nerds who know nothing of other games. Maybe it’s time, sunk cost, obsession or finances.

 

Anecdote- I tried to laugh at a CoD exclusive player I know and this was the chat (he still won’t buy my spare series s for half price)

 

 

 

 

[Unofficial Who]

13 minutes ago, rafaqat said:

 

Ok change it to x quid then.  Point still stands doesn't it.

 

 

Still loving the levels of copium in here.

 

 

Guys, what IF I ONLY ever played one game on a console.  Then gamepass isn't good value is it?  Checkmate!!!111

 

 

I'll counter with this @rafaqat. There are loads of people who only play one game on their console. That game is usually COD.

 

That's what makes this such a game changer.

[Unofficial Who]

3 minutes ago, mikeyl said:

Copium? It’s not unrealistic to imagine people who play one thing only. E.g I know plenty of 24/7 Destiny nerds who know nothing of other games. Maybe it’s time, sunk cost, obsession or finances.

 

Anecdote- I tried to laugh at a CoD exclusive player I know and this was the chat (he still won’t buy my spare series s for half price)

 

 

 

 

 

I recognise the tone that guy is using. I've used it before.

 

"Nah mate, publishers will keep making games for the Amiga, where are they going to go? The PC? Some weird console?"

[mikeyl]

Most people aren’t in tune with what’s going on. It’s like asking them who their favourite movie studio is. The casuals will just keep buying PlayStations to play CoD until they can’t. I can see PS6s being fucked unless they change their strategy but not at the moment.

[HarryBizzle]

16 minutes ago, mikeyl said:

 

 

Does this guy think that Activision are one of the three studios that put out COD?

[matt0]

Actual conversation I had in real life when a friend recommended Days Gone to me:

 

"It does look good, but it's not on Xbox though."

 

*visibly confused* "You don't have a PlayStation?"

 

"No, got an Xbox."

 

*still confused* "You should get Days Gone for it though."

 

"It's only on Playstation."

 

*long pause*

 

"They... don't just have the same games?"

 

"...no?"

 

Never underestimate how disinterested people are beyond the point of putting a disc in a machine and playing a game.

[mikeyl]

12 minutes ago, HarryBizzle said:

Does this guy think that Activision are one of the three studios that put out COD?

probably but it would be a wild piece of knowledge to know they have different studios yet not know the publisher. I choose to believe he thinks they put out the same CoD every year lol

[Giddas]

1 hour ago, rafaqat said:

 

Ok change it to x quid then.  Point still stands doesn't it.

 

 

Still loving the levels of copium in here.

 

 

Guys, what IF I ONLY ever played one game on a console.  Then gamepass isn't good value is it?  Checkmate!!!111

 

 

 

 

 

 

yes the point does still stand so why lie 😅

[alex3d]

3 hours ago, Unofficial Who said:

 

See that was the genius of Sony. Sony had this wide swathe of games covering all genres.  But they decided recently to narrow their focus to a few AAA games to maximise income and lower their risk and....here we are.

 

If Rockstar and EA were to stop publishing on the PS5....

 

Yep, absolutely. And it's not just Japan Studio. Back in PS2 days they brought games such as Mr. Mosquito(!!) to Europe. Today it's mainly AAA and some technical innovations.

[TehStu]

4 hours ago, amorenod said:

There's also that UWP nonsense, the sooner they go with their plans to allow full control of the installs, the better 

For what it's worth, UWP has been unofficially dead for ages, but officially dead as of fairly recently. The actual features of UWP can still be used and that's one of the directions the new Windows SDK allows. It'll take a while for official apps to move in this direction, never mind third parties.

 

3 hours ago, Giddas said:

gamepass is free now? Cool.

I know the conversation was about something else, but once you hit a certain streak, yes, you can quite easily get GP for free by participating in Microsoft Rewards. That's going to mean you're primarily playing on your Xbox though, so whether it's worth it is going to vary considerably.

 

Not sure if non-Xbox folk knew that, so thought I'd drop it in here. Hopefully doesn't look like a mansplain.

[sid]

They don’t make any money on the hardware . Surely this is all just headed towards streaming services once the 5g / fibre network is there to support it.

 

wouldn’t be in any way surprised if Xbox appears as a service on every platform including PlayStation. Why wouldn’t you just do a Netflix.

 

best combo is still Nintendo / Sony + subscription to Xbox 🤷

[Mogster]

3 minutes ago, sid said:

wouldn’t be in any way surprised if Xbox appears as a service on every platform including PlayStation. Why wouldn’t you just do a Netflix.

There were rumours going around that Microsoft was attempting exactly this, but clearly Nintendo and Sony weren't interested. Microsoft definitely want Xbox streaming to be on anything they can get it on.

 

I can't see them ditching traditional consoles, or indeed PC support though and I think they said as much a while ago. Streaming is just a way to get them everywhere else.

[sid]

Maybe they’ll be more interested now 😂