Xbox Game Pass wants to be an important part of the future of Microsoft and of the video game industry itself. This has been confirmed again from the company, in an interview where Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer made it clear that the subscription game service could completely change the way they make money. Hence the interest in being on the largest number of screens and not in the largest number of rooms.
The Xbox Game Pass expansion
Microsoft once again demonstrated with its latest new generation consoles, the Xbox Series X and Series S, that they know how to make very good hardware. What’s more, they have been demonstrating it for a few years now with other products such as the Surface range of computers, etc.
Even so, in the field of video games it has always felt like a secondary due to the weight that both Sony with their PlayStation and Nintendo with their respective consoles of each generation have had. However, this has long been starting to look different. Particularly with the arrival of Xbox Game Pass was when it seemed that there would still be a change.
Well, now Satya Nadella (CEO and head of Microsoft) and Phil Spencer (Head of Xbox) have granted a new interview in which they reaffirm some ideas and announcements that we already knew, as well as talk about what Game Pass means for them : the center of experience.
Both have made a series of reflections and statements that make it clear that the future of the company depends on this service. And it is already clear that competing with Sony to see who has the largest number of rooms conquered does not make much sense or interest when what you can conquer is each screen that said user uses in their day-to-day life.
Hence, they have revealed the three keys to the future strategy of the company:
- The first is related to cloud computing, with the use of those Azure servers that are proving to be so capable when it comes to running much more demanding applications and, among other things, offering a very high response speed.
- The second key area is the ability to build your own subscription service like Xbox Game Pass. Something that is not easy even with talent, infrastructure and resources. If not tell Google with Stadia
- Finally, there is the approach that, according to them, they are taking in order to empower creators and place the user at the center of the experience along with Game Pass. A correct decision because without the work of the first, the second will not come, no matter how much technically you are better than the rest. And that is something that has already been demonstrated on more than one occasion
The game in the cloud
With all this it is easy to see how Microsoft is betting on the game in the cloud and hence again the confirmation of the work they are carrying out with television manufacturers to bring the Xbox Game Pass experience to these. An experience that would not require any hardware to stream additionally, it would be enough to install and run an application or access the cloud gaming service via browser. The only thing that would have to be connected is a gamepad.
If they manage to do it with optimal results and, in addition, expand all that to other screens such as Smart TVs via app , less powerful mobile devices, tablets, laptops or desktop computers, etc., it is clear that Microsoft could rewrite the rules of a sector that for many years has been sustained in the sale of hardware that then gives access to exclusive games that serve as the main claim to choose between one system or another.
By being able to access the Xbox Game Pass catalog from any device, that fight would end and what Microsoft would get is a fixed income each month, which in some cases could mean a higher expense than that user normally makes each year in video games.
Finally, with Xbox Game Pass they could also end that limitation that prevents the real democratization of video games : having to buy them. Because not everyone can spend the 60 euros on average that they usually cost and much less do it every month or several times in the same month if you do not want to miss anything.
So we will see how the next few months go by, if Microsoft’s commitment to growing in users more than in sales is profitable or not. And also what do the rest of the competitors do, because Sony will have been able to sell 8 million PS5s since its launch, but Xbox Game Pass has added 23 million users since it was also presented and everything indicates that it will continue to grow. Especially with possible new exclusive games that arrive after the purchases of studios like Bethesda, the association with EA Play, etc.
For the moment everything is looking good. The game in the cloud will arrive on the PC through the browser in a few weeks, the servers are finalizing the migration from Xbox Series S to Series X and it seems that new price plans are already being studied to be more flexible with the needs of each type of user.
Via> Protocol
