Arkane Studios founder calls Game Pass “unsustainable model”, and one which is “damaging the industry”
Arkane Studios founder calls Game Pass “unsustainable model”, and one which is “damaging the industry”
32 Comments
This is what music artists say about spotify and I reckon film producers say it about Netflix too.
Everyone I think knew it was unsustainable
Curious how big the difference in pay is compared to someone playing their game through gamepass vs buying it at like $20 for example.
> I think Game Pass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidised by [Microsoft’s] ‘infinite money
One thing I do know is that the average person seems a bit naïve about how much more humongous Microsoft is than Sony. It’s like a David and Goliath level of comparison.
Reminds me of the time when a lot of big publishers thought piracy on PC was killing PC gaming. That too was mostly conjecture based on some limited data. …We’re seeing hundreds of games releasing every week… Game Pass isn’t some market monopoly; it doesn’t have the power people think it does.
I mean… okay? Don’t release your game on game pass then, that’s fine. Maybe that’s better for you, maybe it’s not. I have no idea about the logistics and consequences of either way, but nobody forces developers to put their game on there.
And I don’t even have game pass, bc I don’t like subscriptions and I like the ability to always get back I to my game, without paying. Also paying for GP would make me feel like I need to play the games to get my money worth.
I’ll enjoy it while it last.
100% agree, and it’s something that I’ve deeply felt since Microsoft started pushing the model. Frankly, it’s likely a big reason that the recent 9000+ layoff happened. The model sounds great until it’s shown to be unstable, like what’s been happening. So, the company is dropping everything they can to try and save the model, which is killing most of their actual game development. It’ll end with them dropping the model or having to pare it down to older titles as a backlog, like what the dev said I’m the interview.
Either way, the introduction of Game Pass was a detriment to the industry imo. No shade to anyone using it, almost exclusively shade to Microsoft for doing what they can to kill the games industry for the sake of profits.
Yeah because it was perfectly fine before game pass came along amirite.
Didn’t they say the same thing about Netflix?
Gamepass day one for a game is so fucking stupid.
I think the insane budgets, large teams and long development times are unsustainable on their own. The method used to make the consumer pay for the games doesn’t really matter that much.
100% true & why I do not buy subscriptions for gaming. There is a reason why some developers have said if you aren’t releasing your games onto gamepass, there is very little reason to release on Xbox. The audience there is already the smallest in the industry & they just don’t buy games anymore. I mean, why would they? $20 a month & you get all Xbox publishing releases day one, with a giant backlog of great games already on there. It’s an amazing deal that’s hard to pass up, but it disincentivizes ever purchasing games.
Everyone wants to get their licks in 😂
I get it but gaming is suoer expensive nowadays. On summer steam sales i spent 170$ . Where games i want ro play are easily 60-80$ gamepass is a gods send i can play games i would never play lile expeditiom 33. I was never going to buy it but on gamepass i gave it a shot paid 10$ for dlc and was happy. Yeah you can wait to play it on sale but by then the enyire game may have been spoiled and aftee that whats the point.
There is no product in the world that is as fast distributed and profitable as games. Just with one click u re able to offer ur products to a whole continent at least and sell it for 60€. But they all got greedy and took it for granted.
And in the end they started damaging the industry by themselves… Micros transactions, poorly optimized games, incomplete games aka “free title Updates” and DLCs, paid and lied reviews etc.
Just setting the stage to increase games from 80 up to 100€.
I totally think this viewpoint is spot on, but also feel it was Microsoft’s intention all along to use GamePass as a method to trap the whole industry which fortunately has failed, they will keep raising prices until people get fed up with it , gamers move on from Xbox which they are doing in droves or Microsoft sells its gaming decision off to fund its obsession with AI. Sad times! Hey maybe Sega or Atari could launch a new console to replace the Xbox 🤞 we need more industry competition not less!
well yes it a cardhouse that build on the belive that mircosoft cares. thier dont.
it only care about money.
Soon they’ll be telling us that the sky is blue, the grass is green, and that vaccines are actually good for your health.
Absolute heathens.
Redfall was unsustainable on its own merits.
Well, I’m enjoying Game Pass.
Game pass is great for the players though. I love XGP + Geforce Now. I can play tons of amazing games in 4K 120fps raytracing on any device including my Macbook Air. I am not going back.
If its not sustainable it woulnt be alive. Even milion dollar companies cannot keep it on infinte loss.
I bet it is sustainable but they would be making more money if it didnt exist.
Sounds like a man mad that people got to discover Redfall is ass thanks to gamepass before shelling out money for it
From a capitalist point of view it is true.
I’ve paid 12€ just to play BO6 and then I let my sub expire.
Unless you’re an hardcore COD player, you can basically get COD for 12€ instead of paying full price.
I’d say that it’s a good deal for new indie games/companies – you get a bit of money and a lot of exposure.
Bad take. If a dev doesn’t like it, then don’t be on gamepass, and he and his WolfEye studio don’t have to be. Game devs making games cost $70-80+ each is what’s unsustainable. I don’t buy games that expensive anymore, so it’s rich when they think things would be better without GP. GP is a gamechanger for people with limited funds, akin to renting games from Blockbuster, GameFly and RedBox. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a positive for gamers who will almost never spend that much on these bloated games. If it turns out to be unsustainable, so be it, but let the gamers enjoy it while it lasts instead of complaining.
It’s fine no one has an Xbox
Yet he released the game from his newest studio day one on GamePass, and even [wrote the XboX Wire](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/03/31/weird-west-available-today-with-xbox-game-pass/) for it.
Also just a reminder that Microsoft services are assisting the IDF in their genocide of Gaza. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/23/israeli-military-gaza-war-microsoft)
Boycott Microsoft gamepass.
I think the main issue with game streaming and freemium games is the total devaluation of video games. The industry is basically teach consumers that games are usually a free or a fraction of the price. Movies and TV are dealing with that fact and now it’s video games.
This is not a new opinion, but I feel it needs more meat on the bones to really be proven. I’m disappointed to not see better arguments being made.
It’s the sort of thing that pressured devs/management say in a tough market. A lot of bias in this. I’d guess every game that releases on gamepass that is a big success grumpily wonders if they might have sold more without doing that deal. Every game on gamepass that fails might wonder if being on gamepass ruined their chances.
I do question some of the basic arguments.
After all, if more people signed up for a subscription service, I’d guess it would then become ‘sustainable’. It could already be argued it’s a loss leader that is trying to create a platform-agnostic gaming ecosphere for Xbox. The argument I saw loads of was that consoles are long-term an ‘unsustainable model’, so something like a Netflix-style service for games seems quite a logical step for a console maker.
Why does Sony’s subscription service or others get so little criticism in comparison? What about Epic’s game giveaways. Also, Microsoft were ‘giving’ games away with xbox live for years – they’ve had a subscription service of a sort for 20 years!!!
Is gamepass ‘damaging the industry’ more than general market conditions, or the cost of game production, or the existence of disruptive business models? Probably not. I just don’t see why it deserves special criticism in those terms. I strongly suspect it would be a tough time for the industry with or without gamepass, and putting some special significance on it is probably over-estimating its effects.
There are also huge swathes of the industry that have little direct connection with gamepass. The mobile or free-to-play markets feel little direct effect I would guess.
These are also arguments that to some extent try to have it both ways. If gamepass is unsustainable then it isn’t having the effect that Microsoft want. But it needs to be deemed some sort of viable success to claim that its hurting the industry.