Read from VGC:
“The one thing that they’re doing that makes me nervous is Game Pass,” he said. “Game Pass scares me because there’s a somewhat analogous thing called Spotify that was created for the music business.
“When Spotify took off it destroyed the music business, it literally cut the annual revenue of the music business in half,” the former Microsoft exec claimed. “It’s made it so people just don’t buy songs anymore.
“People don’t buy songs on iPhone for example, because why would you? They’re all on your subscription service app. Apple’s said they’re going to take away buying songs because no one’s buying them any more.
“So we have to be careful we don’t create the same system in the game business. These markets are more fragile than people realise. I saw the games industry destroy itself in the early 80s. I saw the educational software business destroy itself in the mid-90s… they literally destroyed a multi-billion dollar market in a few years.
“So Game Pass makes me nervous. As a customer, I love it. I love Spotify as a customer: I have all the songs I’d ever want… it’s a great deal as a customer. But it isn’t necessarily great for the industry.”
Fries went on to question whether it was possible for game developers to embrace subscription platforms to the extent seen in the music business.
“At some point it tipped and everything had to be [on Spotify]. The percentage of all games that are on Game Pass is still tiny, and there are a lot of games. 200 games a week come out on Steam and more than that come out on mobile.”
“There is industry concern about what might happen if subscriptions become dominant, like they have in music and TV,” he added. “The subscription model doesn’t necessary generate the revenue needed by AAA games, particularly single-player games with no microtransactions… you can see why Sony is reluctant to put its latest releases into PS Plus.
“However, games are very different to music and TV. Those linear forms of entertainment are much shorter, and more digestible. How many songs or TV shows do most people consume vs games?
“If you’re someone who only plays a couple of games a year — like FIFA and Call of Duty — how likely are you to subscribe to a service with hundreds of options? It remains to be seen just how big games subscription services will become.”
“The one thing that they’re doing that makes me nervous is Game Pass,” he said. “Game Pass scares me because there’s a somewhat analogous thing called Spotify that was created for the music business.
“When Spotify took off it destroyed the music business, it literally cut the annual revenue of the music business in half,” the former Microsoft exec claimed. “It’s made it so people just don’t buy songs anymore.
“People don’t buy songs on iPhone for example, because why would you? They’re all on your subscription service app. Apple’s said they’re going to take away buying songs because no one’s buying them any more.
“So we have to be careful we don’t create the same system in the game business. These markets are more fragile than people realise. I saw the games industry destroy itself in the early 80s. I saw the educational software business destroy itself in the mid-90s… they literally destroyed a multi-billion dollar market in a few years.
“So Game Pass makes me nervous. As a customer, I love it. I love Spotify as a customer: I have all the songs I’d ever want… it’s a great deal as a customer. But it isn’t necessarily great for the industry.”
Fries went on to question whether it was possible for game developers to embrace subscription platforms to the extent seen in the music business.
“At some point it tipped and everything had to be [on Spotify]. The percentage of all games that are on Game Pass is still tiny, and there are a lot of games. 200 games a week come out on Steam and more than that come out on mobile.”
“There is industry concern about what might happen if subscriptions become dominant, like they have in music and TV,” he added. “The subscription model doesn’t necessary generate the revenue needed by AAA games, particularly single-player games with no microtransactions… you can see why Sony is reluctant to put its latest releases into PS Plus.
“However, games are very different to music and TV. Those linear forms of entertainment are much shorter, and more digestible. How many songs or TV shows do most people consume vs games?
“If you’re someone who only plays a couple of games a year — like FIFA and Call of Duty — how likely are you to subscribe to a service with hundreds of options? It remains to be seen just how big games subscription services will become.”
