Fortnite lost its #1 most played spot on the xbox store it had since summer 2018. Gears 5 ends the run

[Surface of Me]

Personally, I'm not a fan of using the XBOX store as a metric. It's a microcosm of a microcosm here in the UK and throughout the EU. It isn't representative and so I'm always confused as to why it's used as some type of metric. Especially when, steam, paints a starkly different picture.

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Thread was created with US Xbox Live, the biggest Xbox market. You're not contributing anything.

A store in a particular region isn't the full picture.

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SO why are you trying to use a particular region to downplay the news of the thread? US is a bigger game market than the UK or EU is btw.

 

[TheYanger]

A store in a particular region isn't the full picture. As for grouping me in with "detractors" please show me where I said something negative about gears 5



As with my initial point, I don't think it's a representative picture. To reiterate... I really like the game.

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Are you trolling at this point? like, hey, here's a thread showing gears 5 is doing great. I'm gonna come in and post complete bullshit to try and cut that down.

You can claim it's not representative all you want, this is as factually cut and dry as you can possibly be though.

You posted literally the LEAST relevant metric to this thread. Aside from maybe "0 people playing Gears on PS4" or something.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

A store in a particular region isn't the full picture. As for grouping me in with "detractors" please show me where I said something negative about gears 5

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And using Steam isn't the full picture either.

The cheapest way to play Gears was through Windows Store and Gamepass.
Gears 5 is the first entry of the series on Steam, it's expensive and for a couple of days was not available in China (the biggest growing region on Steam)
No one is asking about bigger picture here, the thread is about Xbox only, this is just a way to derail the thread.

US, MX and UK are the only markets when Xbox is doing good, Gears 5 claiming the first place is good.

No one is saying you said something negative about Gears, but bringing Steam on an Xbox thread makes no sense.

 

[The Living Tribunal]

Personally, I'm not a fan of using the XBOX store as a metric. It's a microcosm of a microcosm here in the UK and throughout the EU. It isn't representative and so I'm always confused as to why it's used as some type of metric. Especially when, steam, paints a starkly different picture.

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[Brix]

Damn that's some major pull. Congrats Microsoft.

 

[Deleted member 18951]

A store in a particular region isn't the full picture. As for grouping me in with "detractors" please show me where I said something negative about gears 5



As with my initial point, I don't think it's a representative picture. To reiterate... I really like the game.

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Well I dont know what to say to that, the regional list is a lie?

 

[cw_sasuke]

Some people getting mad about Gears 5 having its moment and shining for a while - no need to always downplay every achievement.
Congrats to Xbox Game Studios - cant wait to see what they will have cooking for Gear 6 next-gen.

 

[Kill3r7]

A store in a particular region isn't the full picture. As for grouping me in with "detractors" please show me where I said something negative about gears 5



As with my initial point, I don't think it's a representative picture. To reiterate... I really like the game.

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How could it not be representative of the bigger picture when the vast majority of players are on Xbox or Windows Store? Plus, you can get 2 months of game pass for $2.

This is more or less an Xbox/WS exclusive with a steam release.

 

[OG_Thrills]

Obviously I'm not going to have a back and forth with everyone. I'm looking at the bigger picture and in that instance we get into conflict. Sure, Gears is the most played on XBOX store UK and US. I was looking at the totality and not seeing the same thing on other stores, which is why I don't see it as representative, in it's totality.

That doesn't mean I dislike the game.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I mean, Gears 5 on Steam is expensive as fuck in Europe, it's 70€ and the vast majority of people played the game using Gamepass instead of spending 70€ or more.
Also, the vast majority of Gears players are on Xbox and/or Windows Store through Gamepass.

And what does Steam have to do with Xbox?
The fact that no other game surpassed Fortnite until Gears 5 is a big win for MS, regardless of how are you trying to spin it by bringing Steam in an Xbox thread.

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There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

 

[Theorry]

Obviously I'm not going to have a back and forth with everyone. I'm looking at the bigger picture and in that instance we get into conflict. Sure, Gears is the most played on XBOX store UK and US. I was looking at the totality and not seeing the same thing on other stores, which is why I don't see it as representative, in it's totality.

That doesn't mean I dislike the game.

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Its on alot more stores #1 tho.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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Microsoft is fine with it their end goal right now is to increasing game pass subscribers.

People on forums may not be fine with it.

 

[derFeef]

Obviously I'm not going to have a back and forth with everyone. I'm looking at the bigger picture and in that instance we get into conflict. Sure, Gears is the most played on XBOX store UK and US. I was looking at the totality and not seeing the same thing on other stores, which is why I don't see it as representative, in it's totality.

That doesn't mean I dislike the game.

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I am not sure what you want to achieve here? You want to discuss something different than this thread is about I guess?

 

[Deleted member 18161]

Very impressive numbers!

 

[Paxton25]

Obviously I'm not going to have a back and forth with everyone. I'm looking at the bigger picture and in that instance we get into conflict. Sure, Gears is the most played on XBOX store UK and US. I was looking at the totality and not seeing the same thing on other stores, which is why I don't see it as representative, in it's totality.

That doesn't mean I dislike the game.

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Didn't two people already prove it's no 1 in other countries as well. Plus the us and U.K. are probably like 60/70% of the Xbox market so pretty representative.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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This is probably still true, FH4 debuted better than FH3 despite being on Gamepass, and Sea of Thieves active players are splitted between paid copies and Gamepass.

I think if MS really cared about sales they wouldn't push Gamepass so hard, so maybe they are fine with Gamepass revenue?

 

[Hoo-doo]

Microsoft is fine with it their end goal right now is to increasing game pass subscribers.

People on forums may not be fine with it.

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There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

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Haven't seen anything as of now to suggest game design decisions are being influenced in that way.

 

[OG_Thrills]

Well I dont know what to say to that, the regional list is a lie?

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Using the same metric it doesn't show Gears 5 as the most played. In the US and UK, again, it's the most played. But checking the stores in other regions it's not. That's all my point is...

It's like if you dare to disagree you're called a bunch of shit. Checking the stores across the EU for additional info shouldn't attract such fervor especially since the gaming market is a global.

 

[Deleted member 8196]

There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

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Retail sales are going down for every major publisher, EA digital share will soon surpass the 50% treshold and i guess MS is up there with the digital share and the same goes to Take-Two, Ubisoft, Capcom etc...

What game design is going to be influenced?

 

[Gamer17]

Playstation doesn't share Most Played charts in the same way

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True but number of streams are shown at a given minute and no game ever can touch fortnite . There are around 20,000 streams at a given time for fortnite and number 2 is usually around 1,500.

 

[Deleted member 18951]

There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

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The old everything turns into GaaS scare story?

This directly contradicts what Phil and Matt Booty have said, they want as mich diverse content on the platform as they can so it can appeal to as large a number of potential subscribers as possible.

 

[Paragraf]

Maybe somebody will check xbox most played games list for every single region. I'm sure Gears 5 is doing fine outside US and UK.

 

[christocolus]

I like how gears is on there twice.

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Yup :)

 

[Theorry]

Using the same metric it doesn't show Gears 5 as the most played. In the US and UK, again, it's the most played. But checking the stores in other regions it's not. That's all my point is...

It's like if you dare to disagree you're called a bunch of shit. Checking the stores across the EU shouldn't attract such fervor.

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I mean its most played also in Mexico, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Brasil, Belgium, Italy, Australia. Thats from a quick look.

 

[OG_Thrills]

I mean its most played also in Mexico, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Brasil, Belgium, Italy, Australia. Thats from a quick look.

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At the time you made the thread when I checked it wasn't across multiple stores, hence my initial post.

 

[Kill3r7]

There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

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We don't know jack about retail yet. The game officially launched yesterday.

 

[Surface of Me]

There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

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I do see your worries, the Gears reddit has already compared Gears 5's post launch monetization to a F2P game, most likely because of gamepass. But, none of it is gameplay changing. It doesn't effect me, but I have seen many people who aren't sitting well with it. A positive is that MS now sees SP games as valuable additions to Gamepass to keep more content added to the service, I do hope they don't do all their big multiplayer games like Gears 5 is now in the future though.

IIRC they made some changes to Forza 7's monetization and progression after it launched so I hope they are open to doing the same to Gears 5.

 

[statham]

Awesome. Bravo to The Coalition!

 

['V']

Didn't Fortnite lose a lot of players because of the turbo building update? Nevertheless it's still an immense achievement to have more players than games like Fortnite, GTAV and FIFA. It shows the GamePass deals are working as well.

 

[Theorry]

At the time you made the thread when I checked it wasn't across multiple stores, hence my initial post.

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Sorry but thats not true. This was also the case already when this thread was made. I just focused on the US and UK store because thats usually we do as they are the biggest markets..
All most played gets updated for all regions at the same time. Its not that US and UK get updated and all others later.

 

[Stalker]

Haven't seen anything as of now to suggest game design decisions are being influenced in that way.

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We absolutely have

Microsofts first party is basically

Big Budget AAA SP experiences
GAAS presistent multiplayer that has MTX at the foundational level striking a good balance between profit and player reward to retain MTX buyers over an extended Period.

Every MS exclusive is promising more and better support than previous entries and those systems are built around MTX.

Just to be clear I fully support MTX in scenarios like Microsoft titles which typical do them with a element of restraint.

I'd be surprised if a big internal appeal to Game Pass isn't the ability to potentially deliver GaaS titles into every xbox and now pc gamers hands.

 

[SuikerBrood]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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This is a completely different discussion.

 

[DvdGzz]

Totally deserved. It's the first game in a while that made me interested in deathmatch again. So fun online, even when I am being gibbed. Love playing as the T-800!

 

[SuikerBrood]

We absolutely have

Microsofts first party is basically

Big Budget AAA SP experiences
GAAS presistent multiplayer that has MTX at the foundational level striking a good balance between profit and player reward to retain MTX buyers over an extended Period.

Every MS exclusive is promising more and better support than previous entries and those systems are built around MTX.

Just to be clear I fully support MTX in scenarios like Microsoft titles which typical do them with a element of restraint.

I'd be surprised if a big internal appeal to Game Pass isn't the ability to potentially deliver GaaS titles into every xbox and now pc gamers hands.

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Sea of Thieves receives MTX today. 18 months after launch.

How can you say Sea of Thieves has microtransactions at the foundational level? Or State of Decay 2? Or Forza Horizon 4?

Gears of War 4 didn't launch on Game Pass. It had the same horrible microtransaction bullshit as Gears 5.

 

[Stalker]

Sea of Thieves receives MTX today. 18 months after launch.

How can you say Sea of Thieves has microtransactions at the foundational level? Or State of Decay 2? Or Forza Horizon 4?

Gears of War 4 didn't launch on Game Pass. It had the same horrible microtransaction bullshit as Gears 5.

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Forza 100% has MTX at a foundationally level. Forza 7 was the most apparent example of that.

Gears 4 hasn't even close to as preying as Gears 5 is.

Sea of Thieves launched as an incomplete shell of a game without a reason to be invested, once reasons came MTX came .

I've played an hour of State of Decay so I can't comment

 

[Its Dead Jim]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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How do you know retail sales are dry? It released yesterday? Any data you can share we are not aware of?

 

[Deleted member 18161]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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Is there a reason you're in graphics threads, review threads and now sales threads trying your best to play this games success down? You seem to have a personal grudge against it and intent on shitting on it every chance you get.

 

[Theorry]

Forza 100% has MTX at a foundationally level. Forza 6 was the most apparent example of that.

Gears 4 hasn't even close to as preying as Gears 5 is.

Sea of Thieves launched as an incomplete shell of a game without a reason to be invested, once reasons came MTX came .

I've played an hour of State of Decay so I can't comment

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Forza 6 didnt launch on gamepass or is on gamepass. Forza 7 also and they even removed some MTX stuff.
Gears 4 had lootboxes and was the way to get cards.
Sea of Thieves has been great for a very long time. Even more since end of last year. Yet we didnt get any MTX. They even delayed it because they werent satisfied with the quality of the pets.

 

[Stalker]

Forza 6 didnt launch on gamepass or is on gamepass. Forza 7 also and they even removed some MTX stuff.
Gears 4 had lootboxes and was the way to get cards.
Sea of Thieves has been great for a very long time. Even more since end of last year. Yet we didnt get any MTX. They even delayed it because they werent satisfied with the quality of the pets.

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My point is MTX is a big thing for MS games and rightfully so because it usually results in the best Player contentment levels for the least amount of work. They don't have to bring out Gears 6 for years when they can support Gears 5 MP for so long with Horde/Escape/Versus content and rake in the money players spend on the premium content via the store.

With MTX so prevalent being able to get these titles into players hands for a small buy in price (Game Pass) is an incredible opportunity and I think it's apparent that the MTX GAAS titles from Game pass is something Microsoft are absolutely targeting

Again I don't have issues with this because I'm a fan of these games and I can pay nothing to small amounts and still get much more out of a game than I traditionally would for similar prices 5 years ago

 

[TitlePending]

Jup. Even Apex or RDR2 couldnt kick it off.

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Now THAT is shocking to me. Phew!

 

[Sedated]

Enjoying this game. Gp is amazing. What i don't like is steam store listing for this game has regional pricing but windows store doesn't. It is way cheaper for me to buy on steam than their own store. Microsoft needs to step it up in that area.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

My point is MTX is a big thing for MS games and rightfully so because it usually results in the best Player contentment levels for the least amount of work. They don't have to bring out Gears 6 for years when they can support Gears 5 MP for so long with Horde/Escape/Versus content and rake in the money players spend on the premium content via the store.

With MTX so prevalent being able to get these titles into players hands for a small buy in price (Game Pass) is an incredible opportunity and I think it's apparent that the MTX GAAS titles from Game pass is something Microsoft are absolutely targeting

Again I don't have issues with this because I'm a fan of these games and I can pay nothing to small amounts and still get much more out of a game than I traditionally would for similar prices 5 years ago

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MTX were going to be there with our without Game Pass.

 

[pswii60]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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Game Pass certainly gives exposure to good games that otherwise would fall flat on their face. In the same way Rocket League "free" launching on PS Plus catapulted that game to the sky. I'd argue this is certainly the case for Sea of Thieves which still makes frequent appearances in the UK sales charts to this day.

But any effect will not happen immediately, it takes time for word of mouth to spread which is why I think Gears 5 will launch softly in terms of "sales" (with most early adopters paying for Game Pass to play) but continue to have legs.

But Microsoft hasn't even marketed the physical or digital sales, only Game Pass. The annual subscription revenue they'll get in the long term will dwarf their historical individual games sales, and provide consistent forecasting and budget to invest in new content. Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/HBO/etc don't rely on microtransactions in addition to subscription revenue so I don't understand why you think Game Pass will. Of course there will be microtransactions, but they won't be the be all and end all.

And really, the existing AAA sales model is broken anyway, and dissuades publishers for taking any risks. So I welcome subscription services and Game Pass is fucking awesome regardless.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Wow this is impressive basically no matter which way you choose to spin/slice it.

Either Game Pass has more subscribers than we thought, or the game sold quite well or a combination of both.

 

[Dantero]

So any rough estimates possible on player counts based on this info ?

 

[cartoon_soldier]

There was a persistent claim that games launching on Gamepass actually provides an increase of regular retail sales.

Gears 5 seems to buck that trend. Everyone is on Gamepass playing it while retail sales are dry. I wonder whether the numbers balance out and which sales model provides developers with more return on their investment. I have had doubts on the sustainability of Gamepass for a while.

All these players on day one are a righteous haven for microtransactions though, so maybe the losses are recouped there.

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The claim has been made by game developers themselves.

What we saw though in Summer and with Gears is a big push to drive users to Game Pass with the Ultimate unlock available 4 days early. So yea, Gamepass most definitely cannibalized Gears sales and MS is fine with that. They would rather end 2020 with 10 million Game Pass subscribers than anything else.

 

[Guerrilla]

There's room to have a broader conversation here.

I mean, Microsoft's approach is working very well. I just fear that game design ends up being influenced by the business model now people are caught up and retail sales are going down.

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How do you know retail is going down?

 

[Klobrille]

Forza 100% has MTX at a foundationally level. Forza 7 was the most apparent example of that.

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Here are news for you: FM7 never will and never had microtransactions. Pretty funny you use that as an "apparent example", when apparently this is completely wrong.

The game had loot boxes which you could only unlock with in-game credits. Never did they introduce real-money mtx to the game.

 

[TheGhost]

I mean I don't have an Xbox and can play the whole game for 2 quid so there is gonna be a lot of people like me doing the same. There's being pleased atm but I doubt I'll resubscribe after till their next big game.

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You saw nothing else on Gamepass you want to play? I'm currently playing Devil May Cry 5 and several other games. I know Gamepass is doing its job because if DMCV was being removed tomorrow I would buy it with the gamepass discount because the game is that good. Give some other games a shot.