Microsoft Defends Game Pass After Admitting It Lowers Game Sales

[Tsing]

GamesIndustry.biz highlighted a line from the UK Competition and Markets Authority's provisional report on Microsoft's planned takeover of Activision Blizzard yesterday that has been read by many as an admission by the Windows maker that Game Pass cannibalizes sales, resulting in lower sales for titles released on the subscription service. Now, just a day later, Microsoft has responded to the news, suggesting in a statement that Game Pass still makes plenty of sense for developers to look at, explaining how the service remains a viable option for monetizing games and how there's a process in place to assure that participants can maximize their financial value. Microsoft did not dispute its claim that Game Pass has a negative effect on the sales of a game, however.

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[Brian_B]

Who cares about sales figures. It's all about revenue.

If XBGP will cut you a static check just to be listed on the service, and then kick back a bit more per player that runs the game - that's just as good really.

The Bottom Line is all the really matters in the end. Some games make out like bandits signing up these agreements, other games may have shot themselves in the foot a bit, but signing up for an availability contract on XBGP (or similar subscription-style service) is pretty safe income if you aren't a AAA big-name IP that you know is going to drive sales no matter what.