[The Verge] MS considering Game Pass Ultimate price increase, whether to launch new Call of Duty on GP, & if to port Hellblade 2 to PS5

[beebop]

Like so many of the users laughed at us when we warned that there was no way Microsoft could financially keep the same model without price increased and other changes? Kindly spare me the sanctimony since none of yall gave us the same courtesy.

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Who do you mean by "y'all"? When did I criticise anyone who said they'd need to raise prices?

Any commentary I've read here was generally accepted that they'd have to raise prices again at some point in the future, especially if they want to add CoD. So I'm curious who you're talking about.

 

[Cappy]

Raising the price is how they cover for your lapsed sub. Just like with Sony raising the price of ps plus. They knew numbers would go down due to it.

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Yep. Even if you don't add Call of Duty specifically, adding in the Activision back catalog would probably warrant another situation to revisit the price per month for the service. I don't think it would be a dramatic, double digit price increase, but I imagine something around $20/month is more where they'd want this to be to start.

 

[Astrogamer]

People lost all critical thinking skills when it came to Game Pass and the ABK buyout. Just blindly believed the MS PR despite some people saying that there were fundamental financial problems with GP and that massive buyouts historically led to worse outcomes for consumers and employees. People were just totally, willfully ignorant and blind due to the prospect of "free" modern games from their GP subscriptions.

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The financial problems are not properly quantified. The larger issue was that Microsoft was never managing their studios right so they never solved their output problem to turn Game Pass into an established service like Netflix. In a world without Game Pass and assuming Xbox lasts this long, they are running into the same issue as they are still years away from having annual major titles, have weak live service games that aren't returning on investments and still only a scattering of low budget titles in-between the major games. Activision-Blizzard and the associated costs of acquiring them would make that all the more apparent with or without Game Pass. These subscription models are still a viable alternative rather than exponentially rising retail model or the live service battle pass model especially when considering companies with weak catalogue sales.

 

[Kitano]

I think I read that Kotick hated the deal and was basically forced by the board to go through with it. He probably knew that he would be kicked out and never have that much power in the industry again.

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I don't think this way, as he knew he would get almost $300 million with the deal and the controversy at the time was still being reported non-stop.

It was the perfect plan to escape the (criminal) situation he was into. After the announcement of the acquisition, all the talk was deflected to it.

I can't remember Kotick also criticizing the deal. What I remember is him throwing shit at the regulators for trying to block it. Also, you mention he maybe thought he would be kicked out. What is better: being kicked out with nothing or leave with a $300M golden parachute?

 

[brawndolicious]

I don't think this way, as he knew he would get almost $300 million with the deal and the controversy at the time was still being reported non-stop.

It was the perfect plan to escape the (criminal) situation he was into. After the announcement of the acquisition, all the talk was deflected to it.

I can't remember Kotick also criticizing the deal. What I remember is him throwing shit at the regulators for trying to block it. Also, you mention he maybe thought he would be kicked out. What is better: being kicked out with nothing or leave with a $300M golden parachute?

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No that doesn't get him out of any criminal charges and publicly, all executives are required to support a merger that the board approves. I think they can be fired with cause and lose out on the golden parachute if they don't do that.

I'll try to find the article but for Kotick, it probably makes more sense to stick with ABK for another decade and retire when the stock price is even higher. But for the institutional investors that hold most of the board seats, they just care about quick return on investment so selling to MS makes sense.

 

[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

I think I read that Kotick hated the deal and was basically forced by the board to go through with it. He probably knew that he would be kicked out and never have that much power in the industry again.


Do you seriously think they hate the team they gave a $100 million budget to build a sequel to an extremely niche, low-budget game that finally explores mental health disorders in a meaningful and respectful way?

I think they funded it mainly to appeal to the hardcore audience but there will never be even a modest market for this type of game. The story is way too hard to digest and the gameplay is way too light for the average person to be interested.

Basically, it had to be planned as a game that loses money but builds up the reputation of the platform. No amount of marketing or porting will change that.

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I dont need to think about this in terms of hating a team or not. I can look at it objectively, and see where they're materially advocating for the game, as in advertising at any level whatsoever.
Every project, mass appeal or not, needs at least proportional marketing to its budget just as proper insurance to the project.

Also you've come up with the perfect back of the box quotes if Microsoft is still doing physically releases (they've seemed to have got rid of their physical stuff here in Japan):

• "an extremely niche, low-budget game that finally explores mental health disorders in a meaningful and respectful way"
• "there will never be even a modest market for this type of game. The story is way too hard to digest and the gameplay is way too light for the average person to be interested."
• " it had to be planned as a game that loses money but builds up the reputation of the platform"

Some Ryan O'Donnell "Gears of War is too good" energy.

 

[brawndolicious]

I dont need to think about this in terms of hating a team or not. I can look at it objectively, and see where they're materially advocating for the game, as in advertising at any level whatsoever.
Every project, mass appeal or not, needs at least proportional marketing to its budget just as proper insurance to the project.

Also you've come up with the perfect back of the box quotes if Microsoft is still doing physically releases (they've seemed to have got rid of their physical stuff here in Japan):

• "an extremely niche, low-budget game that finally explores mental health disorders in a meaningful and respectful way"
• "there will never be even a modest market for this type of game. The story is way too hard to digest and the gameplay is way too light for the average person to be interested."
• " it had to be planned as a game that loses money but builds up the reputation of the platform"

Some Ryan O'Donnell "Gears of War is too good" energy.

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Are you sure you have that quote right? I don't remember exactly the context for that original quote but I always assumed he was saying it's no fun having a game that you can't criticize. On the other hand, I'm pointing out how this game is in the exact opposite situation where it's a very good game that's hard to pitch.

Also, marketing correlates with budget but the point of it is just to reach the audience size that you believe will have an interest in a game. Something like GTA or CoD absolutely doesn't need marketing to explain what the game will be all about but they always spend an eight or nine-figure amount blasting out ads just to remind the userbase that there's a new one coming out. The first Hellblade sold about a million copies and only has a completion rate of about 59% which seems quite low for an eight-hour game. Meanwhile, TLOU2 takes over twenty hours to complete and has about a 75% completion rate. It's fine that some games are not for the mass market.

Basically, if there's a lot of fish, then that's when you need to buy a lot of nets.