Rather discreet since his departure from Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2019, Shawn Layden nevertheless remains a wise observer of the video game industry. An insight that is illustrated in an article published yesterday at Gamesindustry.biz, and in which the man expresses some doubts about the economic model of Xbox Game Pass.
Now the go-to service for Xbox gamers, and to a lesser extent PC gamers, everyone expects Xbox Game Pass to be emulated… except Shawn Layden, who feels the program isn't viable on the Xbox. duration for Microsoft.
Read also:
PlayStation Home: Sony renews the brand, the community hub soon to return?
AAA too expensive for a subscription at 10 euros per month
In reality, Shawn Layden does not say anything other than Jim Ryan, current CEO of PlayStation, each time he is asked about the potential arrival of a “PlayStation Game Pass”. For him, this type of service is simply not economically viable.
In question ? Mainly the cost of developing first-party games, whose budget easily exceeds 100 million dollars. "It's very difficult to launch a $120 million game on a subscription service that only costs $9,99 a month," Shawn Layden told Gamesindustry. If you do the math, you'll need over 500 million subscribers before you can recoup your investment.” A figure that Microsoft is still very far from reaching, since the last official count announces 18 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers (January 2021).
"That's why, right now, you have to take a leadership stance to grow that user base," says the former CEO. "But still, if you only have 250 million consoles in the market, you won't reach half a billion subscribers. So how are you doing? Nobody has understood it yet”.
A fleet of consoles in activity that is developing little
Despite the popularity of the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, it's estimated that there are around 250 million gaming consoles on the market today. A figure, recalls Gamesindustry, which has hardly changed since the end of the 90s.
However, Microsoft's strategy is precisely to multiply the access points to its Game Pass in order to increase this famous subscriber base.
First there was the "xCloud", which allows gamers on mobiles and tablets to enjoy a growing catalog of streaming games. A service recently extended to PCs and Macs, and which should soon arrive on connected televisions or on boxes via a dedicated application. In short: Microsoft wants to develop its video game activity without selling its consoles.
Read also:Xbox Series X|S outsells Microsoft's previous consoles
Game streaming would not be a solution
But the accounts would still not be there for Shawn Layden. “Obviously if you add smartphones into the equation you reach hundreds of millions of gamers. But these are very specific categories of players. We've learned over time that mobile gaming isn't necessarily a gateway to consoles, but just another way for people to consume video games.
However, the man is not insensitive to the efforts made by Microsoft to achieve his ends. Simply, there is still a gap between the company's projects and the reality of the market. “People don't buy a console because they want more steel and plastic in their living room. They buy consoles because they want to access content. So if you find a way to deliver that content to them without a console, then yes, indeed. Everyone has a device that allows them to stream content. But all this is limited by the quality of people's internet connection. And they [Microsoft] haven't established a business model that works with that yet.”
Anyway, Microsoft continues its momentum. We also learned this morning that the Xbox Series X | S are the most popular Xbox consoles in the history of the company, and that the Xbox Game Pass was enjoying “rapid growth”.
