Former Xbox executive Ed Fries has clarified his criticisms of Xbox Game Pass, saying he was worried that the service could become something akin to Spotify and dominate the gaming landscape. That has not happened, though, and deals with developers have tapered off of late, he said in a new interview.
“I’ve been an outspoken critic of Game Pass, but mostly I was worried about Game Pass growing into something like Spotify, and it doesn’t seem like that’s happening,” he told GamesBeat.
Fries said he had concerns that Xbox Game Pass, if it became the dominant way to consume games, could negatively affect “the whole business” of games. However, it has not played out that way.
“They’ve really scaled back the size of their Game Pass deals. They have a great team picking the things they’re picking. As long as it doesn’t try to become Spotify, where everyone who creates a game, the only way they can sell it is through some kind of subscription service and they’re all fighting over the same dollars–that’s the thing I was worried about there.”
Game Pass, from the very start, was never billed as a service with ambitions to take over everything when it comes to how people play games. Microsoft said from the start that Game Pass was merely an option for people who wanted to have access to a catalog of games for one price.
Microsoft never said it would replace buying games outright, and that has not happened. In fact, there is some evidence that shows Game Pass can actually help lift full-game sales. Other data points, meanwhile, show that Game Pass can have a hugely negative impact on full-game sales.
Newly released data from Alinea Analytics showed that Star Wars: Outlaws coming to Game Pass helped the game add more than 600,000 new players.
In other Xbox news, Asha Sharma was just recently named the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, taking over for Phil Spencer. Additionally, Xbox president Sarah Bond has left the company, while Xbox veteran Matt Booty got promoted to chief content officer.