Bluetracker

Tracks Blizzard employees across various accounts.

Xbox Games Pass: The more I look at it the more incredible of a deal it looks like. Are there any game industry articles out there that can make any sense of the business model? Even in the most optimistic of calculations it's hard to get there. In any case, awesome it exists.

Xbox Games Pass: The more I look at it the more incredible of a deal it looks like. Are there any game industry articles out there that can make any sense of the business model? Even in the most optimistic of calculations it's hard to get there. In any case, awesome it exists.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

Xbox Games Pass: The more I look at it the more incredible of a deal it looks like. Are there any game industry articles out there that can make any sense of the business model? Even in the most optimistic of calculations it's hard to get there. In any case, awesome it exists.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

Console market just isn't big enough to support the idea of a 10X subscriber increase dream. Between paying partner devs, paying for internal studios, and losing rev share of games that would have otherwise been sold.... just doesn't seem anywhere near profitable.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

The thing is, of course Microsoft has a plan. Is it just the idea of pulling hardware market share from Nintendo/Sony in the long-term? When a company is this large it's hard to tell if a plan is a 3-year plan or a 15-year plan.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

Curious if either of my games business senpais have thoughts on the subject. @deantak @ZhugeEX

RavenCasts

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@IksarHS It isn't just limited to console though right? I don't have numbers of course but everyone I know has it on PC even if they don't own an Xbox. The value is nutty though :D

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@RavenCasts True. Even so, putting napkin math to it, hard to get to profitability. Gets compared to Netflix a lot but it's just a totally different world. The content is much, much more expensive to make (games vs tv) and the available market size is a sliver in comparison.

baney64

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@IksarHS In short, stable predictable revenue is better for stock price (thing companies actually optimise for, not revenue) compared to the standard “hits and misses” model that the games industry is susceptible too. Compare Netflix stock price to Blizzards for example.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@baney64 Netflix has 200M+ subscribers!!

grizzlebees

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@IksarHS The Xbox version isn’t the point, the PC version and it’s mobile compatibility is. It’s about training an audience on the idea of a subscription model so you can expand into mobile only in markets where console gaming isn’t really prevalent (like SE Asia + India)

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@grizzlebees Mobile is huge and was my first thought at potential expansion but I think assuming a 15$ sub is going to translate to mobile users seems…. very optimistic.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@grizzlebees Mobile games pass exists to some degree in Apple Arcade (another perplexing model). Games pass stands out by offering a different subset of games that are not designed for mobile, but that could change I suppose.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@grizzlebees Weird world to think about, successful mobile games of today are not designed as products for a subscription model. Nearly all survive on the back of ad revenue, high spend core users, or massive audience casual games.

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Xbox Games Pass: The more I look at it the more incredible of a deal it looks like.

Are there any game industry articles out there that can make any sense of the business model? Even in the most optimistic of calculations it's hard to get there. In any case, awesome it exists. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424640884436393986">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Console market just isn't big enough to support the idea of a 10X subscriber increase dream. Between paying partner devs, paying for internal studios, and losing rev share of games that would have otherwise been sold.... just doesn't seem anywhere near profitable. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424643218247802881">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
The thing is, of course Microsoft has a plan. Is it just the idea of pulling hardware market share from Nintendo/Sony in the long-term? When a company is this large it's hard to tell if a plan is a 3-year plan or a 15-year plan. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424644055049281538">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Curious if either of my games business senpais have thoughts on the subject.

@deantak @ZhugeEX (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424646256870051840">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@IksarHS It isn't just limited to console though right? I don't have numbers of course but everyone I know has it on PC even if they don't own an Xbox. The value is nutty though :D (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424643938040811520">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@RavenCasts True. Even so, putting napkin math to it, hard to get to profitability. Gets compared to Netflix a lot but it's just a totally different world. The content is much, much more expensive to make (games vs tv) and the available market size is a sliver in comparison. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424645574079352833">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@IksarHS In short, stable predictable revenue is better for stock price (thing companies actually optimise for, not revenue) compared to the standard “hits and misses” model that the games industry is susceptible too. Compare Netflix stock price to Blizzards for example. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424648079970471937">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@baney64 Netflix has 200M+ subscribers!! (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424650051343638530">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@IksarHS The Xbox version isn’t the point, the PC version and it’s mobile compatibility is. It’s about training an audience on the idea of a subscription model so you can expand into mobile only in markets where console gaming isn’t really prevalent (like SE Asia + India) (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424648132336422913">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@grizzlebees Mobile is huge and was my first thought at potential expansion but I think assuming a 15$ sub is going to translate to mobile users seems…. very optimistic. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424649919994875911">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@grizzlebees Mobile games pass exists to some degree in Apple Arcade (another perplexing model). Games pass stands out by offering a different subset of games that are not designed for mobile, but that could change I suppose. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424652183723642885">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@grizzlebees Weird world to think about, successful mobile games of today are not designed as products for a subscription model. Nearly all survive on the back of ad revenue, high spend core users, or massive audience casual games. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424653055799140358">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

Tweet

Xbox Games Pass: The more I look at it the more incredible of a deal it looks like.

Are there any game industry articles out there that can make any sense of the business model? Even in the most optimistic of calculations it's hard to get there. In any case, awesome it exists. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424640884436393986">Source</a>)

Console market just isn't big enough to support the idea of a 10X subscriber increase dream. Between paying partner devs, paying for internal studios, and losing rev share of games that would have otherwise been sold.... just doesn't seem anywhere near profitable. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424643218247802881">Source</a>)

The thing is, of course Microsoft has a plan. Is it just the idea of pulling hardware market share from Nintendo/Sony in the long-term? When a company is this large it's hard to tell if a plan is a 3-year plan or a 15-year plan. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424644055049281538">Source</a>)

Curious if either of my games business senpais have thoughts on the subject.

@deantak @ZhugeEX (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424646256870051840">Source</a>)
 
 <hr/>

@IksarHS It isn't just limited to console though right? I don't have numbers of course but everyone I know has it on PC even if they don't own an Xbox. The value is nutty though :D

@RavenCasts True. Even so, putting napkin math to it, hard to get to profitability. Gets compared to Netflix a lot but it's just a totally different world. The content is much, much more expensive to make (games vs tv) and the available market size is a sliver in comparison. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424645574079352833">Source</a>)
 
 <hr/>

@IksarHS In short, stable predictable revenue is better for stock price (thing companies actually optimise for, not revenue) compared to the standard “hits and misses” model that the games industry is susceptible too. Compare Netflix stock price to Blizzards for example.

@baney64 Netflix has 200M+ subscribers!! (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424650051343638530">Source</a>)
 
 <hr/>

@IksarHS The Xbox version isn’t the point, the PC version and it’s mobile compatibility is. It’s about training an audience on the idea of a subscription model so you can expand into mobile only in markets where console gaming isn’t really prevalent (like SE Asia + India)

@grizzlebees Mobile is huge and was my first thought at potential expansion but I think assuming a 15$ sub is going to translate to mobile users seems…. very optimistic. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424649919994875911">Source</a>)

@grizzlebees Mobile games pass exists to some degree in Apple Arcade (another perplexing model). Games pass stands out by offering a different subset of games that are not designed for mobile, but that could change I suppose. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424652183723642885">Source</a>)

@grizzlebees Weird world to think about, successful mobile games of today are not designed as products for a subscription model. Nearly all survive on the back of ad revenue, high spend core users, or massive audience casual games. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424653055799140358">Source</a>)
 
 <hr/>