93% Of ‘Hades’ Box Sales Are On PlayStation, Raising An Xbox Game Pass Question

So, 93% of Hades sales being on PlayStation has naturally become ammo loaded into a console wars machine gun being fired toward Xbox. Of course, the obvious answer is “well duh, Hades is out on Game Pass.” But it’s a little more complicated than that, and probably worth exploring.

[z2g]

I got it via Gamepass. On the Xbox side either Gamepass is working, or Xbox gamers aren’t interested in games like this. Considering there are millions of Xbox consoles out there tho, my hunch is Gamepass.

I’d love to see the full metrics just for curiosity.

[Lightning77]

"Considering there are millions of Xbox consoles out there tho, my hunch is Gamepass."

No, it's not gamepass at all. If you read the article its Box copies or physical copies. Since it's on Gamepass less Xbox players are buying physical and just downloading it. Same exact scenario with Dark Alliance where 90% bought the game on PS physical copies.

The writer himself literally backed up his own evidence and answered his own question.

"Microsoft has previously said that one advantage of Game Pass is the potential for significant sales of a game. And we have seen this happen at times. Rage Squid’s Descenders reported a sales increase of 5x after appearing on Game Pass. Microsoft reports that Game Pass players spend 20% more time gaming, play 30% more total game in general and explore more different genres."

That's one of several instances with gamepass. Everything else is speculation on his part.

[darthv72]

When I was at gamestop this past weekend, I saw hades for $30 on both xb and ps. I thought about buying it but I recently downloaded it earlier that morning on GP. Only played it for a bit so I wasnt totally sold on it but it is cool.

I will still likely buy it (physically) later on but thanks to GP it lets me try before I buy.

[TheHan]

@Lightning77; You do realize that the exposer the game has gotten increased it’s sales, so the hype of the Xbox guys and girls enjoying the game, made PS fans want in on the action which caused more physical copies. Where’s for Xbox people they had a more convenient method and downloaded it included in their monthly subscription service. It’s honestly a no brainer and those who enjoy the game enough to buy it or when it goes off of gamepass. Physical copies is slowly dying out.

[Smok91]

I’m not sure what you mean because gamepass has kept me front buying 10+ games

[MrNinosan]

So far I bought zero games for my Series X, but I did try some games through Gamepass.

However I have bought around 20 games on PS5, and played some through PSNow (PS4-games).

GamePass is all I need for my Xbox, but that's just sad because I doubt it benefit any of the developers.

I also doubt people sating they biy more games on Xbox since they got Gamepass. If, it's probably not for that box.

[derek]

@lighting sorry but you would have to be delusional if you think having access to a game for free isn't going to dramatically effect sales. It's essentially the same effect pirating has on all forms of media.

[neutralgamer1992]

This is the reality of gamepass is most who have it will play the game without buying it digitally. There are some who will like the game and want to support the developers. GP is for 1st party games right now Ms are paying 3rd party to have their games on GP because their own production studios aren't up and running and producing quality titles every 3-6 month

Take two ceo was right GP isn't for big AAA 3rd party games and that's the reality of this service. GP is the reason outriders developers didn't get any bonuses. If it wasn't on GP it would have sold 1-2 million

[TheHan]

I’d have to disagree and say that after playing the Demo for Outriders I didn’t even bother downloading the game from gamepass, it just seemed like a lack luster cover style game with a looting system. I was board rather quickly with the limited movement and eh gameplay.

[Lightning77]

"GP is the reason outriders developers didn't get any bonuses. If it wasn't on GP it would have sold 1-2 million"

Source?

MS is paying the publish/developers either, the portion of what the game cost to make, or paying a portion of the difference in what the game is projected to sale. GP is definitely not withholding royalties in fact it has nothing to do with gamepass at all considering they met their sales mark.

[tombfan]

You didn't get anything, game pass is just a rental service and maybe now it hasn't delete games of it's database, but in the future, it'll surely happen. People complaint digital only was a bad way to own games, but this is WAY worse, because you don't own anything.

[darthv72]

Well of course you dont own them if you dont buy them. But to think you can never buy a game you play in GP is the asinine part. It may be a glorified rental service but it also has the option of rent to own. And nothing is stopping anyone from tracking down a disc if they so desire (provided there is one available).

[SurgicalMenace]

Why would this even be a surprise? We all understand that GP supporters are seldomly interested in actually purchasing their games outside of the service.

[Babadook7]

Yah. Gamepass is a desperate move for a company in dead last place, hardware wise, and when it lowers the value of customers per hardware unit (because they don't even buy games) that is a problem for publishers, and for Xbox.

[gravedigger]

On point. Sadly, majority of people are brainwashed by Phil Spencer

[UnHoly_One]

This is a non story if I've ever seen one.

"Here are some stats about a game that launched on game pass. No I don't have any other stats to show what this means or even if it means anything, but I'll word the article in such a way as to make you to think that I do."

Then everyone comes on here and argues about it like it proves whatever point they want to make.

Here is all of the data he provides.

Sales are far less on Xbox
It's on Game Pass

That's it. That should seem totally fucking obvious, but if you want to speculate about what else it could mean, then be my guest.

[Bathyj]

Really? You're ok with us discussing cos it seems to really bother you.

And the notion that gamepass causes people to buy less games might be obvious to you and me, but there are plenty here claiming that it increases game sales and it's the future of gaming.

Whose right? Well that's why we're discussing. It's a little more important than whether you find the topic annoying or not.

[chaoslh]

Why rent the game when you can own it

[dreamed]

Your right I'm some one who can't stand mobile games like this....it looks like something I used to play on a pc bk in 92...lol ..ps i have Gamepass ultimate 👍

[Jin_Sakai]

But I was told Game Pass didn’t affect sales.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Yup. We were told game pass increases sales of games. But we're not not seeing that every month.

And we all know a subscription would kill sales of most games if you can play them for cheap.

[Petebloodyonion]

And told by who exactly?
Oh yeah by Sega who's been praising Gamepass
By the developers of the Ascent who praise the service as one of the main reasons why the game got so popular on Steam
Or how about Remedy who credited Control's recent success by giving it for free on Epic Game store?

And a quick question How come the majority of sales are on PS5 and not PS4?
Have you considered that perhaps The Ps5 sales are in fact due to the game being promoted on Gamepass?
If not how come the majority of sales come from the smallest userbase?

[MagUk]

They are getting paid by MS for it to be on game pass and it’s most likely more than they have made on the sales from the other platforms at the moment.

[OptimusDK]

Do you Think they are on gamepass for free. Do we know the money they get for that. Seems like sine important info right

[gravedigger]

@Petebloodyonion

Quote :

"And told by who exactly?"

Asshole Phil Spencer

https://www.gamesindustry.b...

Also, in recent interviews also you can

[outsider1624]

I gotta ask though..(outside a small percentage of xbox gamers here on n4g)If its on GP,shouldn't it be higher?
Seriously what type of games do they play? 93% on ps vs 7% over at xbox is really bad.

[darthv72]

^^ its talking sales, not players. Currently there is no stat on number of downloads from GP.

[Dario_DC]

I can't complain.. I haven't bought a single game for my series X and probably never will.
I also have psnow so I'm good on both ends, I still buy brand new games on the PS5 from time to time though.
In terms of sustainability of these services... Only the future will tell

[Christopher]

TBF, this doesn't include digital sales. I'm not sitting here saying GamePass is improving game sales or beneficial as a path for all developers, but this is just box sales.

The only way we'll ever see if a game is successful because of GamePass or not is if the Publisher/Develpoer comes out and says as much. My opinion is that GamePass, though, is typically best for GAAS games or games that everyone was already going to play and would invest many hours into and Microsoft paid for the game to be on GamePass.

[Zeref]

Most people will buy it Digitally since you get a 10 percent discount.

[Christopher]

It was also 20% off on PSN, but people still bought it in stores. Some people go physical over digital.

[Popsicle]

The true test will be if it begins to sell just prior to or after leaving the service. Because the game is selling well on PS maybe it gets yanked off the service a little earlier than normal, and after many have tried it and liked it or have not had time complete it. At that point maybe people purchase via GamePass because they either like the game or want to finish the game. Only then will we really be able to measure the sales or lack thereof on Xbox for this game.

[--Onilink--]

But what are the actual numbers? People here are talking like its a massive number of copies sold but the article is talking about UK only, for a single week and Physical only (and for an indie game).

Saying 93% alone doesnt actually tell me that much. Is it just 10.000 copies sold in total, are 9.300 physical copies on PS5 supposed to be better than whatever the devs/publisher got for the game to be on gamepass?

How is data in %s for a single week, a single location and a single format supposed to be enough information for whatever conjectures people are coming up with?

[Christopher]

***How is data in %s for a single week, a single location and a single format supposed to be enough information for whatever conjectures people are coming up with?***

The same way that download rates equal success on GamePass even though Outriders devs said they got nothing out of it?

We're all just working with the information we have. Nothing here is set in stone, but what we know. I hope that's understood in general here?

[Rude-ro]

From the same people that think games are free with a subscription.. 🤦🤷🏻‍♀️

[spicelicka]

Were you also told that devs still make money and gamers still win?

[NeoGamer232]

There should be a new category of articles at N4G called "Wild Ass Speculation". This article even admits there is no real facts to know how well the game is doing financially on XB but endeavors to take other past facts, patch them together and essentially say a lot of nothing.

This doesn't even make the category of "Opinion Piece".

And of course this is Forbes. Yup, the gaming news organization that a lot of people here hate on for any negative PS articles and any positive XB articles.

[Aarontk]

You’re ignoring the money Microsoft pays the developer to put the game on Game Pass, it may be more than sales, it may be less. Developers might be going for the sure bet, over unknown.
Bottom line is developers aren’t going the Game Pass route unless it’s lucrative.

[neutralgamer1992]

Petebloodyonion

so now gamepass is helping sell games in other platforms . Man if you like GP good for you enjoy it but let's at least keep it logical. PlayStation was responsible for selling 2-3 times more games than Xbox long before GP

It's great for unknown games but major titles don't need GP exposure to sell. Take two ceo said it best:

Our views remain unchanged. We think a subscription model can make sense for deep catalog titles. But it doesn't really make sense for frontline titles. For any business model to make sense in the entertainment business, it has to work for the creators of the entertainment as well as the consumers of the entertainment. I think catalog can make sense for the publishers, it can make sense for the consumers who are avid, who really want access to a lot of product. But if you're getting into frontline product, then the economics are much more difficult to make sense of," he said during Take-Two's earnings call.

But I guess let's not listen to the CEO whose company is worth almost $20 billion. Let's listen to small independent developers who don't have the resources to advertise their games before them game pass makes a lot of sense

[Petebloodyonion]

"so now game pass is helping sell games in other platforms?"
According to the Ascent developer, it's one of the reasons why the game became one of the best selling games on Steam and I don't recall Steam being a part of Microsoft of Xbox
https://www.gamespot.com/ar...
https://venturebeat.com/202...
And let's also dismiss Sega that mentioned how Gamepass has been helpful for them in promoting games.
https://gamerant.com/sega-p...

Regarding your Statement from TakeTwo Ceo, I totally agree with it. There's no point in releasing a game that ppl are happy to buy at full price day one and are sure to sell millions like Assassin's Creed, COD, Ea sport title, GTA, etc...

But I don't recall Hades being a well-known AAA game before.
Sure you can say it won some awards on PC but so did Disco Elysium, so did Gris, so did Untitled Goose Game, and tons of praised indies games.

And let me ask you a couple of questions:
What's Devolver best selling game? (hint it started a Ps+ game)
How come everybody is talking about 12 minutes on Gamespot and IGN?
Did you know about the Ascent game before it was advertised as a Gamepass game?
And what do The Ascent, 12 minutes, and Hades have all in common?

So I'm not saying that Gamepass must have help Playstation sales I'm just saying that we don't have data from the devs about gamepass hurting the # of sales on Xbox or Gamepass helping the game profit.

[ARESWARLORD]

Gamepass is awesome so is Hades

[CaptainHenry916]

Not going to lie.. Microsoft has been saving me a lot of money. Gamepass is awesome because I haven't paid for it in 3 months because of Microsoft reward point system and already played all the games I was interested in. Can't wait to play Halo Infinite for $10 bucks on PC ... Hades is awesome too 😎 😁

[Charlieboy333]

I keep seeing Xbox gamers praising gamepass and declaring the reason it's their gaming platform of choice is because of the value and all the money it saves them. I'm sorry, but if you truly call yourself a gamer then your priority should playing the best quality amazing gaming experiences that money can buy......not what you can play for the least amount of money. Gaming has NEVER been a cheap source of entertainment and if your main concern as a 'gamer' is to not spend money, may I suggest a different hobby. That's like claiming to be a music lover, but you don't want to spend money on buying albums. You would rather listen to the radio and whatever songs the DJ has selected for you......even if you hate 9 out of every 10 songs they play.....cos you don't have to pay. It is increasingly evident that gamepass is conditioning Xbox supporters to have the mentality that buying games at full price is suddenly 'bad'. Oh and please don't say ''but people bought games because gamepass let them try it out first'' because that's a load of crap. You, me and everyone else knows exactly which games we are interested in enough to buy without 'trying it'' first.......we have extensive coverage on sites like this to look at if we have any doubts before buying. So you already know what games you are interested in. Another one I often hear is ''it lets me try so many games that I never would have''. Guess what genius, there's a reason you wouldn't have tried them in the firstplace....and the reason is because they are unimaginative. generic, shovelware titles that don't interest you and which you suspected you would find boring. Unsurprisingly after 'trying' all these games for like '10' minutes your suspicion proved to be correct..... you know it. The fact of the matter is that Xbox gamers are growing more and more averse to purchasing games, whether the game is on gamepass or not. What I'm hearing more and more of is ''nah I'll rather just wait until it comes to gamepass'' and this way of thinking is impacting sales figures more and more. Gamepass is literally changing Xbox 'gamers' into 'waiters'. Another thing its done is lower the standards of Xbox gamers over the years to the point where they are happy being drip fed below average trash for years now, with one or two bones thrown at them. I mean FFS, practically all the good games in gamepass are 1 to 2 generations old 3rd party games. Literally NOTHING that makes you go ''Holy Shit this is awesome!'' ''This is why I love gaming!" has come out from Microsoft in the last several years or will in the near future ( because gamepass ''value'' ain't gonna allow for those kinds of games......at least not without significant monetization, etc ). Hell, even when a game is complete and utter garbage there will be a chorus of voices reciting the line ''it doesn't matter because it's 'free' on gamepass'' in defence. Mark my words, the Xbox community's increasing reluctance to actually purchase any games and their inability to demand ( or expect ) any better from Microsoft is going to bite them badly.

[CaptainHenry916]

🤔🙄

[x_xavier_x]

@ Charlieboy333

"your priority should playing the best quality amazing gaming experiences that money can buy."

Do you mean amazing AAA games with great Metacritic scores such as:

Red Dead Redemption 2 (97%)
Doom (87%)
Doom Eternal (88%)
Minecraft (88%)
Forza Horizon 4 (92%)
Wolfensten II (88%)
Halo Collection (88%)
Gears 5 (84%)
Flight Simulator (91%)
Batman Arkham Knight (87%)
Control (82%)
Resident Evil Village (86%)
Grand Theft Auto V (97%)

I would say that those titles qualify as "amazing gaming experinces", but they're "old" so according to you they don't count.

[Mr Logic]

@xavier

RE Village is neither old nor on GP, so idk why you're listing it.

[x_xavier_x]

@ Mr Logic

I meant to list Resident Evil VII:Biohazard which has a higher score than Village on Metcritic (86%). So, thanks for helping reinforce my point.

[Anomander]

I don't think Charlieboy333 has ever heard of the Steam Sales or Humble Bundle deals.. Quality and Cheap at the same time... Damn it's like MS offering a service that does this (Humble) like some others, but possibly better?

[bangoskank]

Best comment and opinions on it are split right down the middle. How is he wrong? Both are awesome. I've played Doom Eternal, A Plague Tale, RE7, Gears 5, any Yakuza game I want, Hades, many others, and in a week I'll be playing Psychonauts 2 on gamepass PC. What's not awesome about that?

[PhillyDillyDee]

Not sure why everyone is so up-in-arms here. Microsoft works out compensation with these devs and every deal is specific to said dev. This game has been on GP for less than a week so it makes complete sense that sales will be lagging on xbox as people try it out. Furthermore, people will often try games on GP to then purchase the game on other platforms like the switch. The devs dont care what platform their game sells on, just that it sells.

[porkChop]

I played Greedfall with GP. I loved the game so I bought the expansion. Loved the expansion too, so I ended up buying the game itself. I also bought all the DLC for Wasteland 3, and am probably going to buy the game as well. Just because I have GP doesn't mean I can't or won't still support great devs and games.

Obviously if I play a game I don't like I'm not going to buy it, but the dev still gets paid by Microsoft either way.

[porkChop]

1) I was just giving a couple examples of games I've bought despite being available on GP. The idea that people don't buy games because they're on GP certainly isn't always true. I use GP like a rental/demo system.

2) Why would I buy every game on GP when I haven't even played the majority of them?

I'm genuinely confused at what point you thought you were making, and also why you bothered to comment at all.

[PhillyDillyDee]

Ive come to the conclusion that some people just hate xbox and will argue any little bit of success they are having is unjust. I personally went with them this generation because gamepass is so pro-consumer. Playstation, on the other hand, decided to follow activision and other greedy pubs and increase msrp on their first party titles.

[Jin_Sakai]

@PhillyDillyDee

“Ive come to the conclusion that some people just hate xbox and will argue any little bit of success they are having is unjust“

I’ve come to the conclusion that some people will defend Xbox at all cost and will argue against any negativity even if they’re in the wrong.

“I personally went with them this generation because gamepass is so pro-consumer.“

Pro-consumer yes but what about the developers cut and sales?

[lonewolf10]

@Jin_Sakai

"Pro-consumer yes but what about the developers cut and sales?"

Didn't some devs come out and say that GP has been good for them and some sales have increased because of it?

[darthv72]

I have bought more games as a result of playing them in GP. only a few of them were still in their digital form but otherwise I will seek out a physical version (if available) and buy it. GP is the evolution of the demo/trial era only this time with full games. If a game i am currently playing decides to leave (and it is one that I bought physically) then i can just pop in my disc and keep playing.

I love that on XB, the games are all treated the same. You dont have to uninstall the digital version to then install the physical. I remember the first time I signed up for GP and several of the games I already had installed (from disc) were ones also offered in the service. And so I was able to keep playing my already installed copy without the need for the disc. Its a nice convenience and one hardly anyone ever mentions.

[PhillyDillyDee]

Lol N4G really hates xbox. They wont even take a reasonable explanation as to why someone would chose one console over another. Its just pure fanboy nonsense up in here.

[sourOG]

It’s just websites circle jerking their own useless data for clickbait. This article and their source don’t show any numbers. It’s box sales, 93% of 100k doesn’t amount to much. It’s number 8 in the UK for box sales. This doesn’t mean anything for gamepass lol.

[Knushwood Butt]

'Microsoft works out compensation with these devs and every deal is specific to said dev.'

Really? How do you know this? What criteria do they use to fix the deal? Do you have any actual examples?

[PhillyDillyDee]

Tons of articles out there. Do you need me to google it for you?

[GoodGuy09]

Gamepass has made things wierd for video game sales lol.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Gamepass is a mixed bag I see.

[spicelicka]

It's not a mixed bag for gamers, it's pure value. I don't understand why people care so much about the devs and sales when the devs do whatever they want anyway. Do the devs care when they're ripping us off with microtransactions, DLC, unfinished games, and all kinds of other nonsense? No one is forcing the devs to make deals with MS on Gamepass, they wouldn't do so if there wasn't some financial benefit, and even if there isn't it's an issue between the publishers/developers who make decisions based on profit not on gamer arguments. It's only controversial because fanboys need something to feed on. I understand discussing it for the sake of conversation but if it doesn't impact our wallets it's not our problem.

[Z501]

Value is subjective.

[spicelicka]

Z501

Literally everything is subjective.

[DJStotty]

Ok here goes :-

The 93% figure only applies to boxed UK game sales, so in order to get an accurate discussion/argument about the figures, we need :-

1 - Total sales, both Physical and digital, worldwide, for all platforms

2 - Total playerbase, with a breakdown for all platforms

Only then, can we deduce whether gamepass is beneficial or not for the games. For all we know, the Digital sales between the platforms may be 93% xbox, 7% playstation, right?

Outriders, flopped, plain and simple, gamepass did not make it flop, the game did that job. Royalties are nothing to do with gamepass, but again, we do not have the numbers to make a case for the playerbase that played via gamepass.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Try not to over complicate it.

Most third party games sell more on PlayStation. We've seen multiple numbers that prove this every month. I'd also bet more gamers played FS on game pass than bought the game. Or any game pass game. Why would a gamer who can play a game for $1-$10, go out and spend $60 for it afterwards? They would be less likely to buy and more likely to move on to the next game they can play for cheap on the subscription.

Doesn't matter if it's a first, third or Indy title. Giving a consumer the option to pay less to play a game, many will take it. We see Xbox gamers do so. They even announce it all the time of, "it's a great value." "can't wait to play it on game pass." "Is it on game pass?" While most of the time we don't hear, "can't wait to **BUY** it."

Yeah. It allows you to try some games. But if there was an increase in sales, Microsoft would be consistently telling the industry that game pass increases sales of games on their platform and that more companies should be stepping right up to put their games on there day one. Even AAA makers. I don't see any mad rush from companies to do so. Why is that? Because, without a huge upfront check, it's not worth it for a company to do so.

[rakentaja]

because there are many more playstations ... it seems logical that more copies will be sold there than on xbox

[DJStotty]

Not what i was getting at, the subject matter is that gamepass is being "blamed" for outriders' failure, and now for the UK boxed Hades sales.

Forming an opinion based on the data available, would be highly innacurate. Now i am in no way saying that more copies were not sold on Playstation (can't believe i have to point this out) i am simply saying, the only way to conclude a concrete valid statement, whilst also seeing the effect that a game on gamepass has on either sales, playerbase, would be to have all the factual data in front of us, rather than what you would call "jumping the gun" and using 1 countries sales data, to say one is better over the other.

Then again, this is N4G what am i thinking?

[The Wood]

Nah DJ its just highlighting a trend and the potential negative side of a great service. What people need to look at is the 'wait for it to come to gamespass' thinking for games not on gamespass. The ratio of sales is disproportionately lower on the xbox than the PS and that's even after you factor in the unit sales differential. Xbox guys seem to be shying away from buying games.

rakentaja
face palm

[Chevalier]

I don't know why you bother arguing when all your doing is using your opinion as a basis. Newsflash your opinion isn't FACT.

EA, Ubisoft have shown in their quarterly reports that Playstation always dominate their overall sales. 2K, Square, Capcom, Sega show better sales on Playstation regularly as well. Some games we're talking about 75 to 80 of total sales for Playstation over Xbox for their major games. It's not even close. So you can deduce from most companies quarterly reports where I know you'll be shocked.... Playstation dominates.

Average games sold per system sold - Playstation
Most games sold physically- Playstation
Digital sales overall - Playstation
Service Sales - Playstation
Etc.

PS4 had the highest physical game sales of any system EVER. You know this article is about? Physical sales! So yeah you guys can talk crap about how much more games you guys buy, but, let's not forget the average customer are not people on this site.

Its funny to see you guys scoff and say it's ONLY the UK...... wtf? You mean 1 of only 3 major markets for Xbox is NO big deal? Uhh... if sales are this bad in one of the TOP Xbox markets then you can pretty much assume the sales won't be better elsewhere for Xbox.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

So why do the publishers still bother with Xbox/Microsoft?

EA has their who EA Play on Xbox and not PS...PS gamers buy more right?

[DJStotty]

Why are you getting so offended? Nowhere have i said the figures are incorrect, your just going on rants that have no basis to the discussion.

We need the whole data to display how gamepass affects game sales across the board, not just 1 regions data. If you re read what i am trying to get at, you will find it is not a dig at, nor an attempt to deflect from sales, but more a yearn to see how gamepass (remember, nothing to do with Playstation) affects game sales.

Could it be a 90-10 split worldwide, probably, but that is not what i want to know. i want figures (more so from MS) so we can have a discussion and find whether gamepass hurts a games sales. You can not just say "yeah it does, devs are losing millions blah blah" with no actual data or foundation for the claim.

[gravedigger]

Quote

"At the end of the day UK is what the 2nd biggest market for Xbox in the world?! But yeah no big deal just Xbox gamers prove again in this huge Xbox market that Xbox gamers do NOT buy games"

Imagine worldwide then. DjStotty, Xbox astroturfer to the rescue

[gravedigger]

DJStotty

Quote :

@Iretrouk

https://screenrant.com/xbox...

It was 23 million in April 2021

....

This is NOT an official info. Source is Xbox dumbass Jez Corden. Nor he isn't market analyst at all. MS didn't gave official GP sub numbers for 6 months now

Quote :

Ok here goes :-

The 93% figure only applies to boxed UK game sales, so in order to get an accurate discussion/argument about the figures, we need :-

1 - Total sales, both Physical and digital, worldwide, for all platforms

2 - Total playerbase, with a breakdown for all platforms.

Yada, yada....if 93% is just in UK, the 2nd Xbox strongest market, imagine worldwide then

[DJStotty]

@gravedigger

"imagine worldwide then"

(closes eyes, then squints, makes meditating noises)

Got it!!!! PS5 would sell more physical worldwide!!! that is quite simply an observation that a primary school child could make.

Again, that is not my discussion, nor did i say anywhere the xbox platform would have sold more, in any region it is available in.

I refer to the article we are commenting on, where it is implying questions are raised about the gamepass model, facts are, we have no clue of what finances were compensated for having Hades on Gamepass, or digital sales on all platforms (which nowadays account for a very large percentage of sales, on all platforms). Now please do not take that as me saying "xbox could have sold more" because i can guarantee you, they have not (going by brain matter, and common sense taught at a young age, and nurtured throughout adulthood).

This is what we know, to try and make my comment as clear as possible :-

1 - UK physical sales were substantially higher on PS as opposed to Xbox - fact
2 - We can use that data to make a good projection it is replicated worldwide - fact

Now what we need to know, is why, is it simply because of the amount of xbox gamer's that have adopted the gamepass sub, quite possibly. But if they enjoy this game, then once Hades leaves the gamepass service, this will then translate into sales, equalling the scales (either digital/physical).

Either way, until the Hades devs/pubs release actual sales numbers by platform, everything else is just he said, she said, even my comments.

[Father__Merrin]

I had it pre installed from gamepass but bought the game digitally as its a game worth buying only cost me £4.19

But for most xbox retail sales and digi sales will slump I want to know how this can carry on. The revenue from a subscription is nothing compared to real unit sales

[BlaqMagiq1]

Glad to see physical thriving on PS. That's all I gotta say.

[Ristul]

Yep, physical games ftw. We can count on Playstation and Switch owners to keep these developers alive and well.

[DJStotty]

So your against the PS5 DE and Series S? and also the new Steam deck?

[BlaqMagiq1]

In the case of PS5 DE and Series S, absolutely. Never cared for digital only consoles and never will. Steam Deck is an exception as PC is digital only, but is an open platform with freedom on how to play and own your games.

[Tedakin]

Playing it on Gamepass. Microsoft paid the publisher so that I could. Everyone is happy.

[Knushwood Butt]

The devs don't sound so happy.

[rakentaja]

all you say is speculation, no one knows how much they get from microsoft or how happy or unhappy the developers are ... it's all speculation. they agree to put the game in there and agree to the terms. sounds good to me

[Tedakin]

Devs don't sound happy where? They got a bunch of money up front to put it on Gamepass. It was THEIR choice, not Microsoft's.

[DJStotty]

@Knushwood

"The devs don't sound so happy."

Because of Square, not gamepass lmao

[DJStotty]

@rakentaja

"ll you say is speculation, no one knows how much they get from microsoft or how happy or unhappy the developers are ... it's all speculation."

The publishers decide where a game goes. In this case Square Enix, but they continue to put games on gamepass, so it can not be that bad.

[Atticus_finch]

I'm sure Ms is paying pennies per download.
But dont worry Ps fans will support the devs.

[BrainSyphoned]

I understand Outriders trying to salvage what it could from GamePass but seeing a high end title like Hades jump straight there was a surprise. I was actually going to buy it for PS5 and then ended up just playing it on an old Xbox instead.

[CrimsonWing69]

It’s on Gamepass.

[tbagmonster]

now everyone is worried about sales, go play the dam games

[Atticus_finch]

I'm sure publishers, game devs and platforms care alot about sales.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Show where pubs and devs are dissatisfied with GP...you must have substantial evidence right?

[jznrpg]

Companies need to make money and be profitable to stay in business so sales matter .

[Thundercat77]

Then why are you here to begin with?

[tbagmonster]

for games.not what publisher sold what, like why even give a crap, how does it concern any of us. we went from games to sales. whjats next, are you going to worry about how the workers are feeling ?

ratchet and clank didnt sell that well, does that take away from your enjoyment of the game, neither did outriders, play games not numbers

[darkrider]

Any studio that put a game on gamepass day one will only do that if Microsoft pays them millions. The amount of money they would expect to make if it wasnt. No studio put the game there without Microsoft paying them millions. They arent morons. Of course that Sony sales are always much bigger because their marketshare is much bigger. Its normal to sell 60% more or even 70%, but above 90% is crazy. Selling so high just make more studios prioritizing games for Sony because its where they make more money.

[aaronaton]

I doubt the developers and MS knew that their game was going to be this successful, i guarantee in hindsight they wouldn't of put their game on Gamepass. MS would of paid indie prices for this game.

[Imalwaysright]

Hades was widely considered one of the best games of 2020 when it released on PC/Switch so your comment doesn't make any sense at all unless Supergiant Games is run by complete morons.

[DJStotty]

Sony publishers must be morons also as even they want a bit of the "gamepass failure pie"

[Atticus_finch]

Yea but its impossible for MS to pay more than a few coins for DL. So yes the dev gets guaranteed money but no where near as much as the competing platform or as much as the devs deserve.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Which ones are prioritizing PS other than the ones that always prioritize Sony?

[darkrider]

Any studio that whats to make more money. Bigger marketshare, more profit. Thats why there are always more games on sony machines then Microsoft.

[JEECE]

The real story I'm seeing here is that I continue to be right about the larger install base on PS4 not resulting in greater sales than on PS5. PS5 outsold PS4 3-1 here, and not even every PS5 can play physical games, so looking at physical only actually favors PS4. In January with Hitman 3 it was 2-1 for PS5, now it's 3-1. How bad do you think it's going to be in 2022 when there are far more PS5 owners than there are now?

[Applejack]

Couldn’t have said it any better myself. I wonder how much longer cross gen will overstay it’s welcome?

[JEECE]

Too long. My guess is that there will still be significant hardcore-focused games (i.e. not COD or sports games) gimped for the old hardware coming out in the first half of 2023. And those games are going to absolutely bomb on the old platforms. Metal Gear Solid V came out in Fall 2015, almost two years after PS4/XONE launched, and despite the PS3/360 having a combined install base over 160 million, those versions only represented 5% of sales. (Source: https://www.videogamer.com/... So the versions on the smaller install base outsold the old versions on the larger install base 19-1.

I don't know of God of War will be 19-1 PS5 to PS4, but 10-1 wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Automatic79]

This is 2021, physical sales do not represent all game sales. If they did we would have a lot more video game stores. Let's get an article discussing digital sales and combine digital and physical sales to get the entire picture. Once we have an article with details of all set forth above, let's look into how Xbox GamePass has contributed to the games overall.

[JEECE]

See, you say that knowing we will never actually get digital sales with a breakdown by platform. It's just like the people who say "well it's just the UK, so we need worldwide data." This is the data we have, and we aren't going to get better data broken down by platform in this way. So all you are really doing is trying to obscure.

[Chevalier]

Exactly. UK is ONLY the 2nd biggest market for Xbox right? Ask someone to explain how 2 generations of Xbox for Resident Evil Village for example sold LESS than PS4 and PS5 sales were even higher.

But the excuse is whelp it's ONLY the UK....... uhhh newsflash if sales are NOT good in the 2nd biggest Xbox market in the world then you might as well keep those blinders on because you can bet sales outside those markets will NOT be better.

Also bringing up digital sales? Really? Playstations sales were more than ALL of Xbox gaming divisions and Nintendo's COMBINED. So if the idea is that Xbox is somehow going to beat Playstation that way then again keep those blinders on...

[aaronaton]

Your probably forgetting that Physical copies can be delivered to peoples homes?

[Eonjay]

The digital sale breakdown is probably just a lopsided for the PlayStation. Lets be real.

[plmkoh]

People just want games that earn their money by providing fresh ideas and good content. It's not a hard ask.

[green]

A question for devs and publishers to answer. if they see no value in it, they will not put their games on gamepass. Simples!!

[Bronbron92]

That’s one thing I thought of gamepass sure x amount of people will actually buy the games on game pass but I wonder how does the developers of the games that are majority just downloaded on gamepass and played for said time how does the numbers break down to whats given to the developers, most recent is the outriders not receiving royalties yet does gamepass effect this for other titles?

[foker]

First,.. Gamepass , demographics of PlayStation gamers is older and more mature, and the 2:1 hardware split. But yes 93% is quite shocking.

[JEECE]

Haha I'm not sure if PS audience is older anymore. I mean it certainly has more older people (those of us who started with the original PlayStation and have never left), but so many younger people bought the PS4 as their first or second console that I think the average age has come way down. Xbox certainly had the younger crowd during the 360 days because they got the high school bros, but I'm not sure that's the case anymore.

[GamingSinceForever]

The real question is who is the 7% that bought the game on XBox instead of just getting GamePass for a month?😂

[JEECE]

Lol it's the people who want to make sure they can still play Hades on their Series X in 2037 when the servers go down.

[Ristul]

Or, you know, those who want to play the game when it is taken off of gamepass witch will happen soon enough.

[JEECE]

@Ristul

True. One of the only real downsides to Gamepass is worrying about that. Fortunately it's not an issue for MS (and no Bethesda) games, which comprise a large part of the service's value.

[GamingSinceForever]

Even still GP would be the cheaper option now and they could by the physical copy later down the line for much cheaper should they like it that much.

I don’t have an XBox but I would take advantage of GP if I did because I almost never replay a game once I’ve finished it.

[deadfrag]

People that like to own there games!With GP you dont own shit!

[Applejack]

This right here! I’m just wondering when the “you don’t own games, you a license” guy will show up. Who exactly is going to take away my GameCube and PS2 games? 🤣

[darthv72]

you know you can still own the games you play in GP... right? You can keep the digital version by buying from GP for a discount (before it leaves) or you can buy them physically (if available) and keep on playing from the disc. nobody says you cant own the games in GP so just stop.

[Vithar]

gamepass is great for gamers, not so much for developers

[Petebloodyonion]

And yet many devs are praising the service (or similar service)

[JEECE]

I'm sure it's going to work for some and backfire for others. The prime example I can think of where a move like this worked is when Rocket League launched on PS Plus, and vaulted from there to become a phenomenon. So there will certainly be games which get a similar effect from Gamepass. However, there will likely be others that lose money overall; I mean at the moment it seems to be up in the air whether Outriders really benefitted from being on Gamepass. I think it could also hurt devs when players just expect games to be there (i.e. when you launched your last game on Gamepass, you might have trouble selling the sequel at full price to the same people).

[Petebloodyonion]

@Jeece
But how are the issues you mentioned different from just a normal release?
Did Square Enix made money with the Avengers?
Bend Studios dev complained recently that not enough ppl bought Daysgone day 1

Meaning that there will always be winners and loosers.

[JEECE]

Exactly. So it's up to devs/pubs whether they want to give up the prospect of a big launch and go day 1 Gamepass (or PS Plus) in order to get a defined amount of money and hopefully create positive buzz so that their game sells more in the long run because of it, or whether they want to take the risk of launching normally in hopes of selling more actual units (and then potentially taking a smaller payday to be on Gamepass or PS Plus later). Honestly for a lot of games I think Gamepass is the best solution, as even based on the numbers, you are going to sell more on Playstation anyway, so you can get the defined amount of $ from MS and garner some positive buzz and then get your individual unit sales elsewhere.

I think you think I'm trying to make some sort of backdoor attack on Gamepass, but I'm really not. I actually think it's such a good value for consumers that the biggest risk is that subscribers will lose their sense of the value of games (much like Spotify has conditioned people to think music doesn't have an intrinsic value). But from a consumer standpoint it's an unthinkably good deal. It actually surprises me that it isn't bigger already.

[gravedigger]

There a thousands of devs and thousands of games, and i only heard few devs praising Gamepass, of course, surely paid heavily by MS to promote it

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Which Dev said this?

[gravedigger]

"Thorium Entertainment is certainly happy with their move putting UnderMine on Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox Game Pass Boosts Indie Game to 500,000 Downloads'

https://gamingintel.com/xbo...

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Proof?

[melons]

I knew this would be Forbes before I clicked on this lol

such a Forbes headline

[JayRyu]

MS paid for the game to be on Gamepass. If Supergiant was not going to benifit from the deal they would not have put it on the service. They got paid!

I purchased HADES from Gamepass day 1 because I knew I would enjoy the game. Some people on Gamepass will wait until the game is leaving service and then purchase if they want to keep the game. You have options while still getting to play the game.

[Abear21]

If I was a publisher or Dev I would want my game to get hyped up on Gamepass (As Hades did) then after a few weeks or longer drop on PlayStation, Gamepass did all the marketing for Hades plus obviously reviews are stellar so that helps

[Knushwood Butt]

Hades got the praise after launching on PC and Switch, long before it was ported to other platforms.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

This made zero sense.

Hades got all the GOTY awards because of its launch on PC and especially Switch. Without those two launches, the game doesn't get nearly as much attention. Xbox did zero for the game.

[Vaud-Villian]

Damn it, looks like I'm having fun with it wrong.

[Applejack]

It’s not a consumer problem, it’s a potential problem for publishers. Weird comment.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Based on what?

[Thundercat77]

Gamepass is the only way devs can make sure to get a return of investment on Xbox by Microsoft paying upfront. Otherwise, they will have to deal with low sales as proven on the Xbox one generation.

[JEECE]

It wasn't going to be a 93-7 split in the absence of Gamepass though. Probably more like 65-35.

[CBaoth]

you mean closer to 75/25. Look at RE8's sales numbers; 80/20 for a non-GP, AAA 3rd party IP. People seem to think it's GP just affecting sales. Totally inaccurate. Thunder is right, MS platforms have been struggling since 2014 to sell software. Long gone are the 360 days where COD would outsell its PS3 counterpart. GP is MS' answer to this conundrum. You might get 65/35 for MP shooters like COD or BF but, by and large, most IPs will not hit that ratio. It's a serious problem that's only getting worse as their gamers "wait" for free*

[Petebloodyonion]

And what's the point of the article?
1) The data is only for physical sales in the UK not sales overall.
2) It's quite funny that we already have detailed sales at retails store only 1 day after launch ( the source article was produced on August 15th https://www.gamesindustry.b...
3) 70% of the game's sales were on Ps5... Now since the PS5 discs don't work on PS4 how come the majority bought it on PS5? How does Gamepass affect the huge Playstation4 userbase into not buying this title vs the relatively small PS5 userbase?

[JEECE]

On 3), like I tell people everytime this type of data comes out (PS5 version also sold better than PS4 for Hitman 3, Resident Evil: Village, and Outriders), the "install base" and "we can't leave 115 million behind" arguments are just wrong. The people who actually buy games other than COD and sports titles are upgrading to PS5, not sticking on PS4. It doesn't matter how many PS4 owners there are in total if most of them just play Warzone and haven't even heard of most of the games we talk about here.

This discrepancy is only going to get worse. My bet for Horizon is 5-1 PS5 to PS4.

[Petebloodyonion]

I'm not disagreeing with you on that front but just saying that if the early Ps5 gamers will buy a game on day 1 and the Ps4 players don't so what's the point of the article related to Gamepass?
Like if the majority of Serie X(S) owners play on Gamepass wouldn't they buy the game digitally with a discount%?
Did having the game on Gamepass reduced the sales # on PS5?
Or did it created the opposite by having the game promoted on Gamepass it made the game more interesting for early Ps5 adopters vs buying another game?

[KillBill]

They don't share what the profit of physical sale is versus the amount they are earning from putting it on Game Pass though. So the question is pointless unless we get contract deal pricing to compare.

[Automatic79]

I don't understand why a perfectly logical comment gets down voted so much.

[moomoo319]

Obviously being free to download or on a service hinders game sales. Thats why Sony pay a pretty penny for certain PS Plus games of the month. Good thing MS have unlimited money tho bc the math does not add up for this many AAA games on one service lmao

[TheHan]

Honestly this isn’t much different from other games after I’ve been playing it awhile, though I find the game very enjoyable the price tag may be a little steep. More so $20 instead of $24.99. But that’s just me, of course people will rather download and play the game instead of blindly buying the game and not putting as much time in. Even if PS fans may have bought a few more copies doesn’t mean their playing it more. Just means they’ll buy a indie game for more.

[MadLad]

I'd assume a high majority of Xbox users make use of gamepass; and gamepass offers a decent discount for buying digital.

Why would you pay full retail if you get a solid discount via a service you're already subscribed to. Of course, there are many who will simply play this via gamepass itself, and I'm not saying the larger install base on PS5 wouldn't result in more sales in general, but I'm pretty sure we'd find digital sales on Xbox significant.

[spwittbold]

I think the question that needs to be asked is 1) What is the lump-sum payment to Hades dev for inclusion on game pass at X duration 2) How much have Boxed PS sales earned in the same duration of the Xbox's Hades contract.

Do a PV Calculation.

Though, there is far more to it than that:
One really needs to consider
A) How many Xbox GamePass players are converted to a full-purchase (digital)
B) What are Sony's Hade's digital sales vs. Xbox

Ultimately, It's a complicated equation. My bet though is more than likely a Hades is a game more PS4 ownders in general are interested in and GamePass was a way to get exposure to a larger audience and conversion sales than had they not. I can only assume this is their thinking, but of course I could very well be wrong!

[Miacosa]

If a Dev is not getting paid well upfront for Games Pass they are just losing sales as the conversion rate to a purchase is low. Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for $9.99 +tax a month, with 100 games at a time on the service to try out it's easy to dump a game and move on to something else.

[EmperorDalek]

The same people "shocked" by this are the same people who mock Xbox when a game only sells 33% on Xbox compared to 66% on PlayStation... Even though that's pretty much the exact ratio of console sales.
So if we assume that 33% of people interested in Hades wanted to play it on Xbox... Then is it really surprising when Xbox gets 7% of the overall physical sales when most Xbox players will play it through Game Pass? Of course not. But PlayStation fanboys will act shocked to fuel some imaginary console war.

"But the developers get less sales!" - They got paid. They would have calculated that whatever MS offered them would be enough to make up for lost sales. They weren't forced into it, so I don't know why people are trying to make this sound like a bad thing.

"But MS said Game Pass increased game sales!" - That's been taken out of context. That was referring to small, relatively unknown indie games. The idea behind that sentiment was that Game Pass increases exposure for these games, therefore increases sales. Was it a bunch of nonsense? Maybe, but they weren't referring to games as big as Hades.

[Father__Merrin]

It's 100 percent clear as part of your gamepass sub monthly you can download and play hades without putting up the 24.99 to buy it this is why sales are so low.

I dunno how much funding Microsoft gave them

[Echone1]

Phil did it! He killed the healthy power of the market, which by having to earn its keep filters out the quality of the games , and turned its own paying community of players into a community of beggars
PlayStation and Nintendo have to make their own 10/10 games to sell it, whereas at Microsoft this effort can't be made anymore if it doesn't earn them anything extra

[Youngindy21]

In my opinion Game Pass works. I played RE7 on Game Pass and then proceeded to purchase RE Village, RE2, and RE3 as a result. I think if you can turn people onto your game series via Game Pass, you will make money in the subsequent releases in the series. By exposing more people to Hades, Hades 2 will probably do better in sales, whereas some people might not have ever given Hades a try.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Hades already had loads and loads of people exposed to it via PC and Switch, and all the awards it got for GOTY on those platforms. It would expose to way less people via Game Pass than it's already done on those platforms (and now PS5)

[wiz7191]

Of course physical sales would be higher on PS5 , Xbox players are just downloading it which I did; it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Gamepass downloads wouldn’t even be considered a sale unless somebody purchased Hades through gamepass.

[SEO69]

They are getting paid by MS for it to be on game pass

[rakentaja]

I don't understand what the problem is or why people are so upset about Xbox numbers. Even if they earned less on Xbox, this will not stop putting games into GP in the future. Two very similar architectures (developing process), earn less on Xbox, and make the most out of it on Playstation. This does not mean that there is no point in putting games on the Microsoft's platform. The developer was probably already happy with the money offered in the release of Game Pass, so they no longer care so much about physical numbers. There are always platforms where the game is sold less in one than on another, does not make these lesser numbers worthless.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

The problem is PS gamers are upset they have no one to play console wars with.

Nintendo Switch users don't give a rats ass.

Xbox gamers don't care if PS sells 10x more console or physical units. Nobody gives a crap PS has better exclusives. Xbox has GamePass so it's a apples to oranges comparison.

So the PS fans whine and whine...."NOBODY WILL PLAY WITH ME...ITS NOT FAIR".

They win their Console War and still whine.

They say they can cheaply play Xbox exclusives on PC and whine.

Nothing makes them happy!

[BehindTheRows]

Reading this post (and the many others in here where you’re clearly looking for attention and a response) makes me think it is YOU with no one to play with.

[gravedigger]

Quote :

"Xbox gamers don't care if PS sells 10x more console or physical units. Nobody gives a crap PS has better exclusives. Xbox has GamePass so it's a apples to oranges comparison.'

Really? NPD June - XSeries was the best selling console in dollar sales
Xbox gamers - tables are turning.
Yeah, Xbox gamers doesn't care about sales. :/

@DjStotty :

Quote :

(closes eyes, then quints, makes meditating noises)

Got it!!!! PS5 would sell more physical worldwide!!! that is quite simply an observation that a primary school child could make.

Again, that is not my discussion, nor did i say anywhere the xbox platform would have sold more, in any region it is available in."

Ignoring digital sales on PS5 too, but counting it for Xbox. Of course, Xbox fan. No wonder why you have so much negative votes in this thread

[sourOG]

Who the hell bought hades on disc? That’s my question lol.

[darthv72]

i almost did. And I probably will the more i play it and want to keep a physical copy on my shelf.

[sourOG]

That’s the only type that would imo. The collector type but it’s not even one of those limited run steelbook games lol.

[neomahi]

Sony wants devs to be properly compensated for their hard work, end of story. Sounds like Sony are Pro-Developer this gen just like they were last gen.

[Donjune]

You guys need to get laid!

[Saijahn]

1 locale
Physical sales only
Don't know how much the gamepass deal was for...

I have gamepass but still buy games that interest me. Bought both outriders and the show, both turned out to be mediocre games that I should've played through gamepass.

If a game is good and people are interested they will buy it. The beauty of having the option is what gamepass is about. Meanwhile Sony players are stuck blindbuying

[Sgt_Slaughter]

"If a game is good and people are interested they will buy it" tons of people who use Game Pass never end up actually buying the game, and only play it briefly via the service. It doesn't translate to nearly as much sale as you would think. Not to mention the tons of people who used the Game Pass for $1 exploit and have it for years.

[TheFallen1327]

@ Charlieboy333

Buddy you need to heal :)

[Charlieboy333]

I'm trying Fallen.....I really am. But it's just.....so....hard ( sniff ) :P

[JayRyu]

The numbers that MS is looking for is player engagement on Gamepass and how may more people are subscribing and playing the games. As long as subscribers are going up MS is good.

Developers have already got their money from MS and are banking it. Additional sales are just a plus for them

[tbagmonster]

when we went to the arcades we didnt care if capcom was getting paid, that wasnt part of being into gaming, we played the games not the numbers, people must be really bored

[VariantAEC]

That was the only option and when people were given another option playing at home they leaped.
MS is giving an option similar to arcade vs home console, just in reverse.

How will MS subsidize this model and give the devs who opt in the money they agreed to? Seems like a pyramid scheme. Anyway the problem is now we hope devs continue making the money to make quality titles from indies to AAA blockbusters from the pennies worth of royalties MS gets from our subs which they use to dispense cash to those devs.

Seeing a problem? No? Look at the music industry and even movies now.
Subs don't allow for great content long term money does and that money for MS to breakeven isn't coming from the roughly 23 million Game Pass subs as of latest counts earlier this year.

[Ryuk_2007]

LOL Everyone getting bent out of shape for a game that sold only 3,000 box units in the U.K. In every U.K article its always percentage based because actual game sales are ass over there.

[DigitalDaniel]

Funny how people claim this is a bad thing. Third party publishers are not forced to put games out on Game Pass. They come to an agreement that financially makes sense to both parties involved.
They don't go into these deals with the emotions we as gamers might have. If there's enough figures on that check, they will sign it.

[Jrpg_Gamer]

If supermassive games agreed with the money Microsoft gave them i dont see the problem but i think the price will go down fast on ps4, the game should have cost less cause it arrived much later, same case as rise tomb raider, hope it will cost 14.99 much sooner than later, then i will buy it

[SimpleSlave]

All gamepass is doing is making people even more complacent about the games they are playing without the need to buy it. We already know that most people don't finish most of their games, thus creating huge backlogs. So why would a non hardcore gamers and, indeed, some hardcore gamers, bother buying games that land on gamepass? This is just allowing them to get their fill and then move on to the next one.

Sure, there will be outliers, but nothing more.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

I've beat more games on GP as a 30+ very busy father than I ever have in my adult life. I've tried more genres too.

[SimpleSlave]

My point exactly. From the sounds of it you didn't seem to be buying many game prior to gamepass, thus no huge backlog. But now that you have an easy way to play and move on, you have even less of a reason to buy new games.

[Knushwood Butt]

Yeah, I'm currently playing Control, and looking at the trophies, less than 50% of players that started the game got past chapter 2, which is only about three hours in, and it's not exactly hard.

[crazyh0rse]

it's not that complicated playstation players have no choice but to buy the game whether physical or digital to play the game, xbox players have a choice of playing it through Game Pass and if they want they can buy it at a discount

[TheEroica]

How many people are playing the game on each console. Only question worth asking.

[warriorcase]

The author literally says we don't know anything concrete

"In short, it’s complicated. While I agree that the numbers don’t look great in the case of Hades, we simply don’t have enough information to know if the Game Pass deal is helping or hurting it. Certainly more people are playing it, but without knowing the specifics of how much Microsoft paid for it, it’s hard to tell the end result, as it is for…really any Game Pass game"

I love these articles because it makes every fanboy dorks come out of the woodwork to bicker. Hades is dope, Gamepass is dope, PS5 is dope.

[Sayai jin]

Game Pass is always on people's minds.

[Ninver]

Not really

[Sayai jin]

It seems to ruffle the feathers of certain folks. So many non game pass subs talking about game pass here, youtube, and social media.

[derek]

Xbox players do not buy games at all anymore. This is what happens when a fat bloated corporate entity like Microsoft tries to force its way into a market and control it. Microsoft can run that crappy xbox division for decades in the red without blinking an eye. Now Nintendo and Sony will have to do the heavy lifting in maintaining and growing the gaming market.

[talocaca]

I have been a PS5 owner since launch. The other day my local retailer had Series S available so I pulled the trigger.

One of my friends works for Microsoft, so he gave me access to the employee store. I got 3 years of Gamepass Ultimate for $80 (around $2 a month).

My case is a bit extreme.....but there is no way I hell Microsoft can make a profit with this business model 🤔

However, as a consumer....I've already played: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Sunset Overdrive, Hades, Gears 5, Flight Simulator and now waiting for Psychonauts 2.....my $2 went really far this month.

How can Microsoft compensate studios without reaching into their own pockets? We will never know.

[darkrider]

They arent making any profit right now and they will need hundreds of millions of subscribers to do that. They are giving it away because they want gamers to get it. But we are already with 4 or 5 years of GP and they still cant raise the price.

[Yui_Suzumiya]

My girlfriend just bought it for our PS4 a few days ago

[gravedigger]

But Gamepass is our saviour. :/

[ElementX]

I haven't bought a physical game in several years. If people like GP games, they can buy the digital version and get a discount.

[asapas8]

I cannot understand game pass in general though. It's like renting the games, not owning them, like the old videoclub ways. I always loved to OWN my games, not renting them for how long Microsoft wants me to. It's like paying for thin air and nothing more

[john416]

I got it on gamepass

[onisama]

the fact that people always talk bad about anything xbox but they will cheer for ps if it has such great service.... i actually bought xbox for gamepass as i dont want to spend much on gaming anymore .....
but you know what positive??? its that i know lot and i meaaaan a lot of people that used to pirate games and now they pay and play on gamepass.....so this point isnt important because this is ps fanbase comment section right?