Microsoft’s head of gaming services Ben Decker has stated that the Game Pass subscription is not meant to be the ‘Netflix of video games’, and will only ever have a hundred or so titles on the service.
“When we launched it, we thought an ever-increasing number of titles might be something that was really important to gamers,” Decker said to Gi.Biz in an interview. “But as it turns out, that’s not really what they’re asking for. What we get from our customers isn’t, ‘I want a subscription that has thousands and thousands of games.’ What we heard from them is, ‘I want a subscription with 100, or a little more than 100, games. But I want them to be really good games. And I want a curated portfolio where I know what’s in there is going to be really great to play.'”
He explained that Microsoft do not see subscription services replacing buying full games, rather that gamers will have a mix of titles the own outright, complimented by games they play via a service.
Stats revealed by Microsoft show that those who subscribed to Games Pass play on average 20% more than before they subscribed, and a “significant portion” of that play time is for games that are not on the service. They also saw “increased purchasing and engaging with titles outside the Game Pass service.”
Source: GI.Biz
