Game Pass is home to many incredible AAA titles, and Microsoft continues to add more to the service. Over the coming months, the subscription service will add new titles like Forza Horizon 6, Fable, and more in an attempt to continue providing unparalleled value to the players.
Because Game Pass has also seen price hikes lately, Microsoft CEO Asha Sharma is said to be considering ideas to make the service cheaper and more accessible. However, the Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director believes this is the wrong approach.
Game Pass’ Race To The Bottom
Michael Douse, the Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director, recently discussed the rumors making the rounds regarding Game Pass and Microsoft’s efforts to reduce the subscription’s price of entry further under Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, He commented that because the industry’s current state is so dire, within the context of layoffs and rising development costs, attempting to scale back on pricing for a service that is already relatively cheap is not a wise decision.
Michael Douse also noted that relying on affordable quality might work for indie titles, but doing so for the AAA releases that Microsoft targets is nothing but folly.
“Race to the bottom pricing is exactly why Game Pass is a mess. Trust is at an all time low.” –Michael Douse
Last year, Microsoft was practically forced to increase prices, and many still agree that Game Pass is too good to be true for the value it offers, even at $30/month for the Ultimate tier. This is perhaps why the Baldur’s Gate 3 developer is not in favor of further price cuts.
The Industry’s Current Situation
As the Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director points out, the industry’s current state makes the Game Pass model unsustainable, and even more so if Microsoft were to lower prices further.
Consider the fact that AAA productions now cost between $200-300 million over 4-5 years of development. Such a game must sell around 5-6 million units to turn a reasonable profit, but the Game Pass model completely changes these economics.
Michael Douse also believes that pursuing exclusivity for Game Pass would not yield any meaningful results since the Xbox platform is already struggling at the moment.