It’s no big secret that not everyone agrees with the Game Pass operating model. Historically, the service has come under fire for not doing as much for developers, especially smaller ones, than everyone might at first assume. One prolific personality recently took to social media to point out how the Game Pass service isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Enter Raphael Colantonio, founder of Arkane Studios and creative director of most of the studio’s games, such as Dishonored and Prey. He doesn’t like Game Pass, and he’s not alone.
‘Reality Has to Hit’
In a post on social media, Raphael Colantonio suddenly asked why nobody is talking about ‘the elephant in the room’, presumably in the wake of the recent Microsoft layoffs that heavily impacted Xbox and many associated studios. The ‘elephant’ in this case is Game Pass, and when someone asked him for his perspective, Colantonio didn’t hold back:
I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s “infinite money”, but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.
An hour later, his analytical perspective was joined by Michael Douse, Larian Studios’ publishing director:
“What happens when all that money runs out?” is the most vocal concern in my network, and one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model. The infinite money thing never made any sense.
The pair touched on ‘cannibalization’ of sales, which is one of the core concerns of Game Pass. If a developer or publisher launches a game exclusively on Game Pass, nobody technically pays for their game, except for Microsoft paying to get it on the catalogue. Douse admitted that it’s a good thing for ‘derisking’ projects for smaller teams, but the buck stops there.
He did then point out that Sony’s ‘lifecycle management’ way of working is much more preferable.
Colantonio then suggested that Game Pass should be a back-catalogue product only; that’s how it doesn’t hurt anyone.
Do you think Game Pass is inherently damaging and getting worse? Let me know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Activision took down COD WW2 on PC
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
More from Grant Taylor-Hill
As a consumer, here is my issue currently triple A games and most new games cost 60-80 dollars … most of which are 100% not worth that value, they come out unfinished, in an infinite early access beta, a never ending live service with micro transactions shoved into every nook and cranny. I guess arkane studios could make another generic shooter. Seriously until studios actually start producing decent quality content for the money and annoyances they ask from the customer base, ill stick with game pass.