Spending 70 billion dollars for gamepass content never seemed like a viable strategy.
It wasn’t just for Game Pass. Those games get and got released on other platforms too, and they included lot of high profile single player and high value multiplayer games too. It’s about controlling (Embrace) a big chunk of the market that is part of the strategy. Suddenly Sony and Nintendo have to do deals with Microsoft to get some of the biggest IPs on their system. Remember how much Sony was freaking out about Call of Duty? Such big takeovers are never a short term plan, but planned for generations, including smartphones and streaming on TV in example. It was never just about Game Pass only.
The sell was with gamepass all these games are “free” on day one. If they release on other platform, they are full price.
All the other stuff is just temporary drama that would get resolved once the competition dies. The long term plan was for all the Activision Blizzard and Zenimax fans to buy Xboxes and be locked in that ecosystem until the end of time.
It wasn’t just for Game Pass. Those games get and got released on other platforms too, and they included lot of high profile single player and high value multiplayer games too. It’s about controlling (Embrace) a big chunk of the market that is part of the strategy. Suddenly Sony and Nintendo have to do deals with Microsoft to get some of the biggest IPs on their system. Remember how much Sony was freaking out about Call of Duty? Such big takeovers are never a short term plan, but planned for generations, including smartphones and streaming on TV in example. It was never just about Game Pass only.
The entire point was gamepass.
The sell was with gamepass all these games are “free” on day one. If they release on other platform, they are full price.
All the other stuff is just temporary drama that would get resolved once the competition dies. The long term plan was for all the Activision Blizzard and Zenimax fans to buy Xboxes and be locked in that ecosystem until the end of time.