I think, Gamepass is not the right Way for Starfield

[M]

hey community.

as title says, I dont think, MS gamepass is the right thing for starfield. when microsoft sells starfield with a loss as a bargain, noone is helped. you can get gamepass incredibly cheap and I simply ask myself, where does the money come from, to push bethesda to release awesome games in the future?!

yeah, I dont have insight in microsofts sales statistic, but my opinion is, fans should spend those bucks on steam and not use the game pass. but who knows, maybe time exceeds all expectations and bethesda makes more money with gamepass, than those one time 70 bucks for the base game? (add the money for DLCs, when released)

what do you think?

[Cy]

Microsoft owns Bethesda. Microsoft makes money on GamePass. If more people buy GamePass to play Starfield, Microsoft makes more money which they can use to fund more games from Bethesda. The bet that all subscription services make is that, once people sub, either because of one thing they want to play/watch, or because of a free trial, they'll want to stick around for longer once they use the service.

As for Steam, Steam takes a cut of every sale on the platform. With GamePass, Microsoft gets all the money.

[M]

Originally posted by Cy:

As for Steam, Steam takes a cut of every sale on the platform. With GamePass, Microsoft gets all the money.

but the "moneypool" of gamepass has to be shared with microsoft and all game studios involved, or am I seeing it wrong? 100$ are not as nice, if I have to share them with 10 other people...

[Cy]

Originally posted by M:

Originally posted by Cy:

As for Steam, Steam takes a cut of every sale on the platform. With GamePass, Microsoft gets all the money.

but the "gamepool" of gamepass has to be shared with microsoft and all game studios involved, or am I seeing it wrong? 100$ are not as nice, if I have to share them with 10 other people...

The pool isn't made up of all the money GamePass makes. If it works the way Kindle Direct does, and I'm pretty sure it does, the pool is a set number of dollars per month. Say, $20 million for June. That means that Microsoft sets aside $20 million dollars for the pool in June. At the end of June, they look at how many many people played each game, and how many hours they played for, and then divvy that $20 million up accordingly. Then they set aside a new pool for July. The pool money is always less, probably much less, than they make on the subscription service.

EDIT: GamePass just on console has 25 million subscribers and made 2.9 billion last year. They're not losing anything by putting their first party titles on the service.

[M]

to say it straight, I dont know microsofts business plan for bethesda and starfield. Im just worried, that starfield will become a bargain discounter product, cheap and low in quality. I want starfield to become THE game of my life (Idk if I still live, when TES6 is released) and therefore I have my thoughts about it.

[Cy]

Originally posted by M:

to say it straight, I dont know microsofts business plan for bethesda and starfield. Im just worried, that starfield will become a bargain discounter product, cheap and low in quality. I want starfield to become THE game of my life (Idk if I still live, when TES6 is released) and therefore I have my thoughts about it.

It won't be a bargain discount product. As of this year it's had nearly 8 years of development time and a budget estimated at at *least* $200 million. It may not be the "Game of a Lifetime" (it's always smart not to expect too much from any game), but it's going to be the best effort Microsoft has put forward since Phil Spencer took over. This is their biggest game ever. Probably the most important Microsoft game since the original Halo. They're not going to half ass it.

[M]

Originally posted by Cy:

it's always smart not to expect too much from any game

in general you are right. but starfield will get many many DLCs and when we have played those, there are still all the mods. starfield might become quite a big thing.

[cerealKiller]

Not really, still not DRM free. Most people move on after a few months with a big game like this anyway. They'd rather pay $30 than $70 which the sane thing to do. It'll likely always be on game pass for years afterwards too and if you wanted some nostalgia then, just sign up for a month and play again, then unsub. Won't last very long after playing it once through anyway.

[M]

bethesda said, that the starfield main mission campaign is around 30-40 hours long. most of us wont do it, but if you speedrun, you can easily "finish" the game in one month for 1$ on gamepass. Idk, it doesnt seem right to me.

[cerealKiller]

Originally posted by Chris J:

Originally posted by cerealKiller:

Not really, still not DRM free. Most people move on after a few months with a big game like this anyway. They'd rather pay $30 than $70 which the sane thing to do. It'll likely always be on game pass for years afterwards too and if you wanted some nostalgia then, just sign up for a month and play again, then unsub. Won't last very long after playing it once through anyway.

No because Gamepass shifts its game library around you dont get to keep those games and the service is filled with nothing but old games and 360 games. If you buy a game you keep it forever it doesnt go anywhere and its always going to be there whenever you want to play it again. Fueling these Subscription Services is bad for the gaming industry Gamepass is the reason why alot of games on Xbox are very low quality. take a look at Redfall

I've seen AAA games on there for a very long time, but fair enough. So then if your nostalgia really draws you in down the road, then by then the game is on sale for $20. Still save.

[M]

Originally posted by Chris J:

bethesda games dont have an ending

but at some point, the main quest is finished.

[Knottypine]

Originally posted by M:

hey community.

as title says, I dont think, MS gamepass is the right thing for starfield. when microsoft sells starfield with a loss as a bargain, noone is helped. you can get gamepass incredibly cheap and I simply ask myself, where does the money come from, to push bethesda to release awesome games in the future?!

yeah, I dont have insight in microsofts sales statistic, but my opinion is, fans should spend those bucks on steam and not use the game pass. but who knows, maybe time exceeds all expectations and bethesda makes more money with gamepass, than those one time 70 bucks for the base game? (add the money for DLCs, when released)

what do you think?

I think it's fine to be honest. People who intend to buy the game will do so. People who don't, may sub to Game Pass. It's been working for them, and putting their first party games on their service is a way for them to potentially garner new subs. It's a business model that's obviously working for them.

More ways to play, right? You can buy it on console, on PC, play through Game Pass. Buy one copy through Xbox and play on both console and PC without buying it twice. Offering the buyer more options is usually never a bad thing.

[Ruin]

If Microsoft want to take the hit on direct sales through Gamepass, that's upto them...

Remember, they literally took a hit on Windows 10, and Windows 11 by giving them both away for free to anyone who had original versions of XP, 7 or 8... *shrug*

They're taking the hit in direct sales on Starfield as a marketing tool for Gamepass itself, hoping enough people keep the service beyond the 6 months that it'll take to cover the purchase cost of Starfield, at which time they actually start making more money off that buyer if they keep Gamepass, who might otherwise never have signed up...

Microsoft are a huge company that can afford long-term gambles like this, and they know their business model well enough by now to know full well they'll make more money this way in the long term...

Hell, it might also deter a degree of piracy, and get maybe half the game value outta some people by getting them to subscribe for a couple months, when before they'd have not gotten a cent from the game from those people...

Microsoft know exactly what they're doing by making Starfield a day one Gamepass release...

[Skram]

Why would I pay 70$ when every game bethesda game studio title since fallout 3 launches in a buggy mess and only gets fixed months upon months later on or unpaid modders fix their game for them. Their track record is awful, people only forgive their awful bugs and optimization because the games are large in scale (which isn't an excuse if you have programmers and project leads worth a damn)
Higher exposure due to gamepass = more converted sales down the line which may not of been possible if people weren't given a chance to try it out for cheap. It's basic marketing. Plus it draws more people to gamepass which I'm sure correlates to financial incentives for in-house studios. I promise todd will still be able to afford his mansion if people play it only on gamepass, don't worry.

[-={LG}=-]

Originally posted by Salty Skramz:

Their track record is awful

According to whom, the latest internet mythologist? According to actual reality, every single-player open-world game they've made since Daggerfall was a stunning commercial and critical success.

Several are considered among the best games ever made. Yet there's still people like you pushing this absurd propaganda. And always with the laughable "modders fixed it" stuff when barely 20% of people even use mods.

Personally, I don't rent games. If I'm going to play it, then I'm going to buy it. Since I don't spend $120 a year on games, gamepass isn't a good value for me. I wouldn't play 99% of the games they provide anyway.

I have other forms of entertainment, I'm not so desperate for games that I need a subscription service full of bilge to keep me occupied.

[Tazz]

oh???...their a third person involve in this game marketing this game wont last long....like all other lost game developer when EA involve in their creation it all went to graveyard ....well this game advertisement was so good it is the best open world from all other game but it wont last long with third party ....good luck