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Xbox chief Phil Spencer stated that Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service is “completely sustainable” and will stay at its current price.
During an appearance on the Dropped Frames podcast, Spencer revealed that some developers have questioned the service’s long-term feasibility and future. The Xbox Games Pass offers players access to a large library of games on PC and Xbox consoles for under US$10 a month.
“I’ll be honest, there are developers that have some concerns, and my inbox is there, and I have conversations with a lot of those developers asking what are our real long-term goals?” Spencer admitted. “You know we get questions about ‘hey, is this just some kind of go secure a bunch of players and then rack the price up to a new level?’”
But Spencer reassured listeners that the Xbox Games Pass is “completely sustainable” at its current cost, and there are no plans for a price increase anytime soon. “I say there’s no plan for us to do anything like that. We like the value that Game Pass is today and from a business model it’s completely sustainable the way it is and I mean that,” he said.
Later in the podcast, the Xbox head also pointed out that the Xbox Game Pass allows for the greenlighting and release of games that would normally get buried in traditional retail, although he did not specify any titles. “The upside is, we can take more creative chances than a pure retail model allows,” Spencer said. “We can go and greenlight games because we know we’ll get millions of Game Pass players to engage and play the game.”
“Where [games were greenlit] based on how many units or revenue you might gain just from that title, it can be more challenging, and that’s I think the positive side of it,” he added. “It allows us to take more creative risks and I think the portfolio shows that, but we have to prove that over time as well.”
Earlier this month, Spencer revealed that he is “open” to making Xbox Game Pass available on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. He said that “there’s a lot of discussions” about making the Xbox Game Pass available to new devices, and it would “prioritise it based on where we would find the most new players”.
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