The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is being held these days, and it is leaving us with very interesting news and statements, such as the one that comes to us from Xbox talking about games and the Game Pass.
According Sarah Bondan executive at the Redmond company, developers often ask the same question: “Is my game worth launching on Xbox if it’s not on Game Pass?”. The answer is a resounding yes”.
Xbox considers that a game can be profitable on its console even if it does not reach Game Pass
In a talk at the GDC, Sarah Bond assured that any game “is viable on Xbox” whether or not it is subscribed to Game Pass, a service that is so popular that in many studios the belief has been installed that being left out of it is synonymous with failure.
Just like we look at retail from people selling games, buying games, it’s a big part of our P&L [estado de pérdidas y ganancias], you know. And it’s something we put resources into to enable our developers to do a great job there.
Xbox Game Pass was launched in June 2017 and since January of this year it has exceeded 25 million subscribers. This is undoubtedly one of the company’s great claims, since for a monthly amount we have access to more than 100 titles, many of them launch, so we can play many new releases without paying the 70-80 usual euros, and do it from our Xbox consoles, a PC or a mobile through Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claimed last year that Xbox Game Pass subscribers play about 40% more games and spend 50% more than non-members.
In addition, Microsoft continues to strengthen the service by buying large studios, as it did with Bethesda or Activision/Blizzard, in order to ensure exclusivities and publishing agreements for the games in its Game Pass.
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