@Kidfried I like reading your thoughts there and I agree on your points about the two services and the potential effects on smaller games being gobbled up by larger AAA games. So I too feel that the Sony approach to the PS+ service is more in harmony with a healthy industry — a place for smaller titles to flourish and smaller studios to have the option for less risk if they take a guaranteed contract to release on the service, and yet larger big-budget games will still have a place in the market to make their millions.
However my prediction is that the GamePass approach with expensive AAA game launches on the service won’t last. I don’t think it will endure to the point that the smaller creators will be pushed out of the service by large studio creations. A lot of that prediction is dependent upon what happens with ABK and COD, but if things continue as they are now, I think I agree with J Ryan that this model is not sustainable in the long run. Microsoft can take large losses for a while but eventually they will owe it to their shareholders to correct course and modify the program, as we’re already seeing them charge GamePass subscribers for early access to Starfield. In a way it’s already one step closer to what Sony is doing, except that “early access” is about 1 year early — $70 to play their games a year early vs. $35 to play their games 5 days early.
I think if the deal goes through, it does change things and MS can survive with their current model for a while because of the huge COD money that will trickle in from PS players, but if the deal is axed then they will need to course-correct and do something to directly monetize their big budget games like Starfield and Elder Scrolls, whether it be charge for early
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