Xbox Game Pass Is Damaging The Industry, According To Devs

At a time when almost every major company in the entertainment industry has its own subscription-based service, Microsoft has been particularly passionate about its own offerings. Over the past few years, Xbox has gone all in on Game Pass, being the only major gaming company to put its first-party releases on a subscription service from launch day at no extra cost. A risky strategy, but one that Xbox has stood by through thick and thin.

However, it looks like third-party developers aren’t as enthusiastic about this business model. In the wake of Xbox’s latest round of devastating lay-offs, two industry figures have shared their opinion that Game Pass has had a detrimental effect on the industry and has a negative impact on game sales.

Arkane Founder And Larian Publishing Head Hit Back At Xbox Game Pass

This was kicked off by Raphael Colantonio, founder of Arkane Studios, and current president of WolfEye Studios. Amidst the discussion about Xbox’s layoffs, Colantonio shared his thoughts on the matter, “Why is no-one talking about the elephant in the room? Cough cough (Gamepass)”

In the replies, Colantonio is dismissive of the idea that AI is solely to blame, and expands on his concerns with Game Pass.

“I think Gamepass is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade,” Colantonio writes. “I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.” In another response, he says that Xbox’s actions are “throwing a tsunami at the entire ecosystem of the industry.”

Michael Douse, head of publishing at Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian, agrees with this sentiment. “‘What happens when all that money runs out?’ is the most vocal concern in my network, and one of the main economic reasons people I know haven’t shifted to its business model,” he says.

Both also push back against Xbox’s insistence that putting a game on Game Pass won’t cannibalise its sales. Douse does say that there is some value in smaller games going on the platform, but otherwise, neither seem keen on the idea of putting their releases on Game Pass. Instead, they argue that the service ought to host Xbox’s back catalogue, similar to what we see with PlayStation Plus.

Back in 2023, leaked memos gave us an idea of how much publishers are offered to have their titles put on Game Pass. In the memos, we saw that Xbox was willing to offer Larian just $5 million to get Baldur’s Gate 3 on the service, compared to $250 million for Mortal Kombat 1, and $300 million for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Xbox would likely offer Larian much more now, following Baldur’s Gate 3’s success, but the studio has already made it clear that it isn’t interested.

Meanwhile, Xbox faces criticism throughout the gaming industry. This is in response to the layoffs, which saw around 9,000 employees laid off, and multiple games cancelled. This includes the Perfect Dark reboot, an unannounced game from Romero Studios, and an MMO from Zenimax Online.

Number of Devices Concurrently

Five, with Friends & Family (in limited countries)

Number of Accounts

1 Primary Account Holder


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