Last week I talked about how GamePass has crossed a threshold for me, where the price they’re asking is no longer justified by the value the service offers; I’ll just buy the games I want directly instead. That’s a personal choice I make regardless, based on where I want to put my dollars, but I do question if the idea of “voting with our wallets” has an impact anymore.
There were a number of economic reports this year that suggested 50% of US consumer spending is being done by 10% of the US population (those making over $250k a year). At that point, I wouldn’t be surprised if companies have realized it’s easier to just court that consumer instead, the one with a ton of disposable income that isn’t as picky about value. So when Microsoft makes a decision to ratchet up the price of GamePass, do you think they’ve simply done the math and determined that the amount of extra income they generate from the people that stay on, outweighs lost income from anyone who might bail on the service?
After all, why try to make a better product if you have enough people to just pay you more for the same old product, right?
I think this is called “Chasing the whales” and I know a lot of apps live off this. Haven’t seen it on something as big as Gamepass, but it’s probably a bad sign if it works out for them, as I bet nearly every other company out there would happily follow suit.
100% on the money.
Aint it a nice thing that money can buy happyness in gaming ? Pay2Win is such a nice concept for the whales (that win with their pockets) and companies (that take that money) – and everyone else, the free players and the low spenders are just “bots” for those whales to hunt for entertainment.
What a nice dystopia the gaming industry created … *blegh*
I swear I don’t get the joke on the last speech ballon. I swear it!
Yepp, the whales in mobile gaming,. like in less than 1% of players spending so much that the other 99% can play it for free, or just some occasional spent.
I play as my casual timespent match3 mobile game for 5 years, and never spent a dollar (forint, actually). I try, tried other games, and when I hit a visible paywall in the game progress, delete and never look back.
not only in mobile gaming tbh
I do not think that checks out in the current example. It is more likely that other people have a higher point of nope. If less than 33 % of the customers go away, they will break even. So I doubt there will be a mass exodus from the GamePass, because lots of people are just lazy.
Also GamePass is, as far as I know, not pay-to-win.