WhenXbox Game Passwas first introduced, it sounded like something too good to be true for both developers and players alike. Play as much as you can for just a flat monthly fee? That sure sounds like a great deal.
Even for developers, this was a surefire way to recoup costsbeforeyou even released your games.
However, years later, it appears the Xbox Game Pass glow has tarnished, and a recent study paints a grim picture for developers and publishers hoping their games will explode in popularity on the subscription service.
Xbox Game Pass Players Don’t Really Play The Games, Study Shows
Rosier said (viaclawsomegamer), “There is so much offering in Game Pass that if you’re not getting hooked on the game very quickly, you just go on another one, and you try another one until you find the one where you will get hooked.”
“Something we’ve noticed, and we were a bit surprised. Despite all the efforts done by Microsoft with Game Pass – the acquisition of many studios, and the release of very high-quality games in Game Pass – we struggled to find significant, different behavior compared to players on PlayStation,” Rosier noted.
What’s even more surprising is, the study finds there is no “Game Pass Effect.” Xbox players are not spending more on games than PlayStation gamers.
Of course, this study isn’t conclusive and shouldn’t be taken as the end-all, be-all when it comes to the service’s player behavior, but it does shed some light on how gamers use it, which I assume is something many game developers would be interested in.
Xbox fans seem to be having a rough few months as of late. Not only didMicrosoft gut a ton of employees from various gaming studios, buta lot of games were canceled.
With Gamescom on the horizon, and Xbox confirmed to be in attendance, let’s hope there’s a major announcement or two to offset all this bad news.
