Xbox confirms Core and Standard Game Pass tiers will wait "up to 12 months+" for first-party games

Microsoft has confirmed that subscribers who pay for its Core and Standard tiers of its Game Pass subscription service may not be able to play titles from its first-party studios "up to 12 months or more" after release.

[shadowT]

once Day 1, now Day 365+

[lodossrage]

I won't make fun or kick xbox fans or anything.

But "Day 1" was a big selling point for that service. If people in standard or core have to wait 1 year or more, then it's essentially what Playstation Plus extra and premium are for the most part (something a lot of people made fun of). And now if they still want "Day 1" they have to pay extra for the best gamepass package.

This goes back to the point that the way xbox had gamepass set up was unsustainable. Again, this isn't a Playstation fan mocking Xbox fans. This is just reality. NOTHING can be given away for pennies on the dollar without a hit being taken somewhere.

[LostPotato]

Ha true tell that to all those supposed dollar stores who don't even sell dollar products anymore.

[lodossrage]

@LostPotato

Exactly. Dollar stores aren't even "dollar" stores anymore. Good comparison

[S2Killinit]

@LostPotato
the dollar store went bankrupt.

[Zeref]

You might have had a point if GamePass Ultimate didn't exist...

[XiNatsuDragnel]

@zeref
Nii chan you want to pay $240 a year for day 1 games? That's silly

[lelo2play]

Everybody (developers and gamers) complained that Gamepass wasn't sustainable. Microsoft decides to increase Gamepass prices to turn it sustainable. All hell breaks loose and a lot of whining accompanies it... typical case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't".

What people fail to understand, is that Gamepass isn't forced on anyone. People are free to purchase their games if they don't want Gamepass...

[Einhander1972]

" typical case of "damned if you do and damned if you don't"."

No, that's not correct even by your own admission, game pass wasn't profitable so they were forced to raise prices, it wasn't really a choice.

And it's not just the prices that have gone up, the number of games has gone down. Back when the service launched and they were giving it away for $1 they were adding 15-20 games a month, now it's 7 or 8 games and the games went from high profile to mostly indies from developers making their first or second game.

The direction Game Pass is heading in is only Microsoft owned games with some off brand indies thrown in as filler. And if the service doesn't cost even more in a year we'll all be surprised even if we don't want to admit it today.

[S2Killinit]

@lelo2play
Umm thats not the issue. They promised “day one”, they really did not deliver, and now after all the gloating about day one, they put it behind a paywall where you essentially are paying for the day one games.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

***"Everybody (developers and gamers) complained that Gamepass wasn't sustainable."***

Everyone? There have been plenty of arguments on this and I'm sure you were one saying that it was sustainable.

***"What people fail to understand, is that Gamepass isn't forced on anyone."***

What you fail to understand is the false promises Phil and Microsoft is making. Day one games was something that you were beating chest about and was even demanding that Sony do the same. Now it's 'well everyone said it wasn't sustainable in the first place so what's the problem?' How about holding Phil and co. accountable?

[anast]

They create the problem. They try to solve the problem they created. People defend them trying to solve the problem all the while ignoring they created the problem...

[Crows90]

Incorrect account of history there.

Everybody said that it was to good to be true. People insulted the ones spouting obvious truths and now here we are...that's it. Obviously it was never sustainable so they have to increase pricing. Those that wouldn't dare believe the obvious truths are up in arms.

[BeHunted]

Xbox Game Pass Core is just Xbox Live that's been rebranded as Xbox Game Pass Core.

It's like comparing it to PlayStation Plus Essential.

[Einhander1972]

"It's like comparing it to PlayStation Plus Essential."

No it's not, PS+ Essential gives you new games every month.

It gets games like LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, Five Nights at Freddy’s Security Breach, Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, two popular franchises and a highly regarded indie. The month before that Borderlands 3, NHL 24, Among Us, again two popular franchises and a highly regarded indie.

Game Pass Core hasn't gotten anything since July, and before that it was August 2023, and the games were just games that were already on Game Pass not even new games to the service.

[solideagle]

Day 360+ , please be consistent with Xbox naming /p /s

[Christopher]

This really makes me confused as to what competitors will do now since I've been told for years that everyone will follow what Xbox does.

[Lightning77]

Gamepass core (10$) you get 25 games that rotates periodically. No first party games after 12 months.

Standard (15$) gets you hundreds of games. No day one 1st party.

Ultimate is where you get everything. They don't wanna give away their first party to the lower tiers but to ultimate tier. (where they take most of your money.)

[darthv72]

to be fair... Day 1 was always touted for Ultimate. I don't recall them saying Day 1 would also be for the lower tiers when they were announced.

For me personally, all Ive ever used is Ultimate. I can't see why anyone who uses GP would use anything less.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

Fair to whom? MS had NEVER made that distinction for day 1 with Ultimate before the recent change, you could say they never specified which tiers were getting day 1, but they didn't ever "touted [it] for Ultimate", there was no singling out different tiers at all, they always treated Day 1 access as a feature of the Game Pass platform itself. And I mean literally never, at least not one mention that I can find before the July announcement (there were rumors covering all the changes exactly as they came to be back in May, so obviously someone already knew, but nothing out of MS or XB people themselves before July 9). Prove me wrong if you can, but I can't find a single ad, interview or whatever where they ever mentioned Day 1 as a benefit specific to Game Pass Ultimate, if you do, link please.

In fact, here's ( https://www.gamespot.com/a/... ) what it looked like, in official XB's webpage, when you checked out Game Pass before the change, notice how "new games on day one" was, in fact, promoted as a feature of all tiers but core (which, to be fair, was just XBL Gold renamed to pad GP numbers anyway, they never meant for it to be a proper GP subscription). So if there was a tier which should had been singled out on all Game Pass ads and promoting material all this time was Core, on a negative but maybe legally required highlight, and not even that they did.

As for what you recall, well, they never said it would be available to ANY tier specifically, did they? Why assume Ultimate, not PC? Look, now (like in this year Gamescon trailers) they started to add a fine print or read a disclaimer over outro cards saying that Day 1 access may be GP tier dependent or something to that effect, but that was not how they used to market Game Pass' day 1 status... Heck, they were pumping that smug "Day 1 with Game Pass" card with no asterisk at the bottom on the end of almost every trailer just in Xbox Games Showcase in June, about a month before the change as if they had no idea it was coming... I'm pretty sure the words "Ultimate" or "Tier" were not even once said throughout the entire showcase too, kinda weird to omit if, as you said, they always meant for it to be more of a GP Ultimate thing.

In fact, as they were being bombarded with bad PR earlier this year, there were multiple interviews with both Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond prompted by the ongoing fear that, because of the acquisition costs, COD would have to skip the Day 1 model or Game Pass would have a price hike or new tier for Day 1 (someone, somewhere, has got a time machine), in all these occasions their PR ready answer was how they knew that their "Game Pass users love the Day 1 model" and they "wanted all Zenimax, Activision Blizzard and XGS games to be available Day 1 in Game Pass". See, I specifically remember they even used the word "wanted", not an absolute confirmation they would, pretty standard PR talk, but they didn't ever took that same chance with mentioning "well, at least for Ultimate" or to qualify the users "that pay a premium" or anything along the lines of a change in the status of the Day 1 feature. Seems pretty clear to me MS knew they could not keep the Day 1 model as it was for a long time and, for at least half year now, they likely also knew how they were going to change it, by making the main seller of their service a premium feature, yet they decided to keep using the Day 1 appeal as a marketing tool long after they knew it would not be available to as many people as they advertised it would to anymore.

So "to be fair" MS/XB needs to be called out on their bullshit and so do you.

[purple101]

Nah mate

Xbox WAS day 1 on game pass - that’s what they sold it as / that’s what gained them subscribers on the promise of that

Ultimate was for Xbox streaming, cloud, play on pc etc

They literally moved the goal post to another field entirely

I’d be so angry if I subbed to game pass and found out they are taking away my first party games I’d been waiting 8 years for and now I have to go top tier with pc and cloud streaming I don’t even want

Yeh pissed.

[LostPotato]

Money and greed. They already made billions and now want more.

Also those massive buying sprees have emptied the treasury.

[anast]

You got it, the war chest is bare.

[HyperMoused]

And in making money they have given up their brand, the more people move away from xbox and they move into software not hardware, the xbox brand will be forgotten and no longer a house hold name.

[andy85]

So now PS players will get to play some of those Xbox games before people subscribed to most of the GP tiers 😂

[Abnor_Mal]

How long is the exclusivity for Indiana Jones and The Great Circle on Xbox, three or six months? Either way PlayStation gamers who are interested in playing will do so six to nine months before Gamepass Core and standard members.

[andy85]

Exactly my point. All in Jest anyway I have both services

[purple101]

Ito be in the bargain bins before it gets to game pass standard tier

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Can’t lower tier subscribers just buy the games?

[andy85]

Certainly can, but all the obsessive Xboxers have been spouting for a couple of years they'll all get to play them for free day one and PS players cant even play them. Now most will actually have to buy them or wait until after PS guys have played then.

[Lightning77]

They have to, it won't be on Core or Standard after a year.

They'll have to buy those games outright for 70$ which is a good thing imo.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I think the subscriber discount on first party titles should be bumped up a bit. It would give non-ultimate subs more incentive to buy, but I don’t see a discount bump happening.

[MetroidFREAK21]

Lol

[tombfan]

And now they'll see that they were just renting games... they truly don't own shiet. And a lot of games that they loved are going to need to be purchased after that and they'll feel robbed.

[S2Killinit]

MS needs to answer me one thing: if Im basically paying for its “day one”, why would I limit myself to what it offers at any given time, instead of just paying for what I want to play?

[Christopher]

They're hoping everyone just migrates to the more expensive subscription so they can then get rid of the less used plans and then a few years later so the same thing at the current price point.

[sagapo]

Couldn’t care less as I buy on disc anyway. But for those who rely on day one games, a d!ck move by MS.

[S2Killinit]

Lmao 🤣 the audacity

[Hofstaderman]

Shem. Really forcing that high tier hey.

[anast]

So, it's PS+ now.

[S2Killinit]

But with less quality games.

Personally I demo games and choose what I want to purchase. If Sony would give us demos for more and more games, I will love them for it.

[anast]

This makes since.

[Goodguy01]

Ever since the Activision deal, they've grown cocky lol

[Hofstaderman]

And look what it has led to...

[Elda]

It's basically PS plus though GP Standard will probably get more new Indie games than PS+ & maybe one or two AA games as well. Ultimate is the tier to go whenever there's new decent games.

[MaximusPrime_]

MS' gaming business advanced from bad to worse.

[Ninver]

Told you so would be an understatement at this point. It was all premeditated.

[Ninver]

Time to wait a year for cod and elder scrolls

[Lightning77]

Wait a year? whatever happened to supporting the developers day one? Waiting a year hurts them. If you're lower tier just buy them. If someone bought cod every year for 70 then what's change for them? If they wanna play it for 20 that bad then get the ultimate tier.

[pwnmaster3000]

CoD dev don’t need supporting.
Also this is the culture now. Why buy day 1 when you can wait.

It’s been like this for awhile bro. Especially in the Xbox community.

[Lightning77]

"CoD dev don’t need supporting."

They don't need money? It's not a charity over there I dont know what you mean by that.

I've heard from PS fans for years to support devs and buy for full price. Waiting 6 months to a year is a culture thing now but that's across PS, Xbox and PC gamers. A universal mindset.

[pwnmaster3000]

I never said it wasn’t a universal mind set.
But it’s mostly the Xbox community then PS.
Which makes sense since MS promised day 1 but now it’s day 1 for some, while PlayStation has always been upfront on their stance against day 1 release on subscription, so they really never had a choice.

Also PS players usually support 1st party devs not all. CoD not so much.

[Lightning77]

"MS promised day 1 but now it’s day 1 for some"

No all who have ultimate.

"Also PS players usually support 1st party devs not all. CoD not so much."

Huh? PS gamers support COD in spades why do you think Sony has had marketing deals all these years? They made a ton of money off COD and will Make a crap ton off COD. Hell Jim Ryan revealed they make so much money they partially fund their first party with it.

[pwnmaster3000]

I can’t speak for every ps gamer. I’m speaking for the ps fans on this site.

[gold_drake]

ehm what lol

that is wild. u cant just lock them out now, after what, 3 years of doing it different lol

[Einhander1972]

Actually, they spent 7 years blasting "Day 1" in everyone's faces only to bait and switch as soon as they actually had a game to release.

And what's worse is how they lied constantly about the cost and profitability to assure people things weren't going to change. Basically calling everyone who was saying the obvious truth liars.

And what's worse is all the people in the media who knew the truth but took Microsoft's money anyways to say things they knew were untrue. And specifically the tools who were backing Microsoft's acquisition spree especially ABK.

[Lightning77]

It's clear they just want you to sign up for the ultimate tier for day one stuff.

It's not hard to understand.

[Jingsing]

Here's an idea, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Games and Movies just need to move back to selling products on their own and stop asking people to pay for 95% of stuff they don't want. Let products stand on their own and stop asking people to subsidize everything. It is like welfare for the rich being funded by working class. This model is not sustainable.

[lodossrage]

"welfare for the rich being funded by the working class".

I never thought of that. That's EXACTLY what's been happening in gaming. I'd give you 10 upvotes if I could just on the profoundness of that comment alone

[OneLove]

They were giving away GP for $1 and of course ppl are going to take advantage and cancel to re subscribe for $1. Cmon, only idiots wouldnt know they have to make their money back.

[Einhander1972]

"only idiots wouldnt know they have to make their money back."

But everyone including "industry analysts" gaming "journalists" and other people who should have (and did) know kept telling people everything was great and fine and nothing was going to change. And even when things did start to change they either didn't report anything negative or continued to say everything was dandy.

I mean look at the coverage of what has happened recently, sure there has been a slight shift against Microsoft, but the most influential and knowledgeable voices are silent or continue to try to spin it.

[Hofstaderman]

Media touted it as the best deal in gaming...sheesh.

[Father__Merrin]

not cost effective to have all on day 1. we knew this ages ago. this makes sense its what all sub services do

[S2Killinit]

Didn’t stop them from lying about it and boasting to heavens end about day one this day one that. Now it turns out it was all a ruse.

[Redgrave]

Don't worry guys, because it'll be spun as "I already have Ultimate so it's fine BRING ON THE GAAAAAAAMES" or "this happens to every service, everyone's crying wolf LMAO" while we're supposed to pretend that the original promise of Gamepass has been taken out back, shot multiple times and then buried.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Yikes there Netflix service is increasing price and removing features all lot of gamers weren't surprised.

[Psychonaut85]

So now half the selling point for Gamepass is only there if you buy the top tier? God their brand trust is just completely in the toilet now.

[r2oB]

Xbox gamers are used to waiting extended periods of time for first party games, so no big deal.