Dishonored co-creator says Game Pass is ‘increasingly damaging’ gaming after Xbox layoffs

The founder of Dishonored developer Arkane Studios has heavily criticized Microsoft over its Xbox Game Pass business in the wake of the company’s mass gaming-related layoffs.

On X (Twitter), Raphael Colantonio, who left Xbox-owned Arkane in 2017 to found Wild West developer Wolf Eye, asked why conversations surrounding Xbox’s string of job cuts aren’t addressing “the elephant in the room,” which he says is Game Pass.

In a reply to an X user, Colantonio said “Gamepass [sic] is an unsustainable model that has been increasingly damaging the industry for a decade, subsidized by MS’s [Microsoft’s] ‘infinite money,’ but at some point reality has to hit. I don’t think GP can co-exist with other models, they’ll either kill everyone else, or give up.”

Michael Douse, director of publishing at Baldur’s Gate 3 maker Larian, echoed this sentiment in a reply to Colantonio. “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,” said Douse. “The infinite money thing never made any sense.”

“I agree, and I’m fed up with all the bs they fed us at first like “don’t worry, it doesn’t impact the sales”, only to admit years later that it toally [sic] does. “No shit it does! Really?” replied Colantonio.

The pair are referring to Xbox Game Pass’ core selling point: the availability of big AAA games on day one, including every first-party title from Xbox. On the one hand, this is an undeniable value for gamers. Even factoring in price increases and changes to the platform, you can pay $22.99/month to get access to hundreds of games, including the likes of Call of Duty, Starfield and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on day one.

But on the other hand, there’s long been concern that this business model cannibalizes game sales. Microsoft has publicly denied that but admitted as much in court documents pertaining to its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023.

Meanwhile, Xbox has maintained that Game Pass is sustainable and profitable despite significant doubt. However, The Game Business‘ Christopher Dring, one of the most prominent gaming industry reporters, noted on X that Xbox’s “profitability” claims only factor in costs related to licensing third-party content for Game Pass. In other words, it would surely be a different story if we were counting the tens of billions the company has spent on developing and acquiring first-party titles, including the Activision Blizzard portfolio.

Colantonio warned that this constant pursuit of content to fuel Game Pass will likely result in games becoming worse.

“What *might* happen once MS has won: the games will start to suck and your sub will go up. Why? Because the current amazing deal you have is subsided by MS bleeding money into it with the hope they’ll kill the competition, but once they manage to do it, things will get real,” he said. “…it’s a long game that involves throwing a tsunami at the entire ecosystem of the industry. Only the gamers like it because the offer is too good to be true, but eventually even gamers will hate it when they realize the effects on the games.”

Both Colantonio and Douse said they acknowledge that Game Pass can be good for smaller games, especially those from indies. Indeed, some developers have said Game Pass helped their title find a larger audience, like Mobius Digital with The Outer Wilds. That’s to say nothing of the money companies also get upfront for putting their games on the service.

But ultimately, Colantonio and Douse said they favour PlayStation’s approach to subscription services. For years, Sony has pushed back against offering big first-party games on PlayStation Plus day one, instead bringing a handful of smaller third-party games to the catalogue. The service’s more expensive tiers, Extra and Premium, offer hundreds of older games, including first-party titles like God of War: Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima.

These games all had a few years on the market to maximize sales before joining the PS Plus catalogue. In a recent interview with MobileSyrup, Nick Maguire, vice president of global services at PlayStation, even talked about how many people are subscribed to those more expensive tiers to play those older games.

It remains to be seen what Microsoft will do next with its broader gaming efforts. Given the repeated layoffs and game cancellations despite rising profits, there’s not a lot of optimism towards the future of Xbox right now, especially given Microsoft’s ever-growing push towards AI.

Via: IGN