Former Xbox Exec Ed Fries Is Worried About Game Pass, Here's Why
Former Xbox executive Ed Fries has reacted to Xbox Game Pass, saying what Microsoft is doing with the subscription service makes him feel «nervous» about its potential impact to negatively impact the gaming landscape in general.
He told Xbox Expansion Pass because he sees Game Pass as being similar to Spotify, and not necessarily in a good way. «The one thing that they're doing that makes me nervous is Game Pass,» Fries said, as reported by VGC. «Game Pass scares me because there's a somewhat analogous thing called Spotify that was created for the music business.»
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Fries said Spotify «destroyed» the music business--which not all experts agree with--saying Spotify changed listener habits such that people don't buy music anymore.
«People don't buy songs on iPhone for example, because why would you? They're all on your subscription service app. Apple's said they're going to take away buying songs because no one's buying them any more,» Fries said. «So we have to be careful we don't create the same system in the game business. These markets are more fragile than people realize. I saw the games industry destroy itself in the early '80s. I saw the educational software business destroy itself in the mid-'90s… they literally destroyed a multi-billion dollar market in a few years.»
As a consumer, Fries said he loves the concept of subscription services like Game Pass and Spotify. «It's a great deal as a customer. But it isn't necessarily great for the industry,» Fries
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