QUOTE(elda88 @ Oct 6 2025, 11:26)

They say Xbox is "dead", "cooked" after the Game Pass price hike debacle. Is it though?
I don't have Game Pass and never will because I don't use subscription services, but the Game Pass price was always too good. I'm not aware of any "debacle" but based on some googling the new Ultimate is $30, which seems like a fair price for what you get. It was obvious that the old prices could not be a sustainable business model, what with Game Pass not just being a library of old games, but so many games releasing on it day 1, many of them fully funded by MS itself. Those lost sales had to eat into MS game studios' revenue more than $9/mo or whatever netted them.
It's a pretty old business strategy. Offer a great deal even at a loss, get people used to the service and/or eliminate competition, raise the price to something that actually makes money.
No way Game Pass is "cooked" after this. It's just sensationalist garbage that gamers love to eat up. The people who buy subscription services are the same market demographic that would be buying $79,99 AAA slop at launch so it's still a good deal for them.
QUOTE(Ass Spanker @ Oct 6 2025, 14:36)

hopefully, but likely no. the sheep will just keep buying it. how many people transitioned to piracy after all the shit netflix and other subscription services did to them? not a whole lot
A lot of people I know still only have 1 streaming service, be that Netflix or Disney+ or Prime or whatever, but rather than being able to watch whatever like they used to, they just pick something their service happens to have. Turns out it was never about access to a huge library of shows and movies. It was just about having something on the TV.
This post has been edited by kotitonttu: Oct 12 2025, 17:42