will be added to microsofts game pass? If so which and why
I think maybe they would probably add all of them…especially WoW…it makes no sense to have a separate sub for one game when they have a sub for like 100 games…I think in fact they’ll add all of acti-blizz’s games to the pass…
could be interesting, might be enough for me to go back to WoW and OW…I was also opposed to getting D4 but under Microsoft it may be worth it
They will. It was allready stated.
“We’re all about putting players at the center of everything we do, and this transaction is going to be fantastic, not only for our existing players, but will also help us bring innovative experiences to vast, new audiences. That’s because adding the Activision Blizzard portfolio to our existing operations will also propel our new forms of distribution and monetization, like Cloud Gaming and our Game Pass subscription service.”
“Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalogue.”
“you think about potential opportunities, like, say, offering Diablo , Call of Duty or Overwatch via cloud streaming to anyone on any device, you can see just how exciting this deal really is.”
PHIL SPENCER
^^^^see?↑↑↑ this here?^^^^ this one above
Yes. All of them. Even the older ones.
Probably not WoW. But SC2, D3, and OW seems likely. The other current Blizzard titles are F2P afaik, so while they might technically be there, it wouldn’t really make a difference.
ESO is on it I thought. Maybe because there is a non subscription model. Maybe they’ll have a premium model for GP @ $15 that would include WoW/future MMOs.
It would be worth $15/month without IMO. 1000s of games, all you can play for $15/month.
Yeah, afaik the ESO you get there is just the free to play version. So essentially you dont get anything. Other than having an install button in the app I guess. Game Pass also got other free to play games in it. Just cant exactly be considered part of the subscription.
I could see Game Pass get multiple price tiers some day.
As for thousands of games, as far as I can see on MS website, they ‘only’ have 4-500 games.
I dont see much value in always subscribing to Game Pass. But subbing like 1-3 month a year, to play through a few games you wanted to play. That sure is good value.
If I was retired or a teenager again sure. I played so many games. I still see the value of always subbing, I would just rather buy the games I’m interested and play them when I feel like, even though it costs me more in the end.
ESO is buy to play though. But yes, on gamepass you get the standard edition, which is the base game + morrowind expansion. Which costs about $20 full price on steam. Wouldn’t recommend getting the gamepass JUST for ESO, would be like paying a sub to play the FF14 free trial (which you can actually do by buying the standard edition of FF14 and I think that’s almost a scam) lol
well game pass is cheaper than wow sub, so i would imagine the game will likely get worse with less money to fund it. I mean it would be real hard to get worse, it’s the worst it’s ever been, but with even less money i dunno if i’d waste time on the next expansion.
The above line is what has me most concerned. When it says new forms of distribution and monetization then talks about game pass. That could mean that changes on how the game pass works could be on the horizon. Sure it might be something that could shoot them in the foot. But if they don’t think it will be that bad they just might try changing it where I would be saying bye to Blizz games. I will not pay for a sub that is just to play the buy to play games that I already have. Where they become pay to play I leave. I will not give any other warning other than what I mention now.
I know that is not how it works currently. But Microsoft might get the itch to try it thinking it might pay off since it would mean everyone would be paying for game pass.
Totally agree.
Hopefully they will enrich game pass, and other services by having all the new titles available thereby. It will make their product more attractive to those that want that.
That doesn’t have to be the end of how things work now, meaning getting the title/ titles we like separately and play as usual.
But like you say should this change in future releases, then indeed the result will be a considerable loss of playerbase.
All I want, other than maybe some Diablo, would be Rock N’ Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. More ideally, those with upgrades.
What I’m more concerned about, being an old school player, is whether I’ll be forced into a GamePass subscription. Are we going to go to an all-subscription business model? Will it work like WoW where I buy the content, then pass extra for the privilege of playing what I already paid for? Or will I still have the option to buy a game outright and play it forever without the monthly payments?
Potentially, the consumer could be getting one heck of a bad deal on this, especially if you play casually. This kind of model encourages people to play obsessively to take full advantage of the subscription payment. Like a buffet, you pay your fee then stuff as much food as possible in your face rather than stopping when you’re full because you already paid and don’t want to feel like you’re not getting your money’s worth.
So far you can buy all GamePass games individually.
I could very easily see that change in the future though. But that wouldn’t affect any of Blizzards current games, and unlikely to affect D4 either, as it is still arriving relatively soon. MS going GamePass exclusivity is more like a 5+ year risk imo.
What I am more worried about is the design side of things.
A full subscription model encourages publishers/devs to design games the way sub-MMOs are; trying to get people to log in each month. The whole DLC/season pass model we have seen so far, as bad as it can be, is nothing compared to what might come, if basically all games must be designed around recurring content releases.
The other fear, directly related to the first, is that it ends up like music subscriptions, with most games earning basically nothing from being on the subscription platform, while not being on the platform is also not an option if you want to reach consumers who no longer buy stuff individually (and all the shops that sold stuff individually closed down). Resulting in smaller games/indies being killed off.
Actually, in thinking about this, Activision owns Sierra…
So, umm, yeah, it’d be awesome to get the “Quest” games back, even new ones. But seems unlikely as I think these are on Steam.
The game pass model has been around since 2017, originally only for Xbox games. I haven’t seen any evidence with games on Xbox doing this other than gaas type games which have been around longer than the game pass model.
Other games doing this type of are heavily monetized games, which wouldn’t be a byproduct of a subscription, just greedy devs trying to make as much money as possible off everything they possibly can.
I haven’t heard anything negative about GP. MS claims it’s doing well, devs haven’t complained about lack of sales or drops in revenues. I’ve heard tons of anecdotes about people trying games on their GP sub who ended up buying games they never would have bought in the first place.
Maybe it’s too early to make any definitive decision one way or the other about these types of subscription models. But so far it seems good all around.
4 years is a short time. Many games released today were already in production back then.
You dont start out by pushing away customers, when they still have plenty of other places to go. The vast majority of games are not designed specifically for GP/subscription services today. But in a world where the vast majority access games through subscriptions, that seems incredibly likely to change.
If the way to make money as much money as possible in a subscription service is to design your game a specific way, then it is a byproduct of subscriptions.
If they make their games subscription based they wouldn’t be on GP, unless they were like ESO that offer a B2P with no sub. I’m sure devs(publishers would see greater revenues with game sales than just being on GP.