Xbox has a solution for affordable access to its games library, just don’t call it the Netflix of gaming
VIDEO games are not cheap in Australia but Xbox is giving you a very affordable way to access an extensive library of games — just don’t call it the Netflix of gaming.
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VIDEO games are not cheap in Australia. Even without getting into the inexplicable aspect of the “Australia Tax” (where stuff just costs a lot more here than overseas for no good reason), buying a new game typically requires somewhere between $70-$100 a go.
Even if you only buy one game every month or so, that’s not exactly walking around money for the majority of gamers — and when you’ve got lots of games out at once (incidentally, mark February 22, 2019 on your calendars) the agonising struggle of deciding what to play without draining the bank account or incurring your significant other’s wrath is very real.
Microsoft believe they have a solution to that conundrum: The Xbox Game Pass.
As part of the Game Pass, gamers pay a subscription fee of AUD$10.95 per month and then have access to a growing library — already more than 100 — of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games which they can play at their leisure and as much as they want, long as their subscription is current.
The service is a day-one inclusion for Microsoft’s own games — State of Decay 2 and Sea Of Thieves are notable examples — while also including a range of the company’s other titles including Halo 5, and a wide selection from other publishers; games including Bethesda’s Fallout 4, Ubisoft’s The Division and Square Enix’s Rise Of The Tomb Raider are just some of the AAA games the service has.
Xbox corporate vice president Mike Ybarra sat down with news.com.au at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles to discuss the Game Pass offering in more detail.
Mr Ybarra said the genesis of the Game Pass service revolved around that conflict keen Aussie gamers know all too well — the cost of buying every new game you might want to play.
“We sat down and said what can we do to fundamentally give more people more access to the games and services we provide? We’re going to be at two billion gamers or more very soon, and people have different capabilities in how they engage with gaming,” he said.
“So, we sat down and said one of the biggest barriers is just the upfront cost of walking out with a set of games.
“When I was a kid, I used to beg my parents to buy a console, and then for games; that’s another console price. So, we all sat down and really looked at the feedback that we had from customers around the globe, and one of the biggest barriers was two things.
“One: discovering which games to invest in was actually difficult for them. The second was the price gap was big. So we said, wow, for one low monthly pass of $US9.99, we’ll give you over 100 games; new games come in every single month, we’ll commit that our first-party games will be there day and date, and we’ll work with partners like the announcement with Ubisoft and Bethesda joining the program.
“So, you get access to it for a low monthly fee and you also have curation and discovery easier, based on what you play and the types of games we put in the program.”
On the surface, the Game Pass service sounds very much like Netflix for video games, but Mr Ybarra said that was not accurate.
“I think Netflix is a little bit different than what we’re doing,” he said.
He said the Microsoft model was both about offering the company’s first-party games as well as giving third-party developers the capability to introduce brand new games and franchises to consumers which were previously unaware of them, and then build a relationship with those gamers.
“Just for me, for example, I play a lot of games — but with Game Pass I found games I would have never played that I’m in love with,” he said.
“That gives third parties the opportunity to monetise within that game, but also as successors to that game come out, those customers are going to actively go look for that.
“So, we’re a bridge. We want to continue to empower third-parties to have customers that love their IP (intellectual property — games and franchises), and we see Game Pass as a great vehicle for that.”
Increasing developer value was one of Game Pass’s goals, Mr Ybarra said, and gave an example of the announcement of a sequel game spurring interest in the earlier games in the series.
“When they (developers) announce new games, some people might say, ‘That looks awesome’, and they don’t even realise version one was out,” he said.
Mr Ybarra said another benefit Game Pass offered was t if someone wanted to purchase a particular game outright to own permanently, that was not only possible but would come with a discount too — up to 20 per cent for the games themselves and up to 10 per cent for add-on content.
“We want to give consumers not only choice on tech, but choice on business calls and what they do,” he said.
Game Pass is partly about helping gamers discover new games and Mr Ybarra said Microsoft had multiple different user interfaces out there for the service as part of their ongoing testing and development.
“There’s pivots around action games; ‘Hey, we saw you like playing Halo, so here’s X, Y, and Z’. There’s pivots around ‘Your friends are playing these games, so here’s what we recommend’ that tie together and play together,” he said.
“Much like our store, when you see those horizontals; it’s the same kind of thing in the Game Pass design.
He said he was proud of Game Pass and the new accessibility controls that Microsoft have announced too.
“I’m very proud of our accessibility control that we’ve announced. I’m very proud of things like Game Pass that welcome gamers in, give them a great experience and let them do the hobby that I personally love,” he said.
“I’m just excited because there’s more innovation than I’ve ever seen in gaming.
“I think the next three to five years is going to be incredibly exciting, incredibly open and inviting, incredibly diverse there’s going to be more gamers and more opportunity for consumer and developers than ever existed.”
Royce Wilson is attending E3 as a guest of Ubisoft
Originally published as Xbox has a solution for affordable access to its games library, just don’t call it the Netflix of gaming